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Over the last decade or so, the overwhelming percentage
of
maintenance carried out has been responsive, primarily
due to the poor condition of stock and the lack of
capital funding to tackle it. The patch and mend
culture created the requirement for Direct Labour
Organisations and the use of local maintenance
contractors as an ongoing, but temporary fix solution.
All
of this will now change for social landlords as they
each, over a period of time, reach the Decent Homes
Standard. In future, planned major and minor repairs
will exceed responsive repairs and the structure of the
maintenance sector will change forever.
The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA) was
introduced in 2001 as a per-property allowance used to
maintain homes that have been brought up to the Decent
Homes Standard. Social Landlords have the ability to
roll this allowance forward as a sinking fund if
required, which enables long-term planning and
management of resources.
A recent review of the current funding system revealed
that the allowances paid to councils are too low to
maintain the Decent Homes Standard in the long term.
MRA calculations do not accurately reflect council’s
spending, excluding elements such as CCTV, elevators and
the cost of dealing and increased responsibility for
councils as landlords.
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