NEW figures have exposed River Clyde Homes' massive repair backlog of over 1,500 jobs - with one tenant facing an almost THREE YEAR wait for work to be carried out.

Data obtained by the Telegraph through Freedom of Information laws shows that the social landlord had 1,559 repair related work orders beyond its target timescale as of November 7.

The housing provider's repairs arm, Home Fix Scotland, has carried out more than 146k maintenance jobs since the beginning of 2017, at a total cost of over £22m.

But more than 750 complaints relating to repairs not being carried out were made during this period.

Bosses at RCH say the big backlog has grown as a result of the pandemic and subsequent supply chain problems, and insist they are getting on top of it.

The street with the most outstanding repairs is Cumberland Road in Larkfield in Greenock.

At the other end of the town, a property on Carwood Street has had to endure the longest wait for works.

The job related to the fitting of a new timber fence and has been outstanding for two years and 11 months.

Joinery was the most common trade to be called out for RCH repair work, with 42,000 such jobs since 2017.

Plumbers were the next most in demand, at 39k, while 28k jobs required an electrician.

Greenock councillor Colin Jackson, who has been an outspoken critic of RCH, says that the size of the repairs backlog is unacceptable.

He told the Tele: "Tenants should not have to put up with this.

"They pay their rents and deserve to live in decent homes that should be well-maintained.

"When an issue arises it should be dealt with within a proper timescale."

The Labour man insists the logjam cannot be simply put down to the pandemic either.

He said: "The pandemic played a part in creating the backlog but mismanagement and poor planning by HFS and RCH are the reasons why the backlog continues with no sign of reducing.

"Unfortunately HFS have lost a lot of their workers and cannot recruit replacements because they refuse to pay the proper trade rates, which is making things worse.

"For example HFS joiners are paid around £5,000 less than what is being paid by some other construction and maintenance firms.

"HFS tradespersons also offered to do overtime to reduce the backlog but management refused to pay them the going rate."

Bosses at River Clyde Homes say the association is addressing the delays through an action plan which ranks jobs on a priority basis.

Their spokesperson said: “We have previously alerted our customers to, and apologised for, the backlog of works that grew during the pandemic and asked for their patience and understanding.

“In common with the rest of the housing sector in Scotland, River Clyde Homes was only able to carry out emergency and urgent repairs during the various lockdowns.

"The resulting backlog challenges have been compounded by national supply chain problems, in particular around UPVC doors and windows.

“We are making progress in tackling the backlog and our teams are working to our action plan to deal with repairs in order of urgency.

"We will continue to keep our customers up-to-date on their particular situation.”

REPAIRS OUTLAY

Year  Reactive maintenance cost

2017-18  £4,270,000 

2018-19  £4,895,000 

2019-20  £4,336,000 

2020-21  £4,525,000 

2021-22  £4,350,000 

COMPLAINTS

Year 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

No. of cases 43 104 157 182 159 134