Agenda item

The Board has previously commissioned two surveys to be carried out in order to gather evidence from a wide range of people around the East Leeds Repairs Service.

This report gives an update on the progress so far on the surveys.

LW explained at November’s meeting it was agreed the Board would consult with Councillors and involved tenants living in East Leeds by means of an online survey.  Further to this an update was provided on the responses received.

COUNCILLOR RESPONSES

Key themes arising from the responses include:

·  Mixture of both positive and negative feedback

·  Too long to carry out some types of repairs was a common theme.

·  The number of repeat contacts required with some type of repairs was a concern, and perceived lack of communication between Leeds Building Services and the tenant was poor which lengthened the time taken to complete the repair.

Other comments from Councillors included:

·  Poor communications

·  Worse since coming back from the ALMOs

·  Lack of respect for tenants

·  Example of a tenant with damp who had numerous visits by officers and maintenance staff and the damp is still there

·  A comment that if a private company was given this job by a private customer and they carried out to the standard of some of LBS repairs you would not pay them

TENANT REPRESENTATIVE RESPONSES

·  Majority of tenants who responded had received a repair in the last 12 months

·  Majority of tenants who responded stated they were satisfied with the overall quality of their home

·  Majority of tenants were satisfied with the way Housing Leeds deals with their repairs, however of the remainder was split equally between neither or dissatisfied responses.

·  Ease of reporting a repair was split between majority being satisfied but a third were dissatisfied

·  Majority of tenants were satisfied in the accuracy of the repair ordered.

·  Speed of completion of work was split between satisfied and dissatisfied

·  Half of those who responded were happy with the quality of work, but a quarter were not satisfied and a quarter gave no opinion on this

·  Around half were satisfied their repair was done right first time but just under half felt dissatisfied

·  On the question of insulation and how good it is at keeping the property warm, 52% stated it was good, 29% thought it was poor and the remainder felt it was neither.

Comments from the tenant representatives survey were:-

·  The main issue is reporting a repair but this has improved

·  Outside paintwork has been hanging off the facia boards for the past 14 years at least.

·  Reporting online repairs is easier than waiting to get through on the phone

·  I have reported mould in my house a long time ago and up to now nothing has been done regarding this.

·  How silly it's getting now with the repair side when they have make three time trip for repair and three month it takes

·  I was concerned when my wet floor shower would not drain. An electrician followed by a plumber followed by another electrician followed by a plumber who told me it needed drain experts. Three weeks later the flat drains became blocked again a plumber attended who asked for a drain expert to be called. The problem turned out to be a problem with the stack in the block which have not been cleared and cleaned for a while

·  Not had any big repairs done in the last year, I am happy with items corrected and work better

·  Online repair service needs to allow a photo option to upload along with the order.

·  Repairs seem to be done to a minimum standard to save money. It would be nice to repair to a good or high standard. I appreciate costs would be higher, but you expect standards from your tenants, we should be able to expect the same from you.

·  It's long time waiting for repair to carry out

·  More communication. Need to be kept informed when the work would be done.

·  Satisfied with home repairs, but extremely disappointed with repairs to communal areas and other communal problems.