Help Camden’s Housing & Repairs services improve how we respond to complaints and learn from them
Are you passionate about creating positive change in social housing? Do you want to make a difference to what happens with Camden Council Housing & Repairs complaints? If so, then we want your help!
Our Housing & Repairs services receive and investigate complaints from residents who are unhappy with the service we’ve provided them. Every single one of those cases is an opportunity for us to understand and learn from what went wrong, so we don’t make the same mistakes again.
We don’t always make the most of these opportunities, but with your help we want to get better at learning from complaints, and improving the problems they highlight.
Camden Council have released a series of short YouTube videos showing how residents can do simple DIY jobs themselves, without having to involve the Council’s Repairs team.
The government has announced plans to introduce new laws to tackle the problems of social housing landlords providing sub-standard housing.
Councils and housing associations would be subject to “Ofsted-style” inspections, and could face unlimited fines if conditions are found to be really bad and the landlord doesn’t fix the problems.
Following flooding in areas of Camden on Monday 12 July, Council teams including housing repairs have been working with emergency services to support residents who have been affected.
If you need emergency repairs to your council home caused by flooding, call us on 020 7974 4444, option 3 then 1. We are currently receiving a very high volume of calls so please bear with us if you are struggling to get through. If you or someone else is in immediate danger call the emergency services on 999.
Contact your neighbourhood housing officer if you need help or support because of flooding. There is more information about the flooding and support for Camden residents on our website.
We are currently only taking emergency calls and we expect that to be the case for at least until the end of the week. If your repair is not an emergency, please report it online using your Camden Account.
Please be aware that if you report an emergency which isn’t an emergency, our repairs staff will not complete your job and you will need to book another appointment.
We have had to cancel some non-emergency repairs this week so that we can prioritise the people whose homes have been affected by the floods. If your repair has been delayed, we apologise for the inconvenience as we know that some tenants have been waiting a long time for non-essential repairs. We assure you we will get to your job as quickly as we can.
Thank you all for your patience.
Danny Waite, Head of Repairs and Operations
Scot Reid, Head of Property Customer Services and Engagement
Emergency and essential repairs to continue during lockdown
Dear Resident
The Council will continue to carry out emergency and essential repairs inside tenants’ homes, and repairs to communal areas will continue if it is safe to do so during the current lockdown.
However, some repairs may take longer to be resolved. We will still respond to all emergency repairs in six to 24 hours, but tenants will now need to wait up to 20 working days (previously 10 working days) for essential jobs.
Emergency repairs include suspected gas or carbon monoxide leaks, loss of hot water or any other works needed to keep homes safe.
Urgent repairs include restoring partial loss of power, such as to sockets, serious leaks or other problems that are likely to lead to further damage if they aren’t fixed.
Please do not report any repairs that are not urgent or an emergency (for example cosmetic plastering, or a dripping tap) as we will not be able to book them.
Save time and book online. You can report emergency and essential repairs on 020 7974 4444 (option 3 then 1) but it is always quicker to report online at camden.gov.uk/housing-repairs
Please bear with us
Staff are working really hard to keep your homes in good repair during this difficult time. As always, your safety is their priority. Please bear with us as this may mean we take longer to get to your job, as staff make sure that they wash their hands and tools and change PPE between jobs. This is to keep you and them safe and to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
You may wait slightly longer than normal if you call us to report repairs – this is because some of our operators have been moved temporarily to other parts of the Council to help in the Covid-19 response. You can save time by booking repairs online at camden.gov.uk/housing-repairs
Only report an emergency repair in a real emergency
Our repairs team will always attend an emergency request to make sure that you are safe and secure, but at the moment, even more than ever, they need to focus on genuine emergency jobs. If our staff are called to an emergency request that isn’t an emergency or is different to what was described in the booking, they will not be able to carry out the repair and you will be asked to book a separate appointment.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. We will let you know if anything changes.