Improving Response on Repair and Universal Credit Use

This report discusses the decline in rent submission and dissatisfaction with repairs since the introduction of universal credit. It highlights the need for training staff and residents on using universal credit cards and suggests improvements in maintenance and repair processes. The report also emphasizes the importance of holding an emergency AGM to address these issues.

Title: Improving response on repair
requirements well as education on
universal card use
Meeting: Board of Management

Report from: Policy Officer -
Silvertree Housing Association
Report to: Board of management
Silvertree Housing Association
Item number: 2 Report type: Information
Summary: There has been decline in the rate of the rent submission or payment
since the introduction of the universal credit payment system. This can be
attributed to the ignorance on how to use the card-card loading. Also they have
been dissatisfied with the response of the repairs which has never been timely.
Silvertree Housing Association has highlighted the mechanisms of addressing these issues
amicably.
To: The Silvertree Housing Association Board
From: The policy officer.
Silvertree Housing Association is apparently one of the best companies offering
premium services .Apparently the company provide facilities in the region which are perceived
to be very affordable. The Silvertree company was started to ensure provision of after purchase
services by the residents. The company has a group of well-trained professional personnel as
well as independent partners that provide solution to the customer’s needs while applying ethical
principles.(Lloyd, Peel, and Janssen 2015).
Silvertree does not only offer selections of villas and apartments to the client but also
agents of housing. Such provision allows clients to make a good choice of full time services of

management. The client is also free to share their problems with the board of management of the
Silvertree Housing Association anytime the problem arises. The company website, contact lines,
as well as social platform, ensure provision of a platform for interaction on which anyone may
present their concern on the level of individual before engineer on the site takes the notification
for repair. In case the problems spread wide or persist, the residents may attend a public meeting
to state any challenges that the members encounter as well as identifying the solution.
Repair or maintenance is done regularly thus ensuring that the buildings are kept in good
conditions for working. The maintenance/repair activities include lubrication of movable parts
like hinges and locks, repairing wall cracks, walls cleaning, servicing sewer lines and water, as
well as cleaning the drainage system. Most of these activities comprise of security light repair
and electrical connection thus ensuring that the security system is maintained. For continuity,
Silvertree is considering the chances of these problems that are connected to the drainage,
environmental sanitation services so as to generate the solution to these challenges before giving
direct help. By use of advocacy, the work of the agent is to implement changes within the society
which aim in the improvement of the status of the victimized people. Such initiatives are
empowering them through the provision of better community conditions of residential
allocations.
The current concern to be addressed
 Residents are dissatisfied with the responsive repairs service
In the past few months, many complaints have been received from the Silvertree
Housing Association clients or residential occupants concerning numerous issues that affect their

living condition. In most cases, the problem is caused by the poor transition plan by the
maintenance and repair committees. These committees have been receiving many complaints
from the resident before they can organize the repair in the apartment and their surroundings.
Whereas, In the past few months, the transitional committee have been denied the executive
power to toper sue the measures or budget for a higher profile repair.
The dissolution of the previous committee was through the court ruling and therefore
the appointment of a new committee would be executed in the next AGM by the company.
Despite the fact transitional committees have had the responsibility of checking as well as
maintaining the work of repair prior to the changing of role by the mandated committee, the
fully fledged team will have to rely on the petty cash and additional budget( supplementary)
from small income projects located in the estates. Besides rent collection, the building
maintenance and repair that is general infrastructure is the most crucial responsibility of the
company. Therefore, most of the tenants measure the failure and the success of the company
through checking on the effectiveness of how the company responds to factors that affect them
daily as well as checking a few things that could be done by the association to increase the
efficiency.
The ability of the association to conduct checking routinely, sort out repairs on emergency
basis, timely planning, trusted maintenance as well as carrying out the projected improvement
are the main reasons for the success of the housing association(Lloyd, Peel, and Janssen 2015).
This particular organization has created an awareness of the problems of communication
affecting the residents and the concerned committee besides addressing the manner in which
acceptable repairs can be carried out. The situation can be improved on by commissioning a new
committee. However, Silvertree must request their landlords to be fully in charge of the

responsivities of the major repair needed in the apartment so that they can be refunded their
expenses on repair later. And also it is the work of the company to encourage their tenants to
have an arrangement by their landlords for the same or minor repair when there is a need.
Eastward Housing Estate is one of the real estates that was constructed by the company
and then repurchased by commercial and residential houses are the best example of how the
Silvertree need to improve the repair quality that they offer. The company locates its properties
most along the highways, therefore, make their demand to be higher for occupation. To achieve
the maintenance of quality houses, the company has empowered the housing association as well
as the tenant in engaging in maintenance and repair. The tenants are advised to let the committee
know any problem occurred so that the repair can be done as soon as possible to avoid delay to
the that may be harmful to the tenant as well as the building itself.
The should be responsible for taking care of the building and even the whole of the
property by controlling irresponsible waste dumping, reporting vandalism cases as well as
engaging in ensuring that the building and the environment are well maintained. This association
is not a part of the landlord, therefore the shareholders are reminded to know that they are their
own landlords and they will run at a loss if the property r breaks down after the sale.
The organization gives responsible residents bonuses if they are convinced that the
maintenance is done to the standards that were wet by the estate management since it can be
resold to huge profit than the dilapidated unit. Therefore, the approach motivates the tenant to be
very responsible in their places of dwellings. This maintenance and repair approach has favored
Eastward Housing Estate over the past two twenty years while the apartment quality has been
maintained to the highest level so far. Thus, Silvertree must adopt the style to help them reduce
the cost of maintenance as well as encouraging their tenants to be responsible for their dwellings.

