We want our customers to enjoy their home for many years. But people chose to move out for many reasons or may sadly pass away so every year some of the 10,500 plus homes we own become available for a new customer to live in.

An empty home isn’t really providing any value to anyone so we aim to get a new customer moving in as quickly as possible. Sometimes though the property may need work doing or we take the opportunity to do major work while it’s empty to make it less disruptive for whoever might be living there. So it’s not always as simple as just handing over the keys.

We call this process or re-allocating a home ‘allocations and letting’ and we’ve been looking closely at how we can make improvements to make us more efficient and to deliver benefits for our customers. We spoke to lots of teams that are involved in some way in reletting a home and found some key areas where we could improve. They include keeping customers better informed along the way and sharing information between colleagues more consistently to help the process run more smoothly.

Based on all the feedback we heard we designed some better ways of handling allocations and letting and we’ve been testing these new ways of working with customers. We’ve then made further tweaks based on what did and didn’t work well.

We’re now starting work to roll-out these new approaches as part of the ongoing expansion of our new CRM computer system. We’re confident that the changes will make the whole process better for customers in many ways such as:

  • Creating an online way for customers to end their tenancy which will be much simpler than the current process with multiple phone calls and emails for those who prefer managing their affairs online.
  • Providing automated updates for customers throughout the moving in and out process so that they feel better informed.
  • Improved advertising for empty properties with more detail about the size of the home and its rooms and background about the area.
  • Clearer information for customers provided at the right time including updated packs of information when the home is first offered and at the point of moving in.

Some of these changes will start to come into effect later in 2024 and hopefully new customers will have a much improved welcome to Futures and to their new home. 

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Close up photo of a key inserted in a door lock. We can see a garden in the background where the door is open
Photo of a young woman and young child smiling at the camera. They are kneeling behind a large cardboard box and surrounded by other boxes
Moving House Boxes
Photo of someone using a laptop in their lap - seated on a sofa with a coffee cup next to them
Photo of a woman lifting a large carboard box in what looks like a bedroom. There are other boxes and a suitcase visible
Photo of two man putting a fridge into the back of a truck filled with other household items
Close up photo of a key inserted in a door lock. We can see a garden in the background where the door is open Photo of a young woman and young child smiling at the camera. They are kneeling behind a large cardboard box and surrounded by other boxes Moving House Boxes Photo of someone using a laptop in their lap - seated on a sofa with a coffee cup next to them Photo of a woman lifting a large carboard box in what looks like a bedroom. There are other boxes and a suitcase visible Photo of two man putting a fridge into the back of a truck filled with other household items
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