We wanted to inform all our tenants of what will happen with repairs over the Christmas and New Year period.
As in previous years, our contractors will cover Emergency repairs only between Friday 22 December and Tuesday 2 January. From Wednesday 3 January your repairs service will return to normal.
Following on from our post last week advising that we were only carrying out Emergency repairs to properties during Storm Babet, our repair service returned to normal at the beginning of the week. However, given the volume of repairs that are needed to our properties, we have to ask you to be patient whilst our contractors attempt to get to these, in what are still difficult weather conditions.
We also need to make all tenants aware that the following weather warning has been issued as of Thursday 26th October:
Updated YELLOW warning of rain for Central, Tayside & Fife between 12:00 on Thursday 26 October 2023 and 12:00 on Sunday 29 October 2023. Persistent and occasionally heavy rain may lead to some flooding and transport disruption. Further rain is expected across eastern Scotland between late Thursday and early Sunday. The rain will be heavy in places, although possibly easing off across the north of the warning areas for a time later Friday or early Saturday. Accumulations over this period will be widely around 30 to 50 mm across lower ground but with 50 to 100 mm falling over higher ground, where there is the possibility of 120 -160mm in a few locations.
Please bear with us while we continue to deal with the aftermath of Storm Babet and the demand for emergency housing that this has created.
This is affecting our ability to deliver normal services from the Community Housing Teams across the whole of Angus.
If you are waiting to hear about the allocation of properties, please be patient, as the demand on our housing requirements have drastically changed, and we are now not able to allocate until needs have been reassessed.
Non-emergency repairs may also be affected as our contractors are working hard to fix damage caused by the storm.
If you wish to contact your housing officer or Community Housing Teams to discuss your housing needs, please contact ACCESSLine on 03452 777 778. Officers may not be able to accept direct texts or emails and we wish to avoid any unnecessary complaints.
We recognise that this is an extremely frustrating time, and we assure you that we are working hard to minimise delays. However, we would ask for patience and understanding at this time.
Further to our post yesterday and worsening weather conditions today, we have decided to do Emergency Repairs only until the end of Friday 20 October.
Our priority is for the safety of all staff and contractors, which includes travelling to a property and carrying out the repair.
There will be no external Emergency repairs carried out, only internal works. Where there are damaged roofs and leaks, contractors will attempt to do their best to either board up from inside or lay protection or buckets inside to catch any water ingress, making them as wind and water-tight as they can. Repairs will then be followed up and completed in due course.
We expect another unsettled weather pattern in the Angus area with an AMBER warning between 10:00 and 18:00 on Thursday 19 October with Storm Babet likely to bring gusts over 70mph and prolonged rainfall. This moves to a RED warning from 18:00 on Thursday 19 October to 12:00 on Friday 20 October where exceptional rainfall is expected to cause severe flooding and disruption.
This will no doubt see an increase in repair calls during these times. As always, safety is paramount and all contractors and staff have to consider safety when attending to all repairs resulting from the weather. As has been the case previously when we have experienced bad weather, our contractors will only be able to carry out work and repairs if it is safe to do so.
This will include not being able to work on any damaged roofs. If it is deemed unsafe to work on the roof, they will attempt to do their best to either board up from the inside or lay protection or buckets inside to catch any water, making them as wind and water-tight as they can. Repairs will then be followed up and completed in due course.
The Scottish Government has published new Statutory Guidance for Landlords on the Repairing Standard. Landlords will have one year to prepare for these requirements which come into force on 1 March 2024.
From 1 March next year all private rented properties in Scotland will need to have central heating, a kitchen with adequate space and facilities to prepare and store food.
The guidance brings together both existing and new duties included in the Repairing Standard with which private landlords will be required to comply from 1 March next year.
New duties cover kitchens, heating systems, common parts, and fuel supplies.
The revised Repairing Standard will include a requirement to have safely accessible food storage and food preparation space in private rented houses. Scottish landlords will also be required to provide a fixed heating system in their properties.
The guidance also covers the action landlords must already take to prevent damp and mould.
Housing Secretary Shona Robison said:
“Landlords have one year to meet our updated Repairing Standard, which will improve the condition of private rented property, make homes safer and ensure consistency between the social and private rented sectors.
“The majority of private landlords will already be meeting these standards. The guidance published today will help landlords better understand their responsibilities and ensure those who do need to carry out works can do so in advance of the 1 March 2024 deadline.
“All rented homes are required to meet standards that ensure they are free from damp and mould, and this guidance will help us to ensure this happens in the private rented sector.”
We currently have a problem with our computer system where we record repairs. At the moment, ACCESSLine can only take Emergency repairs and tenants are asked to call back to report any other repairs when our system is up and running.
Everyone involved is working as hard as they can to fix this issue and we will post here as soon as the issue is resolved.
Thank you for your patience.
We expect high winds in excess of 50mph in the Angus area to continue until late afternoon on Friday 17 February.
This is likely to result in an increase in repair calls today and over the weekend. As always, safety is paramount and all our contractors and staff have to take safety into consideration when attending all repairs, particularly those that are a result of bad weather. As has been the case previously, when we are experiencing bad weather, our contractors will only be able to carry out work and repairs if it is safe to do so.
This may include not being able to work on any damaged roofs and, if it is deemed unsafe to work on the roof, they will do their best to either board up from the inside or lay protection or buckets inside to catch any water leaks, making them as wind and water-tight as they can. They will follow up and complete the repair as soon as it is safe to do so.
We are aware that a number of tenants in Montrose, Brechin, Forfar and Kirriemuir areas are waiting for incomplete repairs to be carried out in their homes. We are continuing to make sure that the outgoing contractor, MPS Ltd, fulfills their contractual duty by completing them.
If you have concerns about work quality or timescales, please contact us at oustandinghousingrepairs@angus.gov.uk with the following details, and we will investigate and action this for you.
• Name
• Address
• Date repair was reported (if you have this)
• Details of the repair reported.
• Contact email address and telephone number
Any work that MPS Ltd is unable to complete will be reallocated to another contractor by our officer dealing with the backlog.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused by the recent repairs disruption and would assure you we will try to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.
Please report all new repairs to the ACCESSLine on 03452 777 778. These will be carried outby the replacement repairs contractor for Montrose, Brechin, Forfar and Kirriemuir – QAPM.
ACCESSLine will close at 5 pm on Wednesday 1 June 2022 and will reopen on Monday 6 June 2022 at 8.45 am. During this time, customers will still be able to report emergency repairs and these include:
Customers can also report emergency roofless situations and the contact number for both services are: 03452 777 778
Angus Council Housing News 