Lewisham's Housing Select Committee has expressed significant dissatisfaction with the preparedness of housing association L&Q, with a recommendation made for the Chair of the committee to write to L&Q's CEO to convey this sentiment. The committee's concerns were raised during a meeting on Thursday, March 5, 2026, where L&Q provided an update on its repairs service.
While L&Q reported completing 75% of day-to-day repairs and 96.7% of emergency repairs within Service Level Agreements (SLAs) across London and the South East, and a customer satisfaction rate of 82.1% for routine repairs, committee members felt the organisation was not adequately prepared to answer their questions. The specific SLAs for repairs involve attending to emergency call-outs within 24 hours, identifying the hazard, and then visiting residents within two working days. Investigations into repeated issues are to be completed within 10 working days, with an update provided within three working days, and making a resident safe within five working days.
During the discussion, L&Q detailed managing 8,411 properties and 16,039 tenants in Lewisham. They received 406 complaints regarding their repair service in the borough, with 403 resolved within target. The average cost per disrepair case was noted as £18,000.
Challenges faced by L&Q included staff retention due to market competition and a shortage of skilled labour, as well as sub-contractor capacity issues, particularly for roofing. To address staff retention and the shortage of skilled labour, L&Q is implementing strategies such as increasing internal productivity through service improvement projects and recruiting apprentices. They reported a successful first cohort of apprentices and plan to expand this initiative to grow their internal teams.
Regarding sub-contractor capacity issues, especially for roofing, L&Q is actively procuring additional roofing and other contractors. The timeline for resolving these sub-contractor capacity issues has not yet been specified.
The average time for re-letting a void property in Lewisham was reported as 236.2 days. Further details on L&Q's operations and questions for the housing provider can be found in the LQ Questions for RPs document.
