Keeping your homes safe and well-maintained is a priority for the Bury Housing Service. We have focussed on improving our performance and have already made great progress in several areas over the past few months.
The repairs service has seen the introduction of new categories to improve our ability to appoint work in your home. In November 2023, we had a backlog of over 650 overdue jobs in the repairs system, and by March 2024, this had been reduced by almost 70%. We have now attempted to make contact with all tenants who have an outstanding repair in our system. If you have an outstanding repair, please contact us here or on 0161 686 8000.
To improve the safety of your homes, we have introduced a revised electrical testing programme, that will see your electrical installation tested at least every 5 years. Between November 2023 and February 2024, we have completed over 1,700 electrical inspections to meet this target.
Accessing your home to ensure gas appliances are safe remains a key priority. We have achieved 100% access throughout March and will be working hard to ensure we continue to achieve this level of performance. Gaining access to ensure your home is safe will continue to be our priority, please be aware that we will take any necessary legal action to gain access to your home to ensure it have up to date testing certification in place.
To ensure the safety of our flatted accommodation, we have also completed all of our annual fire risk assessment in line with the programmed timescales. These assessments identify actions that will improve fire safety across these buildings and since October 2023, we have completed over 2,000 actions. Search ‘fire safety’ on our website to view more information and keep an eye out in the communal areas of our apartment blocks.
A key part of maintaining your home is understanding its condition. To improve our data, Pennington Choices have been carrying out stock condition surveys across all of our homes. We have currently surveyed around 80% of our properties, and the aim is to achieve 100% access for these surveys. Please, if you have not yet allowed us access to complete a survey, contact us 0161 686 8000 to make an appointment. The more we know about the condition of your home, the better we can plan repairs and future investment requirements.
We have also introduced a new process to deal with any reports of damp and mould. Whilst we currently have a backlog of inspections, we are utilising additional resources to support this area of work. We are using our neighbourhood officers and text messaging surveys wherever possible to help improve diagnosis and make appointments to address any issues.
Please keep a look out for further improvements about your home's safety and maintenance services over the coming months, and remember, allowing access to your home will not only help improve its safety but will ensure it is well-maintained.
Back to news