Budget update | Challenges and service changes
Published: 18 April 2024
Service changes will affect fence repairs and painting.
Like all other housing providers, we’re having to balance our budgets whilst experiencing significant inflationary pressures, high interest rates and increasing obligations from the Regulator of Social Housing.
To manage this, we have had to make some tough decisions, whilst still ensuring that your home remains safe, secure, affordable and of a decent standard. Some of the ways we are looking at making savings, include:
- Reviewing the number of staff we employ
- Reducing grants paid to external partners
- Revising non-essential maintenance plans on areas, like fencing and painting
Despite these challenges, we remain committed to making sure your home meets regulatory standards in decency, that your rent remains excellent value for money compared to the private sector, and that our core services are delivered to a high standard.
Changes to maintenance of fencing
From April 2024, we will no longer routinely replace, repair or paint all existing fencing. Instead, we will focus our fencing maintenance and replacement programmes:
- in communal areas
- where properties adjoin public spaces. For example, where a rear garden adjoins a park.
- where there is a safety risk, such as a busy main road or change in ground levels that creates potential trip or fall hazard.
Any fence that is deemed dangerous will be made safe, but will not be repaired or replaced. For any exceptional cases, we will carry out an individual assessment to inform our decision.
Where there is a boundary dispute, we will separate two properties using a post and rail fencing.
As our new timber fencing is pre-treated and protected, it will usually not be necessary to also paint it when it is installed. This will not reduce the lifespan or the physical appearance of the fencing.
We've updated our Repair responsibilities web-page to reflect these changes.
Changes to painting
If a section of an external wall or an internal communal wall needs repainting, we may only repaint that section and not the entire wall or area.