Housing scrutiny chair Andrew Dixon called for an online platform for reporting problems and the creation of a referral point for complex jobs that have been outstanding for ‘too long’, reports Josh Mellor, Local Democracy Reporter
Action is needed to deal with a backlog of repairs to Waltham Forest Council’s council housing, a group of councillors has said.
The backlog of repairs to the 12,500 homes owned or managed by the council was flagged as a concern in an end-of-year report published by the council’s housing scrutiny committee this week.
Last year, Waltham Forest’s housing repairs contractor Morgan Sindall Property Services saw the average time it took to complete outstanding jobs rise from 15 to 25 days – significantly higher than the ten-day target in the company’s contract.
Housing scrutiny chair Andrew Dixon has told council leadership that council tenants are seeing “longer than usual delays” in dealing with a backlog of non-emergency repairs.
However, despite the concerns raised in the report, the council appears not to have published any data showing the number of outstanding repairs Morgan Sindall Property Services has for the last two years.
According to a report from 2021, the contractor, a subsidiary of construction giant Morgan Sindall, saw its backlog of routine repairs increase from 2,200 in March 2020 to 3,700 in December.
Morgan Sindall Property Services reportedly carries out about 17,000 repairs in the borough each year.
Cllr Dixon called for several improvements to the service including clearing the backlog, introducing an online platform for reporting problems and creating a referral point for complex jobs that have been outstanding for “too long”.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service recently exposed a case of a tenant in a Leytonstone estate living with a damp wall for seven years, despite repeated reports to the repairs service.
She said contractors repeatedly attended her home but the cause of the damp, likely to be a leak from a neighbouring flat, was never tackled.
Surveys of tenants and residents shown to the committee raised key concerns as the length of time it took to carry out repairs and “nothing gets done when issues [are] raised”.
A group of tenants and residents has also suggested that the council should independently verify the key performance data Morgan Sindall Property Services works to as part of its contract.
In response, the council’s housing team said it has an action plan to complete the backlog by February 2024, although it has not provided any data to demonstrate its performance so far.
The team also said it has plans to introduce an online repairs website for tenants and is developing a more “customer-centric approach” to managing complex cases.
Other recommendations the housing team has said it will action include pushing to recruit more repairs staff from Waltham Forest, a process for dealing with difficult-to-access homes and streamlining how communal repairs are dealt with.
Cabinet member for housing and regeneration Ahsan Khan said: “All of these recommendations will be actioned through that work stream going forward.”
A Morgan Sindall Property Services spokesperson said: “We are working collaboratively with Waltham Forest Council to deal with the backlog of repairs built up during the pandemic but also to tackle other challenges in the housing sector.
“These include a significant increase in demand for housing repairs, compounded by skills and material supply shortages.
“We are working through a clear action plan with the Council focused on delivering the best repair and maintenance service for residents.”
Morgan Sindall Property Services took over the contract for repairs in Waltham Forest after the council fell into a multi-million-pound legal dispute with the council’s previous contractor, Osborne Property Services.
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