To receive a presentation from Accent Housing.
Minutes:
The Committee received a presentation from Edith Shah, Director of Property Services for Accent Group on the progress made to reducing the backlog of works since its last meeting. She reported that approximately 1,000 legacy jobs remained, a reduction from the 1,500 cases that had been reported at the previous meeting. In order to address the backlog, additional contractors had been sourced to progress these legacy jobs, with Accent’s contractor for the South East Region, Ian Williams, focusing primarily on current demand and planned works. All roofing repairs were due to be completed by 31 October 2022. Due to the number of outstanding fencing jobs, another maintenance contractor was assisting with these cases.
Members discussed the progress regarding the backlog of works and expressed concerns about the numbers of cases still outstanding, noting that the approaching winter would be problematic for tenants with boiler and roofing works. Concerns were also raised about specific properties, to which Ian Williams representatives responded that work had been done on recruiting additional team members to tackle the backlog.
Arising from discussions, the following issues were raised:
(i) Accent advised that tenants could not be prioritised for repair works.
(ii) Accent had sent out communications to tenants informing them to test their heating systems to prevent an influx in related repair works that could not be handled.
(iii) Accent had been seeking to address the issue of repair works outstanding by 28 days and that in future all repair works would aim to be completed before 28 days elapsed.
(iv) Fencing repair work completed with chain link fencing would continue in line with Accent policy, but would only be done on shared borders and not on public highways.
(v) Empty properties were not redecorated unnecessarily and Accent had ceased to fit carpets due to it not being relevant to repair works.
(vi) Members were told that there had been 70 void properties in Surrey Heath and Accent had brought in 4 new contractors to bring those properties to standard.
(vii) Accent had assumed role of assessing empty properties within 24 hours of being void.
(viii) Members were reminded Accent that residents who were not Accent tenants should contact the local authority to be included on the Housing Register.
(ix) A working relationship with Frimley Fuel Allotments was agreed as potentially beneficial and could be further progressed.
(x) Members praised Accent for the Watchetts Park roadshow.
RESOLVED to note the presentation
Note: It was noted for the record that Councillor Emma-Jane McGrath informed the Committee that she was a tenant in Accent housing.