The report that sat in an inbox
A tenant emails about damp in October. It is answered in December, after the mould has spread and the complaint has escalated.
See the ombudsman pictureSeda näidet uuendatakse. Allpool olev tekst on veel inglise keeles.
Example · Property managementMaintenance triage and rent agent
The leak reported at midnight, routed by morning
An agent that takes the repair report, asks the questions that decide urgency, books the right contractor, and tells the tenant who is coming and when.
Illustrative scenario — not a real client result
Tenant reports · 00:15
- Answered
5 reports logged
00:16 · Property, room, what is happening, access
- Answered
Emergency escalated
00:19 · Water through a ceiling · on-call contractor
- Person
“Can I withhold rent?”
00:22 · Legal question · with a person
No legal or rent advice, ever
Maintenance triage and rent agent · Property management
- Sourced facts
- A person decides
- Damp is never downgraded
01 — A typical day
Three small failures that add up.
What property management owners tell us goes wrong in an ordinary week.
The wrong contractor, twice
Without the right questions, the job is booked as a two-hour visit, the wrong trade arrives, and nobody has the part.
See the workflowAn automated decision about a home
A score decides who gets the flat. Nobody tested who it excludes, and nobody can explain the outcome to the applicant.
See the housing case01 — A typical day · the evidence
What the numbers actually say.
Each figure opens its source, year, sample and limits. Click a badge to check it.
01
Source
English Private Landlord Survey 2024, MHCLG
2024
Method and sample are recorded in the source registry.
Read the source for its scope and limits.
Open the source26%
of surveyed landlords found damp or mould in a property in the past year
English Private Landlord Survey 2024, over 9,000 landlords. Direct landlords, not agent-managed portfolios.
English Private Landlord Survey 2024 · 202402
Source
Housing Ombudsman annual complaints review 2024–25
2025
Method and sample are recorded in the source registry.
Read the source for its scope and limits.
Open the source43%
more repairs complaints investigated than the year before
Housing Ombudsman annual review 2024–25: 7,082 determinations. Social landlords in England, not the whole private sector.
Housing Ombudsman annual complaints review 2024–25 · 202503
Source
NAA / MRI Software, voice of the property manager report
2024
Method and sample are recorded in the source registry.
Read the source for its scope and limits.
Open the source50%
of surveyed property managers say the job affects their mental health negatively
NAA survey of more than 850 US property managers, July 2024, sponsored by MRI Software. The summary reports "half" without a precise percentage. Vendor-sponsored.
NAA / MRI Software · 202402 — What the helper does
From your records to a decision you own.
The agent takes the report by message, phone note or portal, and asks the questions that decide urgency: what is happening, where, how fast, and whether anyone is at risk.
It classifies the report against your rules, books the contractor you have approved for that trade and area, and tells the tenant who is coming and when.
Damp, mould, no heat, no water and anything involving a vulnerable occupant are never downgraded. Rent, legal questions and eviction are never handled by the agent.
6 steps · 2 decisions you own
Reads from
- Tenant messages
- Property record
- Contractor list
- Job system
Text version of the flow
- 1. Take the report — What, where, how urgent.
- 2. Ask the deciding questions — Risk, spread, vulnerability.
- 3. Classify against your rules — Emergency, urgent, routine. Human checkpoint: Damp and mould are never downgraded.
- 4. Book the contractor — Approved, in area.
- 5. Tell the tenant — Who, when, what next. Human checkpoint: A person handles rent and legal questions.
- 6. Chase and close — Done, or escalated.
02 — What the helper does · a simulated example
One simulated example, step by step.
Use the buttons or the left and right arrow keys. Nothing here is a real customer.
Simulated example
Rowan Lettings, 120 managed units
Tenant SMS and portal · 00:15
A lettings and management agency with 120 units and an out-of-hours line. Every message is simulated; no real tenant data is used.
Rowan Lettings' maintenance assistant. I can log a repair and arrange a contractor. For a gas leak or flooding, say so and I'll escalate immediately. Reply HUMAN for a person.
03 — What you decide
The helper prepares. You decide.
The agent takes the report. A person decides what happens to the tenancy.
Your priority matrix
Classification comes from written rules, printed on the record, and the agent cannot lower a category.
Approved contractors only
It books from your list for that trade and area — never a marketplace pick.
Damp goes up, not down
Damp, mould, no heat, no water and vulnerable occupants are urgent at minimum, and repeats escalate.
You can pause it
Pause for a building, a tenant or the whole portfolio; reports fall back to the duty phone.
Without your approval · No legal advice, no rent advice, no possession discussion, and no downgrade of a damp, mould or heating report.
04 — What changes when a safeguard is missing
Documented cases, not scare stories.
Three documented cases with their sources. Two are ombudsman findings about repairs; one is a fair-housing case about an automated score.
Eight years of a leak, and a cot with mould on it
The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration in three cases. One family had reported a leak for eight years, with mould affecting children's belongings including a baby's cot, while the landlord had no evidence of a proper root-cause investigation.