Newly introduced Technology of Universal Credit system of rent payment
 This has led to the rising of the rent arrears partly due to the introduced Universal Credit.
In the new tenancy agreement maintained by Silvertree Housing Association do not provide any
rent adjustment or abatement terms of payments(Bean, Shafer, and Glennon 2013). This implies
that any issue concerning rent payment default by the tenants is out of concern by the association
unless there is the laws are altered to encourage flexibility in the structure of rent payments. The
system currently provides only a termination of the agreement of tenancy if the party get it
difficult in fulfilling the obligations. Whereas the association can be subjected to any adjustment
whenever the problem affects the majority of their customers since it is not very practical to
terminate all the tenant’s agreement(Fields and Uffer 2016). In cases like this one, measures
including advising the tenants to pay little by little until their tenancy period is over would be
better. The worst situation is where the tenant who cannot pay their rent should be encouraged to
leave the building. This contributes to the reduction in their financial burden so to allow the
smooth estate running.
Super plan for improving the services
Improvement plan:
Action Target Date Responsible
character
Training for staff
and resident
representatives on
how to use
Universal Credit
Card.
All members of
staff that work
within the sector of
housing training
Starting date to be
August 2019
Department of
training
House to be
subjected to the
Tenants to be
supplied with
Starting from Officers of the

decoration Universal Credit
Card that are
automatic hence
can easily be
loaded
Also tenants to be
supplied with the
material of the
decoration at least
after every 3
months
March 2020 Housing
Voids Officers
Employment of the
trained staff to
guide the residents
on how to use
Universal Credit
Cards.
Advertisement for
job opportunity to
be done on the
organization
website
Starting from
March 2020
Human resources
management team
Organization of the
Meeting of the
tenants to discuss
their concerns in
relation to repair
issues
Quarterly tenant
meeting to be
adopted
Starting from
August 2020
Management of
the Housing
Activities
Officers of the
Housing programs
AGM date Revision
There is need for the Silvertree Housing Association to have its AGM held a on the emergency
basis. This will open ways for the formation of the committee which will be responsible for the
activities of maintenance. This will seemingly be the immediate solution to the problems being
faced by the residents. Since any delay may result in the massive repair causing huge profit to

the company(Busch 2013). The committee will also check the dissatisfaction of the resident in
consideration on contentious issues. The constituted committee should have some qualified
professionals with different supervision field and repair approved based on their damaging
extent. In these cases, the committee should ensure that there is qualified personnel such as
electricians, plumber, security, landscape managers, architecture and even by the IT expert and
environment conservationist.
Maintenance is done by the landlord
Before any house is handed over to any interested part for accommodation or for any
other activity as specified, it will be a total responsibility of the landlord to ensure that the house
is fully furnished. This will be ascertained through provision of certificate of inspection. The
certificate musty capture evaluation from the cellular regions up to the section of the
roof(Bluestone et al 2013). The report should therefore be comprehensive enough to include
coevolution information in the structure on consideration. Such information may include passing
on integrity of the smoke detectors, guards of the windows as well as the paint remover. The
building weatherization would be seen as one of the key areas of health and safety concerns.
Such areas should be subjected to routine inspection on the regular basis. The maintenance and
repair committee should liaise with the landlords to facilitate a regular inspection and building
repair even if the landlords are not there.
Contribution of the tenants
In general, the tenancy agreements do not give the tenant any legal obligation in making
any improvement on the apartments. Even though the tenant becomes shareholder automatically
as soon as they hire the building and after then they are charged with minor duties of carrying out

relatively cheap maintenance in their residential places(Austin, Gurran and Whitehead 2014).
Some of the areas where tenants will be expected to carry out maintenance in person include the
private sections. This is allowed so as to ensure that individual privacy is respected and not
infringed.
When there is a need to make the user account to use the property, unprecedented facility
damages to be avoided within the apartments. The task like lose crew fastening, touch-up paint,
as well as carpentry work to be done by tenants while using the tools given by the company. This
would mean that tenants should not be subjected to any form of compensation in regard to the
work done. In the event that there is a lot of repair work, the company should respond by inviting
repair expert to carry out maintenance on the respective areas.
References
Austin, P.M., Gurran, N. and Whitehead, C.M., 2014. Planning and affordable housing in
Australia, New Zealand and England: common culture; different mechanisms. Journal of
Housing and the Built Environment, 29(3), pp.455-472.
Bean, K.F., Shafer, M.S. and Glennon, M., 2013. The impact of housing first and peer support on
people who are medically vulnerable and homeless. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 36(1),
p.48.

Bluestone, B., Billingham, C., White, E., Siflinger, M., Davis, T., Reardon, T., Hodgetts, N. and
Huessy, J., 2013. The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2013. The Boston Foundation
October, 7.
Busch-Geertsema, V., 2013. Housing First Europe: Final Report. Bremen/Brussels: European
Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity.
Fields, D. and Uffer, S., 2016. The financialisation of rental housing: A comparative analysis of
New York City and Berlin. Urban Studies, 53(7), pp.1486-1502.
Lloyd, M.G., Peel, D. and Janssen-Jansen, L.B., 2015. Self-build in the UK and Netherlands:
mainstreaming self-development to address housing shortages?. Urban, planning and transport
research, 3(1), pp.19-31.