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United Living subsidiary secures £40m repairs contract with London council
A subsidiary of United Living has secured an eight-year, £40m repairs contract with the London Borough of Harrow.
United Living Property Services (ULPS) will deliver the maintenance works for approximately 5,000 properties across the borough.
ULPS will be carrying out day-to-day responsive repairs, void repairs and planned maintenance.
John Farrell, managing director of ULPS, said: “We are pleased to announce this project, working in partnership with the London Borough of Harrow to provide essential repair and maintenance services to properties, and ensure a clean, safe environment for residents across the community.
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“The new online portal will enable the London Borough of Harrow and United Living to effectively communicate and engage with tenants regularly to ensure we capture their feedback and act quickly to respond to any evolving needs.”
Tenants can book and track repairs through the council’s online housing account, which was launched in April.
ULPS will also integrate its 24/7, 365 days-a-year workforce software solution for residents to access live information on repairs and provide feedback through SMS notifications or their preferred communication channel.
Mina Parmar, portfolio holder for housing at the London Borough of Harrow, said: “Everyone has the right to feel safe and at ease in their homes. When it comes to repair issues, we want to make sure these are dealt with and resolved in a timely manner.
“That’s why we’ve joined forces with United Living. Our new partnership will enhance the service we provide by making it easier and quicker for our housing tenants to report repairs. They will help us capture repairs in advance, and work to finish repairs quickly, so that tenants can get back to enjoying their homes.
“We’re looking forward to working with our new partners to deliver a high-quality service and continue putting our residents first.”
A potentially significant ruling on service charges came out this week, after a tribunal judge ruled that a London council was not entitled to recover the cost of remedying structural defects caused by a building’s construction from leaseholders through their service charge.
Tower Hamlets Council lost an appeal following a decision by a first-tier tribunal, after nine out of 32 leaseholders of the Barley Mow Estate in east London brought the case forward.
The ruling concerns the use of a large-panel system, a construction technique widely used in the 1960s, whereby mass-produced concrete slabs were bolted together to form the walls and floors of a building.
The council was criticised in July 2019 for retaining the two tower blocks on the estate built using the same system as Ronan Point – a tower block that partially collapsed in 1968 – where structural issues have been uncovered.
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