Non-essential repairs will be gradually reintroduced during March.
The publication of the national ‘road map’ to easing coronavirus restrictions means that believe housing is able to plan for the gradual reintroduction of all non-essential repairs.
Work on non-essential repairs that have already been reported began on Monday, March 8. Customers who have reported repairs will be contacted to arrange a convenient appointment in advance.
From Monday, March 29 onwards, new appointments will be available for non-essential repairs. All methods of reporting repairs will be available again from this point, including the believe housing customer app. The app is still the quickest and most convenient way for most customers to request a repair.
Director of Property Repairs at believe housing, Rachel Cox, said: “The national road map set out a gradual approach to reducing coronavirus restrictions. We’re doing the same with the introduction of repairs.
“I know lots of customers are looking forward to having repairs completed, but we can’t take our eye off the ball on safety either. We also think that it’s only fair to start the process by dealing with repairs that were reported but held up due to the coronavirus restrictions introduced late last year.
“I’ve got to thank our customers for their understanding throughout the pandemic. The only way we’ve been able to keep everyone safe is by working together. The gradual reduction of restrictions does not mean we’ll be taking our eye off safety. Our staff will still be wearing all of the necessary personal protective equipment and we’ll still be asking customers to take all of the required precautions too.”
Government advice is still to minimise non-essential contact, believe housing has used a range of measures to try and reduce the need to go into homes. Many of these are expected to continue. This includes talking customers through simple problems, like bleeding radiators, over the phone. The alternative methods of dealing with repairs have the added benefit that they can be far quicker than a standard appointment could ever be, even in normal times.
