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Daniel Miller is head of repairs and maintenance at Eastlight Community Homes
Home MOTs could be the answer to the sector’s repairs problems
Daniel Miller explains how a ‘home MOT’ has helped Eastlight to ensure that tenants’ homes are kept in good repair, improving relationships with residents and reducing call-outs
Last September, the Good Home Inquiry put forward an excellent idea to ministers. It suggested they urge landlords to implement ‘home MOTs’ – a regular check for homes up and down the country.
Chaired by David Orr, former chief executive of the National Housing Federation, the inquiry produced a report titled Good homes for all: A proposal to fix England’s housing, which examines the problem of unsuitable and low-quality housing in England’s existing housing stock.
The Home MOT was one of its key suggestions. Condition assessments could, it stated, become a reliable way for customers to “undertake assessments and improve their understanding of the specific needs of their homes”.
However, here at Eastlight Community Homes, the Home MOT is not a new idea; in fact, it’s a well-established reality.
Long before the July 2020 merger of Colne Housing and Greenfields Community Housing to create Eastlight, Greenfields had spearheaded the introduction of a Home MOT to identify and carry out repairs and maintenance jobs before they became urgent.
Seven years since their introduction, Home MOTs have made our repairs and maintenance service more efficient. There has been a dramatic reduction in maintenance call-outs, with numbers falling by 50% in some areas, and improved relationships with customers.
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When asked to score Eastlight’s MOT service on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest, our customers gave us an average of 4.6 over the past three years. Last November, we received an average of 4.85 – and in December, the average was five out of five, which has to be the result of more face-to-face time combined with fewer problem repairs.
This is how our Home MOTs work.
The plan is for members of our maintenance team to visit each of our 12,500 homes once every two years. The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns set us back in terms of the number of homes we were able to visit – but we’re now working to ensure the programme runs as we envisioned.
When in a home, the team systematically ticks off the items on our MOT online worksheets. When a repair is completed there and then, or further action needs to be taken, they add notes with all the relevant details.
They assess the general condition of the home, looking for signs of damp and mould.
“When in a home, the team systematically ticks off the items on our MOT online worksheets. When a repair is completed there and then, or further action needs to be taken, they add notes with all the relevant details”
They check for asbestos and other risk factors, such as ensuring there is safe access in and out of the home in the event of fire.
They assess the condition of front and rear doors, along with smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, noting and logging the dates each were installed.
They inspect the toilet cisterns and the condition of flooring, recording cracks in tiles and other small bits of damage that could develop into a problem if left unaddressed.
It is very important they check bathroom sealant, which is a common cause of problems including serious leaks and ceiling damage.
The team uses the MOT visit to complete as many of the small jobs as they can, but if they need to return to fix a problem, they set a date and time with the customer before they leave. This means the customer doesn’t have to contact us to organise the visit, and the whole process of getting a repair sorted is condensed.
Getting jobs done in a timely manner is not, however, the only benefit of the MOTs – they have proven to be an opportunity to increase resident engagement. Not only can we assess the condition of a home, but the visits also allow our team to check whether customers are OK, and to get a sense of whether they might need additional support through our tenancy sustainment team.
We also use the MOT as an opportunity to pass on skills to customers, so they are able fix small problems like tightening door hinges. This empowers them to be independent and significantly reduces future call-outs.
The visits give us the opportunity to go through core repairs elements of the home with the customer as well. For example, we can remind them where the stopcock is, in case the water supply needs to be turned off, and show them how to use the electric breakers at the fuse board, so they know what to do if it trips.
Our maintenance teams are very familiar with our homes and they are usually able to spot where structural changes have been made without our permission – for example, where a wall has been removed or extensions added without us as the landlord being informed.
“The recent ITV investigation surrounding housing disrepair, Britain’s Housing Shame, has highlighted some really important issues, but damaged the housing sector’s reputation in the process”
Eastlight’s home MOT has evolved over time, and our main challenges have been around finding operatives with the right skill set – to carry out the maintenance jobs and have the customer service skills to be able to communicate effectively with customers when working through the MOT.
The effort we’ve put into hiring the right people and improving our digitisation of the works on handheld devices has been very much worth it.
The recent ITV investigation surrounding housing disrepair, Britain’s Housing Shame, has highlighted some really important issues, but damaged the housing sector’s reputation in the process.
With the Home MOT, we’ve been able to provide consistency and clarity to our customers on our joint responsibilities to keep homes safe and secure. To further improve transparency, we’re currently working to make all the information gathered during the MOT visits available for customers online.
We wholeheartedly support the Good Home Inquiry’s recommendations around home MOTs. In our experience they are value for money and they benefit landlord and customers alike.
Daniel Miller, head of repairs and maintenance, Eastlight Community Homes
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