Since joining in October, I’ve spent my first months listening to customers and colleagues to help understand our challenges, particularly with our repairs service. I’ll be frank: our repairs service has not been good enough and I’m genuinely sorry for the inconvenience this has caused so many of you. That’s why we took action last month and made the decision to end our contract with Morgan Sindall Property Services.
My personal mission is to transform your repairs experience. This isn’t a quick fix – it will take time. We’ve got interim arrangements in place and we’re working towards a long-term solution that ensures a reliable, quality repairs service. I’m not just here to manage Moat – I want to create a community where your concerns are heard, your feedback drives real change, and you ultimately live in a home and community you feel proud of.
I recently invited our customer advocates, a group of Moat residents who regularly volunteer their time to help shape our services, to ask me questions.
Why? Because I believe in open, honest communication.
Find out what they asked me below.
Best wishes
My main focus has been trying to just get a sense of where we are as a landlord and what our priorities need to be. Moat covers quite a geography and I'm really keen to visit more of our communities. I've been out to work from Pollards Hill a few times and I'm going to visit Maldon and other areas soon. In terms of 100 days, it's re-establishing our priorities, having a clear sense of where we're going with repairs and a roadmap to how we go from where we are now to being a landlord that we can all be really proud of.
Very good question. It would be the question I would ask if I was a customer. We're on the path to achieving that. Step one was to give notice to MSPS. Step two is to get in place some interim arrangements. And then step three is to do the permanent recruitment.
I do think the market for repairs contractors is better now than it was. The pandemic certainly created real challenges around workforce. Contractors were finding it hard to recruit people. Brexit meant a loss of people from the industry. So, there were real shortfalls in the workforce. That's got better, which is good news for us. When we're thinking about getting the right repairs contractor, my view is you get the repairs contractor that you deserve. So, if we manage them properly then we're more likely to get a good repairs service that you as customers pay for. That's my view in week eight. Again, I think this is a conversation we're going to be having every month and I'm sure I'll be answering this question again and let's see how my answer develops.
I'm delighted that you've had a positive experience, but that's just not the case for the majority of our customers and when I look at the performance figures, they tell a different story. On all the measures that we manage a contract on, it wasn't performing in the way we would want. And frankly, it was the only sensible decision to make on the back of all that evidence. We still need to see who gets the interim contract and Mears have put themselves forward to manage this. I've worked with Mears before and genuinely believe that Mears would be an upgrade on the experience that the vast majority of our customers have had. There's a lot of work for us to do to around the permanent long-term contract to make sure that we make the right decision. So, as I say, I'm delighted that you've had a good experience, but it's sadly not shared.
Well, I can't argue with the facts. You're absolutely right about both of those issues. I personally intend to stay at Moat to sort out the repairs contract and get us on to an even keel and delivering a really great repair service. That's my personal mission. So, I can give you that commitment.
We've made the decision to end our contract with Morgan Sindall to improve your repairs experience. That was in some ways the easiest part. We've now got some interim arrangements in place that we hope will definitely improve the situation from where it's been. But that still doesn't get us to where I ideally want our repairs service to be. That's a slightly more medium term goal. So, I can give you that answer now. You're probably going to need to ask me that question again in 12 months’ time, and I'll give you my answer then.
I'm sorry because no one should feel that way. I don't expect that many Moat customers are going to be terribly happy right now, because the most important service we provide is repairs, and that service has been below our expectations and certainly, below what you pay for. That’s just not good enough. My job is to make sure we get on and sort that out so that you've got a repair service that you can rely on. So, has it been good enough? No, it hasn’t and I'm genuinely sorry about that. That’s not why I’m here - I work at Moat because of the difference we can make in a positive way, not in a negative way. So, I'm really sorry and we will definitely be doing better.
I'm really sorry that's your experience. None of these things should be taking this long and happening in that way. We definitely need to be better at dealing with leaks and roofs. I've seen that as a consistent theme in some of our complaints. So, I need to understand why we're not doing more around that. It's not good for you and your family.
And in terms of communication, we should be a lot better than that too. We should be more proactive - we should be telling you, not expecting you to chase us. Again, I'm really sorry - that definitely needs to change and improve but it's not going to be quick. There's no point me pretending that somehow, I'm going to fix things very quickly. It's going to take a while to do that. I absolutely accept what you're saying, and I recognise that we need to be a lot better at both of those.
I've never worked anywhere where we haven't had to use some subcontractors. Whoever's doing the main repairs contract, they're often a specialist area, whether they're lifts, mechanical or electrical works, that sometimes the main contractor just doesn't have the skills to do. Which means either they have to subcontract it out or we have to work with other subcontractors. So, there's something about the model of how repairs are delivered that means you have to work with specialists.
Are we always great at contract managing those specialists? I'm not sure - your question suggests we're not. Something for me to look at. For me, as a landlord, getting contract management right is always incredibly important. Procuring the contract is relatively straightforward. It's how you manage that ongoing relationship and making sure that you get consistent performance. So, it's a good heads up for me to have a look at how we're dealing with that at the moment. Thank you!
My honest answer is I haven’t got round to looking at this area yet. My priorities have been around the repairs contract but it’s a really good question you ask. My preferred way of working is I like to work with a clerk of works, and I like to employ people directly who are closely observing what builders are doing – dropping in unannounced at varied times to look at the site and how well managed it is and the work that has been done. It’s something I need to explore in more detail. I’m conscious I’m not answering your question, but I can tell you how I’d like to approach it moving forward.
Oh, that's a good question. So, my immediate answer is I will go away and have a look at my induction programme and see whether I'm going to visit any of our sheltered housing soon. I have visited one of our schemes in January of this year. I’ll review my planned visits for 2025 and make sure I pop in and have a chat with some customers.
If you’ve any questions you would like to ask Gavin, please get in touch.