A family in a temporary flat, waiting to hear
Major works on a block, or serious repairs to a single home, sometimes mean households have to move out. Your team finds temporary accommodation, arranges removals and storage, agrees any disturbance payments under your policy, and tells the household when they can go back. For a block, that is dozens of households, each with different needs and a different timeline.
Then the works programme slips. Some households' return dates move, some do not. The spreadsheet is updated when someone remembers. A family finds out their return is delayed when they call to ask.
Why decants are hard to manage
- Household needs, temporary homes and costs are tracked on spreadsheets.
- The link between each household and the works programme is manual.
- Changes to the programme do not reach the decant team straight away.
- Payments, removals and storage are arranged by email and phone.
- Households are updated when they call, not when things change.
Decants are rare enough that there is often no system for them, and demanding enough that a spreadsheet struggles.
What poorly tracked decants cost
Households uprooted from their homes are anxious, and poor communication makes it worse. Temporary accommodation and storage costs run on longer than necessary when return dates are not managed. Payments get missed or duplicated. Complaints follow, and the works project's reputation suffers with the remaining residents.
Households that are decanted often include people who find change hardest: older residents, people with health conditions, families with children in local schools. A temporary home further from school or support networks is hard enough, and not knowing when it will end makes it harder. Staff want to give straight answers and often cannot, because the information is spread across the project team, finance and a spreadsheet.
The decant tracking we build
- Each household affected is recorded with its members, needs, vulnerability flags and preferences, drawn from your housing management system and a decant assessment visit.
- Temporary accommodation, removals, storage and any utilities are recorded with suppliers, costs and dates.
- Payments under your decant policy are tracked from approval to payment.
- Each household is linked to the part of the works programme that affects its home, with an expected return date.
- When the programme changes, the tracker shows which households are affected, and the team is prompted to contact them.
- Households get regular updates in their preferred channel, and a named contact.
- Returns are planned with removals, keys, meter readings and a post-return visit.
| Part of the decant | Tracked as |
|---|---|
| Household needs | Assessment and flags |
| Temporary home | Address, supplier, cost, dates |
| Payments | Approved, paid |
| Works progress | Linked programme stage and return date |
| Return | Planned move with checks |
Your decant policy and any payments are decided by you and your advisers. We track the process around it.
What your team and households see
Each household has one record with everything about their decant. When the works programme changes, the team knows who is affected on the same day. Households hear about changes from you rather than finding out. Costs and payments are clear to finance, and returns are planned rather than rushed.
The project team benefits too. Knowing which homes are empty, and when each household expects to return, helps the contractor sequence the works, and it makes the handover back to housing management cleaner when the project ends.
Does this sound like your decants?
- Decants are tracked on spreadsheets.
- Return dates change without households being told promptly.
- Temporary accommodation costs run longer than planned.
- Payments are arranged by email and are hard to trace.
- Households call to find out what is happening.