Welfare visits and feedback from residents have resulted in council workers carrying out more housing repairs than ever before, councillors were told.
The number of repairs wasn’t stated but the backlog has fallen even as the Brighton and Hove City Council rceives about 3,000 extra repair requests a month.
And more than 500 high-rise block tenants have received visits as part of a council programme to address failings found by the Regulator of Social Housing last year.
Green councillor Ollie Sykes asked how bringing repairs and maintenance in-house had affected the way that the council addressed the regulator’s report which highlighted a repairs backlog as well as fire, water and electrical safety issues.
The council’s assistant director for housing management Martin Reid said that the council now had more control over what work was done and when.
Conservative councillor Anne Meadows asked about sprinkler systems in tower blocks where resistance from leaseholders had been blamed for delays.
Mr Reid said that it was a “conundrum” and, in some blocks, half the residents objected to having them – but they were not required to comply with the regulators’ report.
On addressing the regulator’s concerns about the “significant backlog” of 8,000 low-risk and low-priority repairs, Mr Reid said that the council’s aim was to go beyond what was required.
He said: “Our ambition extends to being the best possible landlord that we can and listening to our tenants because the gist of the post-Grenfell Tower regulatory environment is that we know our homes and we know our tenants and we are listening.”
Labour councillor Gill Williams, the council’s cabinet member for housing and new homes, said that the council’s response to the regulator’s concerns had made it a “victim of its own success”, with the high rates of reported repairs.
She said that there were more contractors working on the backlog – currently 6,500 outstanding repairs – as well as the new repair reports coming in at more than 3,000 a month.
Councillor Williams said that the focus was always on winning the trust of tenants and meeting their expectations.
She said: “Our recovery programme goes beyond the regulatory requirements, as it should. It aims to make Brighton and Hove City Council a benchmark for housing safety and quality through open communication, clear accountability and continuous improvements.”
The discussion took place at a meeting of the council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Tuesday 21 January).
It was the second time that councillors had discussed progress in addressing the regulator’s concerns since they were raised in August 2024.
The committee agreed to reduce its scrutiny of work to address the social housing regulator’s concerns from every meeting to quarterly.
Happy residents, possibly.
The elephant in the room being what to do with the tower blocks that have LPS. As a resident of one of these blocks, I have an interest as to what the medium term plans for them are. Enormous sums of money has been spent updating the blocks plus what to do with residents whilst whatever decision comes to pass? Interesting conundrum.
It’s certainly something I want to watch. Seems the two major decisions are substantial remedial work that may be shorter lived, or total regeneration that may take a while. Both have pros and cons, so it’ll need careful consideration with the rest of the area in mind strategically.
So there are multiple contractors working on clearing the backlog according to Gill Williams, how can this be cost effective – be interesting to see exactly how much the service has cost since going back in house. Also how do they monitor staff, as every time you see a repairs van, the person is sitting in it on their phone – time equals money, sitting on their backsides isn’t being productive or clearing the backlog in any hurry, so they’re reliant on contractors who charge more – why are the council in financial trouble again???
I’m a tenant, I’ve no connection to the council, and I’ve certainly had issues with them in the past. However, perhaps to the workers defence, they also use their vans as an office and somewhere to sit during their breaks. I suppose it’s not always an easy life working from a van, particularly when people phone the council because a worker’s sitting in their van. We don’t hear about the conditions that the public facing staff have to endure, and also at times being threatened. I heard that someone was threatened with a knife. It’s not just monitoring staff, it’s also keeping them safe.
Anne, you shouldn’t need to state you’re not connected to the council to make a defensive point or to play devil’s advocate. I imagine there’s a lot of telephone work that needs to happen as well, and rather than sitting in a tenant’s house, they’ll go back to their van to do their paperwork so the tenant can get on with their day in peace.
It’s a short-term catching-up strategy, Jo. The figures are public domain, published every year, and distributed in a variety of ways.
Regarding your question, it’s a well-documented answer that councils nationwide are having to do more with a lot less money, a legacy left by the Conservatives over the last 14 years. Think about it this way, if you got a pay cut year after year, or even just a pay freeze, for 14 years straight, and now you’ve got more bills to pay, say you have an additional child, you’d be struggling a bit more finanically, wouldn’t you?
Contractors who charge more ???? how ??? they are paid as per agreed sums for specific work same as any other company, jobs/work is normally assesed and priced pre start, council trades are paid per hour, transport and tools supplied to them, add on the normal work clothes footwear vary by season, pension payments now and for the future, add that lot together see what you get, outside contracters are not as expensive as implied, they come as an all in package including transport, tools and maintenance of the same,
A “record number of repairs” but only when compared against “Brighton and Hove City Council’s own previous record and lack of repairs – which was so significant the council were reprimanded by the Regulator of Social Housing for “serious failings”.
Let’s also not forget that in their judgement the RSH made clear that most of the repair backlog was actually quite recent, so the current administration at the council cannot claim they just inherited a backlog. The judgement says that: “Brighton and Hove CC reported a backlog of around 8,000 low risk, low priority repairs the MAJORITY of which were raised in 2023”
The RSH can take enforcement action and impose penalties, so the council are undertaking these repairs at speed because they have to or they will be fined. And the comment that BHCC is a “victim of its own success” by Councillor Gill Williams is quite shocking – the repairs people are reporting are very real, and the experience of many people renting homes from the council is far from their voices being heard when raising issues.
Its nothing to be proud of. It shows a lack of management in the past.
100% agree.
Forced to do it by the regulator and trying to spin it like they are doing something exceptional having not stuck to their legal responsibilities as landlords for a long time and being caught out by the regulator in their judgement.
Is that “free repairs” on “free houses” fully paid for out of benefits by taxpayers to lazy scroungers on benefits?
Hi Lee – I’m retired now. I have always felt that there is a disparity in rented housing. It isn’t right, that working people have to struggle to find rented accommodation, then struggle with bills, food , make choices or compromises that they wouldn’t otherwise do. There is something wrong in that respect.
My next door neighbour lives in a 2 bed council house with just him and his wife, both of them have never worked but been on the sick for life, he called the council to fix a loose toilet seat and replace a tap washer, unbeleivable
Yes, it is unbelievable, if they can do it themselves. Yes, there are people that can and do manipulate the system. I’m not sure what can be done, because it’ll be the likes of people that really need help, that may get screwed, rather than the manipulators.