Housing Minister Christopher Pincher has written an open letter
to social housing residents to provide update from the Government
on the steps being taken to support them during the Government's
plan to reopen society as the country emerges from the coronavirus
lockdown.
In the letter published on 18 May
2020,
the Housing Minister said that the Government was "expecting
many landlords to resume external planned maintenance works and
services" but that "internal planned maintenance will only take
place in homes where residents are not shielding or
self-isolating".
The letter also opens the door for landlords to carry out
repairs in empty properties, so that they can be relet to new
tenants.
Publication of the Minister's letter comes after the Government
published guidance to help employers and employees understand how
to work safely during the coronavirus pandemic, including guidance
on carrying out construction and outdoor
work and guidance on carrying
out work in people's homes.
The Housing Minister's letter does recognise that as we start to
emerge from the Government's lockdown measures, landlords should be
able to begin to reinstate routine as well as essential repairs for
most households but that as only urgent repairs were carried out
during the first phase of the lockdown there will inevitably be a
backlog of repairs (including repairs that were not reported during
the lockdown) that landlords will need to address, so it may take
longer than normal to carry out more non-essential work.
Councils will be beginning to plan for how they can begin to
reinstate their normal repair and maintenance services whilst at
the same time ensuring that their staff and contractors can work
safely, maintaining social distancing and in turn protecting
residents. ARCH has been informed by officials at the Ministry of
Housing that local authority landlords can expect to receive
further guidance shortly on carrying out repairs and maintenance
and estate services, including routine and planned maintenance and
repairs to vacant properties, during this phase of the crisis.
The Minster's letter clarifies that no work should be carried
out in any home where the household is self-isolating or where an
individual is being shielded "unless it is to remedy a direct
risk".
ARCH and other local authority representative groups have been
asked to share the letter as widely as possible with our members
and the Government is asking all housing authorities to
place it on their websites, promote it on their
social media platforms and distribute it
through electronic mailing lists.