What the helper would do differently
Every report keeps its date, its category and its history. A repeat report escalates automatically, and a job cannot be closed without a completion note and a tenant confirmation.
3 cases
severe maladministration findings
A roof leak, recurring for a year
A resident reported a roof leak in December 2022. The ombudsman's decision describes delays, recurring leaks, black mould and damage in a home occupied by eight family members, including children with health conditions.
What the helper would do differently
Vulnerability questions are part of the intake, and an answer that mentions a health condition raises the priority and notifies a person — it does not stay in a queue.
8 residents
household including children with health conditions
A screening score, and who it excluded
Two Black applicants using housing vouchers alleged they were denied housing because of an algorithm-based score. The court held they had plausibly alleged a Fair Housing Act disparate-impact claim. These were allegations, not a final finding of liability.
What the helper would do differently
The agent does not screen, score or rank applicants. It books repairs and answers questions about a tenancy, so no automated score stands between a person and a home.
FHA claims
allowed to proceed; later settled
04 — What changes · the evidence
The rest of the evidence.
Every figure resolves to a source with its sample and limits. No figure without one.
26%
of landlords found damp or mould in the past year
English Private Landlord Survey 2024, over 9,000 landlords registered with a deposit scheme.
Source
English Private Landlord Survey 2024, MHCLG
2024
Method and sample are recorded in the source registry.
Read the source for its scope and limits.
Open the source18%
had tenants complain about damp or mould
Same survey. Direct landlords; findings are not representative of agent-managed lettings.
Source
English Private Landlord Survey 2024, MHCLG
2024
Method and sample are recorded in the source registry.
Read the source for its scope and limits.
Open the source43%
more repairs complaints investigated year on year
Housing Ombudsman 2024–25, 7,082 determinations. England, social landlords.
Source
Housing Ombudsman annual complaints review 2024–25
2025
Method and sample are recorded in the source registry.
Read the source for its scope and limits.
Open the source
04 — What changes · your week
The same week, two ways.
Drag the handle, or use the left and right arrow keys when it is focused.
Typical week, beforeTypical week, after
Mon
Thirty reports in one inbox; the coordinator triages by who shouted loudest.
Tue
A damp report is filed as routine and re-reported a month later.
Wed
The wrong trade arrives because nobody asked about the boiler make.
Thu
A rent question is answered by whoever picked up the phone.
Mon 00:16
Every report logged with property, room, access and urgency.
Tue
Damp reports start at urgent and escalate on a repeat.
Wed
The right trade is booked from the approved list, with access notes.
Thu
Rent and legal questions are with the property manager, unanswered by the agent.
Illustrative example · not a measured result
05 — Your version
Four questions about your own week.
Keep your answers. They are the brief for the first version we would build for you.
How many repair reports arrive in a week, and how many are urgent?
Which questions decide urgency, and who decides cost?
Which contractors cover which jobs, and how are they booked?
What must a tenant always be told before someone visits?
Next
Put your own figures into the calculator below. It runs in your browser, and nothing is sent or stored.
Put your week into the calculatorBring the four answers to the free one-hour call. We will use them to sketch the first version, and you keep the written plan either way.
Talk about your business05 — Your version · your numbers
Put your own week into it.
An estimate, not a promise. The model and its assumptions are printed below.
Your inputs
All properties on the duty phone.
count
From your job log.
count
Reading, calling, booking, updating.
min
Coordinator time.
per hour
Evenings, weekends, bank holidays.
%
Example defaults are typical for a small business. Replace them with yours. Nothing is stored, sent or shared.
Estimated result
IllustrativeCoordinator hours back each month
0–0
- Time released at your rate
- £0–£0
- Reports answered overnight
- 0–0%
- Time to a booked contractor
- Already immediate
How we calculated this
Routine work handled by the helper: 70% of the share you marked routine.
Time saved per item: 80% of the minutes you entered.
Monthly volume: weekly figures × 4.33; monthly figures used as entered.
Cost: hours saved × your staff cost per hour, in pounds as an illustration.
Reply time: routine items move within the hour while the helper runs. Complex work still waits for a person.
Questions
The things people ask next.
No. Rent, arrears, notice, possession and deposit questions go to a named person. The agent says who will reply.
By your written matrix, printed on every record. The agent cannot lower a category, and damp, mould, no heat and no water start at urgent.
Water near electrics, a gas smell, no heating in winter with a vulnerable occupant, an unsecured property. Each maps to a fixed response time and an on-call contact.
No. The agent has no role in applications. It handles repairs and tenancy questions only.
Only the ones you approve, for that trade and area. The agent cannot add a contractor or accept a marketplace quote.
A second report of the same issue raises the priority and notifies a person. It cannot be closed as a duplicate by the agent.
Two to three weeks: priority matrix, contractor list, safety text, and a parallel run on one building.
Start here
Show us a week of repair reports.
One hour with last week's reports and your priority matrix. We will show you how the agent would classify them, and which ones it would never touch.