Osborne Halves Void Times and Boosts Customer Income

Osborne Property Services has cut the time taken to re-let vacated homes across all of its main clients in the past year – in most cases by at least 50 per cent.

The figures have been compiled in partnership with clients covering a total of 60,000 homes (see figures, below).
As a result of investment by Osborne in its employees and a clear focus on improving planned maintenance, the resulting quicker re-let times mean clients have received hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional rent, while simultaneously improving customer satisfaction.

Nick Sterling, Managing Director of Osborne Property Services, said: “This excellent performance, in partnership with our customers, is no accident. It is the result of a sustained strategy we have developed to allow landlords to make the most of their homes.

“Osborne’s drive to improve customer experience by backing our employees to do the right thing, combined with asset management plans we have put in place to concentrate on investing in planned maintenance in order to minimise repairs spend is clearly bearing fruit,” Nick added.

Dacorum Borough Council
– 10-year contract for Osborne to provide maintenance, repair and asset management services to the council’s 10,500 homes.
– 21.3 days is the average time taken to re-let a general needs property, against a target of 25 days. 21.3 days is 20 days fewer than in 2013/14.
– 60 ‘zero void’ days since July 2014, where Osborne has prepared the property to re-let within a day. The comparable figure the previous 12 months was zero.
– Fewer void days generated an additional £70,000 in rent for Dacorum in 2014/15.
– If Osborne and Dacorum maintain this performance this will result in increased rent revenue of more than £225,000 in 2015/16.
– “We have made a real improvement on the performance overall. The relationship we have with the Osborne team is excellent and we work as one team. I am very positive how our partnership working is between the empty homes teams at Dacorum Borough Council and Osborne.” – Lesley Juggoo, empty homes manager, Dacorum Borough Council.
– “Excellent performance that clearly demonstrates the effect of a team all pulling together for the same outcome.” –  Elliott Brooks, Assistant Housing Director, Dacorum Borough Council.

Winchester City Council
– 10-year contract for Osborne to provide approximately 15,000 repairs and 350 voids per annum to 6,000 of Winchester’s homes.
– Turnaround time on void properties cut from 70 days to 14 days.
– Other councils, such as New Forest District Council, visiting to see how this transformation has been achieved.
– “Positive feedback from both management and clients has had a great effect on productivity. The feeling that we are leading the way in delivering a great service drives the guys on a day-to-day basis.” – Rui Luis, Void Supervisor, Osborne Property Services

Ascham Homes
– Osborne provides approximately 30,000 repairs and maintains 400 void properties per annum for this arm’s-length management organisation landlord across its 12,400 homes in Waltham Forest, east London, under a 12-year contract. 
– The average re-let time for void properties in 2014 was 21 days – 19 days fewer than in 2013. This is 13 days better than the median achieved by other London boroughs and ALMOs, according to research by consultancy HouseMark. Osborne contributes to this improvement through its works to void properties.
– “The Osborne voids team has a very responsive and flexible approach, which is a great asset in this industry. We have established a good working relationship, which has been instrumental in us surpassing our routine voids average target of 35 days per property for 2014/15.” – Sharon Allen Cabey, Neighbourhood Services Manager, Ascham Homes.

Affinity Sutton
– Osborne provided an interim repairs and voids service for this 57,000-home housing association for 22,000 of its London properties. Affinity Sutton took its repairs and maintenance in-house in April 2015.
– 122 void properties a month on average.
– Most voids turned around in a month was 173.
– 14.6 days on average per void property in July 2013.
– 8.9 days on average per void property in April 2015.
– “The general comment from the client is that we delivered the voids very well and they were pleased with the performance of the voids team throughout the contract.” – Alan Elliott, Operations Director, Osborne Property Services.