Report and Presentation attached.

The Assistant Director of Housing Property Services provided the sub-committee with an overview on Voids. Members received an update report on the progress of the Council’s management of void properties within its housing stock.

Members noted that the key objectives for the housing service are to make void properties available for letting as quickly as possible, minimising rent loss and maximising the housing available. It is also to ensure that the homes we provide are clean, safe, secure and comply with the Council’s ready to let standard.

The Sub-Committee was informed that the council manages approximately 9,250 homes including Private Sector Housing (PSH) of which approximately 757 became vacant last year. It was noted that on average, there are around 80 voids with the maintenance & lettings service at any one time. Last year we received 14.5 voids per week.

The Assistant Director of Housing Property Services stated that the council’s customer satisfaction data relating to void performance was poor. Members were advised that the service have just launched customer satisfaction postcards that gathers resident’s feedback in relation to the voids and lettings service.

The sub-committee service is also implementing a pre-exit process lead by the re-housing and terminations team. During this time, a pre exit survey will be undertaken identifying resident recharges thus reducing the costs of works and the amount of work required. The introduction of the advance notice period will also allow for the pre-organisation and allocation of the correct resources

The Assistant Director of Housing Property Services advised that the historic void process was cumbersome with multiple tasks required prior to the raising of the main voids works order. The time between notification and the raising of the primary void works order was between 5-10 working days.

It was stated that all of the tasks have now been streamlined into the main voids works order eliminating the pre void period of 5-10 days. The only void work order raised is the primary void basket rate and this is raised and processed on day one.

The Sub-committee noted that Havering’s void performance when benchmarking against our London peers is not only top quartile performance, but also significantly outperforming top quartile performance.

Top quartile performance is considered 66.27 days with The London Borough of Havering’s current void performance is achieving an impressive 55.13 days.

The benchmarking data used is based on 2023-24 HouseMark Annual benchmarking for the same indicator measures (keys to keys) the average end-to-end time London council peer group.

The keys to keys turnaround times’ year-end 2024-25 returned a performance of 55.1 days against year-end 2020-21 80.2 days. The comparisons demonstrate the significant improvement in current Key-to-key performance of 25.1 days.

Following discussion and question, Members agreed the following recommendations for officers to take away and consider for follow-up action.

Recommendations:

1. Key-to-Key Process Data
   The Sub-Committee requested detailed data on the key-to-key process, including:
   • The point at which works are deemed complete.
   • The time taken from completion of works to property being re-let.
   • A breakdown of turnaround times by property type (e.g. General Needs, PSA, Hostels).
2. Scale of Works – Voids Classification
   Members asked for data on the scale of works required across void properties, specifically:
   • The number of properties falling into V1, V2, and V3 classifications.
3. Assessment of Works Required (Basket of Works)
   Further clarity was requested on the process used to assess the scope of work required for void properties. The committee would like additional information on:
   • How the “basket of works” is determined.
   • The methodology used to assess and transition voids from one category to another.
4. Cost Recovery from Former Tenants
   A request was made for information regarding the Council’s approach to recovering costs from former tenants, including:
   • Processes in place.
   • Success rates and performance outcomes.
5. 360° Property Viewings
   The Sub-Committee Stanton proposed that existing 360° property viewings be made available on the Council's lettings website. The sub-committee supported:
   • A feasibility review to determine whether these virtual tours can be published online.
   • A suggested approach of uploading template 360° tours for each of the main property layouts (e.g. left-handed and right-handed variants), estimated to be 24 templates in total.
6. Feasibility of Early Tenant Move-In
   The Sub-Committee proposed a feasibility study into the option of allowing prospective tenants to move into properties before non-essential (primarily cosmetic) void works are completed. The request includes:
   • An assessment of the pros and cons of such an approach.
   • Identification of which works could be safely deferred without impacting habitability.

The Sub-Committee proposed to Officers to return with requested data and feasibility assessments as outlined above, Timelines for follow-up to be confirmed.