Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) has become one of the UK’s first housing organisations to launch a paid for day-to-day repairs service to its homeowners through its Repairs Direct business.
The move comes after Repairs Direct carried out 22,994 responsive repairs last year, with a tenant satisfaction rating high of 98%. During this time it also carried out 99.7% of all emergency repairs within 24 hours.
With house prices in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea among the most expensive in the country, reported as 38 times that of average UK earnings according to the ONS [According to the Office for National Statistics (2017)], Repairs Direct will provide a cost effective and reliable repairs service to all homeowners of the properties it manages on behalf of the Council. According to HouseMark [According to HouseMark (2015)], responsive repairs are worth £3bn a year in the UK alone.
The launch follows a successful pilot programme offering handyman and plumbing services to homeowners in the World’s End Estate, Chelsea.
Graham Webb, Managing Director of Repairs Direct, said: “We’re launching our repairs service to our 2,600 homeowners as there is the demand for low-cost and reliable repairs in the area.
“Over three quarters of all calls we receive are repairs related and we currently provide an offering to over 22,000 of our tenants in Kensington and Chelsea. Additionally, our high levels of customer service are well above the industry average and we’ve recently improved the speed of our responsive repairs by almost a third.
“As a result of this we feel these factors provide us with the perfect platform to expand our service to these homeowners in the borough while maintaining a quality, trustworthy and secure service to all tenants. There are few others offering the same level of service at the same low cost and we’re confidant homeowners will now look to us as their chosen repairs service.”
Repairs Direct has been operational since 2013, when it became responsible for all council tenanted properties in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Between April and September 2016, Repairs Direct carried out almost 6,500 responsive repairs and reported a customer satisfaction level of 98%, almost a third higher than the national industry average.
