Proactive Property Maintenance: Better Outcomes, Less Cost
In the UK, around 40% of tenants have unresolved maintenance issues, leaving tenants frustrated, unhelped, and unheard. But this isn’t just because housing providers are lazy or unwilling to solve issues—many housing providers don’t have the right resources and tools needed to get the job done.
In order to bridge that gap and help both tenants and landlords, 8x8 developed 8x8 Active Assessor. 8x8 Active Assessor allows landlords to quickly and cost-effectively gather information about the quality of their properties, prioritise urgent situations, speed up the time between a repair being reported and fixed, and communicate better and more effectively with tenants.
Achieve higher standards in housing
The new standards issued by the Regulator of Housing set out to make landlords more accountable and more knowledgeable about the quality of their homes and the tenants that live in them.
Obtaining this information through outbound calls and physical inspections is costly in time and labour. As a result, housing associations often limit assessments to a small sample of properties, leaving many tenants ignored. In addition, delays in collating and reporting on the data collected can result in unnecessary, and sometimes costly, delays in resolving issues.
Gather more information in less time
To ensure maximum tenant engagement, 8x8 Active Assessor uses SMS—a cost-effective, popular and accessible communication channel for data gathering.
SMS doesn’t require a smartphone or computer, making it more accessible than other digital channels. It is more affordable than running voice surveys and more effective than email, with a 98% open rate compared to an open rate of just 28% for email.
A short SMS survey collects valuable information to highlight issues which require attention and early indicators of more serious issues, such as high levels of condensation that can lead to damp and mould.
In addition, this data is stored and sorted and where an issue is identified tenants are prompted to book an appointment using an on-line self-service option or with an agent. This speeds up property assessments and resolutions and simplifies reporting with statistics and insights to show the number of surveys sent, responses received and information gathered.
Surveys can be easily scheduled and responses routed to prevent customer service teams from becoming overloaded.
“8x8 Active Assessor makes it quick and easy to gather essential information to report on the quality of our homes, improve property management and reduce costs. The proactive approach of the solution makes it really attractive in providing a high level of customer service.” – Rich Harvey, Director of Digital Transformation, Housing Solutions
Minimise complaints
Proactive engagement is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate tenant voices are valued and offer reassurance.
Gathering this information allows landlords to take a proactive approach to repairs, offer tenants advice and make recommendations to prevent conditions from intensifying. Early intervention also allows for better management of tenant expectations and has been reported to reduce complaints by 50%. On the other hand, it is also important to understand the importance of investing in good property maintenance software especially when you want to maintain a portfolio for multiple properties.
Reduce property maintenance costs
By highlighting early warning signs of potentially more serious conditions and providing tenants with valuable advice, conditions can be better managed and actions taken to prevent issues deteriorating and minimise the need for larger, more expensive repairs.
In the UK, winter presents distinct challenges for people’s homes, with social housing residents grappling with myriad issues including damp, mould and low temperatures.
With Active Assessor, more properties can be assessed in less time, using a secure video connection. This allows for fast and accurate evaluations and continuous monitoring, without incurring the cost of site visits. Recordings can be stored, annotated and shared with colleagues to track changes and escalate conditions when they need more attention.
Better allocation of resources frees up engineer time to monitor essential repairs more efficiently and drive down the 35% of unresolved maintenance issues, reported by Housing Digital to be impacting tenant’s health.
React and report
8x8 Active Assessor has been designed to provide landlords with the tools they need to track and analyse tenant interactions.
Most importantly, it encourages tenants to report issues early to avoid larger expensive repairs and potential re-housing.
8 reasons to choose Active Assessor
- Engage with tenants using SMS for maximum response
- Identify warning signs of larger issues
- Record tenant interactions
- Proactively monitor situations and reassure tenants
- Prioritise the most important cases
- Provide faster fixes
- Reduce maintenance costs
- Manage tenant expectations better
Proactive maintenance management is the better way to keep operating costs down and tenant satisfaction up
Early intervention is crucial in maintaining safe homes, improving tenant satisfaction and reducing complaints.
