We’re taking the next step in improving our repairs and maintenance service by appointing a long-term partner to support repairs in your homes.
Over the past year, we’ve been running a formal process to find the right partner. This included listening to feedback from customers and colleagues about what matters most when it comes to repairs, including reliability, value for money, quality of work and good communication.
Following this process, we now intend to award our long-term repairs contract to Mears.
Before we can officially award the contract, we’ve some legal processes to complete including a customer consultation, known as a Section 20 consultation, with customers who pay a service charge. This is a legal requirement when entering long-term contracts where costs may be recovered through service charges. It gives customers who pay those charges the opportunity to review the proposal and provide comments. The consultation runs from 16 March to 20 April.
What’s happening now
From 16 March, around 9,000 customers who pay a service charge will receive a Section 20 consultation letter.
The letter explains the outcome of the tender process and gives customers the opportunity to share comments (known as “observations”) about the proposed contract.
What this means for you
While only some customers receive the Section 20 letter, all customers will receive repairs through the new service once it begins.
Between now and the start of our long-term contract, our priority remains the same; ensure that we’re providing you a reliable repairs service. Mears will continue to provide our interim repairs service, as they have been since February 2025, and following the Section 20 consultation they’ll begin working with our teams to launch the new repairs service.
We’ll continue to share our weekly repairs performance updates on the current service on our website and socials.
What happens next
After the consultation ends on 20 April, we’ll review any feedback we receive.
Subject to that feedback, we’ll then be able to award our long-term repairs contract to Mears Group.
From then on, we’ll begin preparing for the new long-term repairs contract to start. This stage - known as mobilisation - makes sure systems, teams and processes are ready so the new service runs smoothly.
We expect the new repairs service to begin late summer 2026. We must ensure that the long-term contract is right, providing us with seamless integration and processes that work for us, our customers, and our repairs partner, so we won’t rush the mobilisation process.
Keep any eye out for service updates on our website, social media channels, and in customer newsletters as we move closer to launching the new service.
For now, if you need to report a repair, please continue to do this in the usual way.
