Due to the unprecedented amount of disrepair claims being filed against social landlords, we ran a hugely popular event last week – focusing firstly on how to get your house in order to ensure you remain on the front foot to avoid being subject to disrepair claims. And secondly, how to mitigate or defend claims if you do receive them. This is a summary of the key takeaways from the event. First up was Rebecca Reed, Head of Insight and Development at the Housing Ombudsman Service.

  1. Complaints are a really good way to understand if you have a problem with your service – encourage them, act on them and learn from them
  2. Record keeping is the holy grail and it isn’t anywhere near as good and comprehensive as it should be across the sector (more of this later when we focus on mitigating claims)
  3. Manage expectations and keep tenants informed throughout the complaints process and do what you say you are going to do
  4. Landlords need to effect a culture change – moving away from a reactive approach to a proactive approach – stay on top of the condition of your stock
  5. Governance is key – boards (and committees) must be empowered to ask the right questions and challenge your approach to complaints – what assurance should you providing them with?

Next up, the five key points raised by Nick Sarac, head of customer success, Switchee’s top tips for understanding how to use your data and what it is telling you…