New contracts have been signed by City of York Council to help improve and maintain the 7,520 homes of its tenants.
Following a rigorous procurement process, seven contractors have been secured to deliver ongoing work to repair and prevent damp in the homes, the Tenants’ Choice programme and external painting.
To support the £2.5 million investment underway to repair and prevent damage being done to homes by standing water, two new contractors have been appointed. Engie and G Sanders Builder Ltd will work on homes affected by poorly-drained clay soil, present in some areas of York, and which can create damp conditions.
Their target is to complete work on 60 homes per year as part of a rolling programme. Tenants whose homes are due for this work will receive letters at least two months before it is due to start, to organise surveys with the contractor. Depending on what the survey finds, the work is agreed with the tenant to resolve the symptoms and underlying causes of the damage. Where appropriate, Tenants’ Choice refurbishments may also be carried out at the same time.
The Tenants’ Choice contracts are to modernise tenants’ kitchens and/or bathrooms as well as re-wiring properties. Over the next four years this will be delivered by BM Services York and by Engie across some 1,000 homes. All tenants on next year’s programme will receive a letter in the spring time to organise surveys and to invite them to an exhibition event to see the choices available to them.
External painting of tenants’ homes will be done by three firms; Bagnalls Group, Novus Solutions and Bell Group. For the four-year duration of the contracts, they will paint external wooden areas including fascia boards, garden gates and external doors.
Cllr Denise Craghill, Executive Member for Housing and Safer Neighbourhoods at City of York Council, said:
“Our tenants rightly expect good-quality homes which are well-maintained by us, their landlord. We also expect good quality work from our contractors to ensure that these homes are well maintained and repaired. Just as we have been rigorous in procuring them, as a responsible landlord, we will hold them to account for the work they do.
“We will write to tenants shortly to let them know about the new contractors they can expect to meet, and to update them on when work is due to be carried out on their homes.”
Repair work needed outside these programmes of work should continue to be reported as usual at www.york.gov.uk/CouncilHomeRepairs or by calling 01904 551550 (option 4, option 1).