Resident’s view

By Mary Telford, Resident, Karbon Homes

With close to 30,000 homes across the North East and Yorkshire, Karbon Homes’ in-house repairs and maintenance service carried out 83,000 repairs.

Living in a one-bed bungalow in County Durham, I’ve nothing but praise for the repairs service, with every trade colleague who’s visited my home being excellent and going above and beyond to make sure work is done right and that I’m happy.

From the gas engineer who came to service the boiler, to the electrician who came to fix my lights, I’ve never had a bad experience. I’m so grateful that they make me feel comfortable and are respectful of my home.

Recently I had an issue with my lighting and had an electrician come out. He not only got it sorted but explained what had caused the problem just in case it happened again, which I thought was really kind.

I was with my daughter at the time and he explained to both of us in layman’s terms. It wasn’t at all patronising and I really appreciated it.

I moved into my home just over a year ago and my first major interaction with the service came when a pipe burst in the kitchen.

I was panicking like mad as it had made quite a mess but everything was dealt with fantastically. I don’t have a bad word to say about the whole process. I felt really cared for right the way through.

As I have a number of health issues which need to be taken into consideration when having work carried out, my granddaughter, Ashleigh, is listed on my account as a key contact. Before the work started, Karbon let Ashleigh and I know it’d create lots of dust which could aggravate my breathing. They worked with us to book it in at a time when Ashleigh was available to take me out, which I “I don’t have a bad thought was very caring. word to say about the I really felt they were whole process. I felt putting me and my needs first. really cared for right Whilst out, we were the way through” preparing ourselves for the cleaning we’d need to do when we got back. But in fact we needn’t have worried as the place was left as immaculate as it could’ve been. To have a landlord genuinely wanting to help get problems sorted is amazing. I feel really valued as a customer.

One of the biggest sector challenges since Covid-19 is signing up new residents into available homes. Even with the reduction in the pandemic and associated measures, many landlords’ offices remain closed to customers, with many services being delivered remotely with distributed workforces.

Before Covid, new tenants might meet at the landlord’s office to begin the process, bringing their documentation with them for validation – with return visits required to return completed forms, provide proofs of income, view properties, sign the tenancy agreement, taking the initial rent payment or setting up Direct Debits, and so on.

This could be a laborious process and so, even before Covid, many RSLs were exploring more efficient ways of onboarding that minimised in-person touch-points, with the aim of saving prospective tenants time and travel costs, and eliminating cybersecurity and data protection risks (such as sending identity documents via email).

By digitalising the entire tenant onboarding process through VerseOne process automation software, the journey can be delivered effectively and securely through a web application. Every step, including verification of documents, signing tenancy agreements and setting up payments can be done digitally – with your teams and the tenant working collaboratively.

Furthermore, tenants can even be automatically registered and verified for your customer portal – using solution synergies to grow your digitally engaged audience.

For RSLs this is a game-changer: they can house families, reduce void times, whilst offering better customer service, and ensure tenants are digitally comfortable tenants from day one.

• Reduce travel costs (and time) • Convenient online and available 24x7x365 on any device • Secure – no sending of personal information via email • Sign tenancy agreements online (or in-person, if appropriate) • Rent payments and Direct Debits can be online.

• Low touch / social distancing respectful • Supports current distributed workforce practice • Efficiency – less time spent for you and the tenant • Secure data – documents collected can be used within other systems • Safe to staff • Process is defined and structured but can be changed in the future • Integration to inform data-driven decision-making – process optimisation – move the process on when the tenancy is setup internally.

• A VerseOne customer in South London has signed up over 450 families digitally over the last two years, throughout the lockdowns and social distancing restrictions • They’ve reduced their average days to let to 30 days • Only one new tenant couldn’t use their digital process.

If you’d like to see the Infographic or talk to the housing team, please visit https://solutions.verseone. com/social-housing-digital-tenancy-onboarding