Agenda item

Presented by Sue Hanlon, Interim Director of Housing Assets & Repairs.

Councillor Ben-Hassel entered the virtual meeting at 6.38pm. Councillors Reshekaron & Ponnuthurai entered the virtual meeting at 6.40pm.

Councillor Flemming entered the Council Chamber at 6.45pm.

The Chair introduced the item and invited the Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance to address the Panel. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance conducted a presentation to the Panel, which can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/meetings

In response to questions from Panel members, officers informed the Panel that:

·       There had been an existing Decant Policy in place since 2021. The new Decant Policy was currently being drafted and due to be reviewed by the Departmental Management Team by the end of November. It was likely to be published in December 2024.

·       In response to a question about overflows, residents were encouraged to report dripping and running overflows to the Repairs Contact Centre. The caretakers, tenancy services officers and repair inspectors were also expected to log the issue if noted during visits or estate inspections.

·       Mould washes were undertaken by Wates and Mears as part of the Stage 1 visits. The Interim Director would discuss with contractors for the requirement to wear PPE including safety goggles/glasses when using sprays.

·       Damp and Mould training was being rolled out to the housing department including specialist training for the damp and mould team. The technical training also included on-site visits to voids to support diagnostics and remediation of damp and mould.

·       The Council had been investigating the installation of humidity devices. ‘Switchee’ devices had been used by around 100 organisations including local authorities and housing associations in the UK. The devices would help identify potential damp and mould in homes. The Council was currently planning for a pilot to install 300 devices from January 2025.

·       The Housing team acknowledged the nationwide challenge of fuel poverty leading to colder homes. The contractors would refer any concerns or issues from visits to the Housing Team.

·       Tenancy Audits visits were being undertaken to access homes to seek information about the residents and their needs so that the team could tailor services to meet their needs and signpost residents to wider agencies. The team had been prioritising audit visits for the elderly, families with young children and residents with long term health conditions, where known.

·       Discretionary support could be provided, such as support fund for energy or debts. Residents with financial needs were encouraged in the ‘Open House’ newsletter to reach out for further advice and guidance.

·       The repairs team were investigating alternatives for accessing roofs/gutters such as cherry pickers and drones. The use of drones would allow roof inspections to be carried out without the requirement to erect a scaffold. The team was exploring whether they would secure a drone licence or use a licenced service provider.

·       Stock condition surveys had been ongoing, with 60% of homes already completed. The results from all areas would be triangulated and reviewed, and that would support the team to plan the investment work programmes for the next 5-10 years. The data would also be used for the 30-year investment plan which would be presented to Cabinet early next year.

·       For projects with significant spend requirements, option appraisals would be undertaken to evaluate value for money and the best option.

·       The target timeframes for non-urgent responsive repairs were 12 days, and either 4 hours for repairs where there had been an immediate H&S concern or 24 hours for all other emergency repairs. A number of repairs reported were complex repairs that might involve scaffolding or require entry into multiple flats, and it might take time for the contractors to organise this. It was recognised that some complex repairs had previously been delayed, however reporting had been in place for all overdue repairs or repairs in danger of becoming overdue.

·       Following a lesson learned review, there were now dedicated teams within Wates, Mears and K&T to respond to the leaks.

·       Prior to the installation of devices, there would be a discussion with the residents about the data recorded and the use of data. Croydon Council would own the data, not the supplier of the humidity unit. An information sharing protocol would be signed and the residents selected could opt out of the pilot. 

·       The team were currently installing 300 domestic boilers as part of the planned programme. The boilers would be A-graded, and have a 10-year warranty in order to achieve a better value for money.

·       For communal (commercial) boilers, Morgan Lambert, a third-party assurance company, was currently undertaking stock condition surveys of 27 plant rooms in the borough, expected to complete at the end of the following week. The team would review the results and decide the next steps. It was aimed to have energy efficient A-graded commercial boilers.

·       Damp and mould cases would be referred to contractor once the cases had been triaged and categorised by the call centre. The contractor staff would then inspect the property and arrange remedial repairs and damp & mould washes.

·       There would be opportunities to scrutinise the health and safety areas including fire and damp & mould within the new engagement structure.

·       Under the new Decant Policy, decant requests would be approved by the Interim Director of Housing Assets and Repairs and the Director of Housing Management. A decant request would include the reason of the decant, such as works leading to the property being uninhabitable for a period of time. Most of the decants would be temporary.

·       Most temporary decants would utilise hotels or Airbnb-styled accommodation. The Housing team had been working with contractors and residents to ensure works identified had been undertaken in the agreed timeframe. Home loss and disturbance allowance would only be considered for permanent decants which were very rare, while other allowances might be offered for temporary decants.

·       The Damp and Mould policy was reviewed in July 2024, and robust processes had been in place to manage this workstream. The current policy included best practice.

·       Damp and mould guidance would be included in the next edition of residents’ newsletter, Open House.

·       Drainage survey would be arranged when a report had been received from residents and collapsed drain was suspected root cause. The repairs team would not be able to undertake proactive drainage surveys due to costs.

·       A Section 20 notice would be issued to the leaseholders (including housing associations) to recover the cost for works over £250 if Council-owned properties were affected.

The Panel NOTED the update.