Bosses at Dudley Council are appealing to council house tenants to hit the nail on the head by remembering their repairs appointments. 


The call comes following the revelation that more than £110,000 was wasted last year due to unnecessary repairs visits.
 

The local authority has calculated that during 2013 more than 8,000 repairs requests were lost due to customers not being present to let staff in, or because the visits were not required.
 

The staff time and fuel wasted equates to more than £110,000, which could have been spent on urgently needed maintenance elsewhere.


Councillor Steve Waltho, cabinet member for housing, said:
 

“The vast majority of our tenants use the repairs and maintenance service responsibly, for which I’m grateful, but a small number of residents are losing us a lot of money.  £110,000 is a shocking amount which could be better spent.  This sum would have allowed us to replace approximately 30 kitchens or bathrooms, or to install more than 350 double-glazed windows. 

"Please consider whether you really need us to conduct a repair, and if you do, please don’t forget the appointment. Tenants can contact our Repairs Management Centre at any time to re-arrange an appointment if it’s no longer convenient.”


Dudley council’s repairs and maintenance team conducts more than 100,000
repairs and improvement jobs each year.  Council house tenants can request repairs or maintenance work 24-hours a day, seven days a week by calling the Repairs Management Centre on 0300 555 8283, logging onto www.dudley.gov.uk/housing or via Digi TV on www.lookinglocal.gov.uk