Repairs and maintenance policy

There are legislative and regulatory requirements that set out the standards that social housing must be maintained to. These include (but are not limited to):

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985

Section 11 of this legislation imposes an obligation on landlords to carry out basic repairs, covering the structure and exterior of the property and installations for the supply of water, gas, and electricity, sanitation, space heating, and heating water. There is also an implied covenant to maintain the property in good order.

Housing Health and Safety Rating System

The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) was introduced in 2006 to provide an assessment tool for the ‘Minimum Standard for Housing’ (Criterion A of the Decent Homes Standard). It is a risk assessment tool designed to identify the risk to occupants in domestic properties.

Decent Homes Standard

The Decent Homes Standard sets expectations for registered providers of social housing to provide tenants with quality accommodation and a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service. According to the standard, for a home to be considered ‘decent’ it must:

• Meet the current statutory minimum standard for housing
• Be in a reasonable state of repair
• Have reasonably modern facilities and services
• Provide a degree of thermal comfort

The Decent Homes Standard is currently under review and this policy will be revised to take account of any changes introduced as a result of this.

Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

This legislation sets out specific requirements relating to the consultation of leaseholders prior to major works being carried out to their properties and long-term agreements for repairs or services being entered into where the leaseholder will be required to contribute towards the cost of these services.

Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018

This amended the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 with the aim of ensuring that all rented accommodation is fit for human habitation. Whilst it did not create new obligations for landlords, it required them to ensure that their properties, including any common parts of the building are fit for human habitation at the beginning of and throughout the tenancy. Where a landlord fails to do this the tenant has the right to take action in court for breach of contract.

Defective Premises Act 1972

Section 4 of this Act places a duty on landlords to take reasonable care to ensure that anyone who might be expected to be affected by defects in a property is reasonably safe from injury or damage to their property resulting from defects.

This legislation, which received Royal Assent in July 2023, builds upon the existing regulatory framework for housing and introduces a proactive rather than a responsive regulatory regime that is underpinned by inspection.

The Safety and Quality Standard covers stock quality, decency, health and safety as well as repairs, maintenance and planned improvements.

Tenant Satisfaction Measures

As part of the new regulatory regime for housing, providers have been required to collect specified data in relation to their performance from 1 April 2023 known as Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

Of the 22 Tenant Satisfaction Measures, 12 are perception measures that will be informed by an annual tenant satisfaction survey and 10 will be informed from housing provider’s own management information.

The measures relevant to repairs and maintenance are:

• Satisfaction with the most recent repair carried out
• Satisfaction with the time taken to complete most recent repair
• Satisfaction that the home is well maintained
• Satisfaction that the home is safe
• Percentage of homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard
• Percentage of repairs completed within our own published target timescales
• Percentage of properties that have had all necessary gas safety checks
• Percentage of properties that have had all necessary Fire Risk Assessments
• Percentage of properties in buildings that have had all necessary asbestos management surveys or re inspections
• Percentage of properties that have had all necessary legionella risk assessments
• Percentage of properties in buildings where communal passenger lifts have had all necessary safety checks

Housing providers will have to submit this information annually to the Regulator of Social Housing, commencing from April 2024 with the results being published later in the autumn of each year.

Right to Repair Regulations

The Council operates within the statutory requirements of the ‘Right to Repair Scheme’, implemented in accordance with Section 96 of the Housing Act 1985 (as amended). This covers certain small, urgent or routine repairs costing up to £250, which are likely to jeopardise the health or safety of the tenant.

There are also specific regulations that relate to certain repair and maintenance aspects, and these include (but are not limited to):