A starter period that ended without a review
New tenants often start on a starter or probationary tenancy, with visits during the first weeks and reviews during the starter period under your policy. The first visit happens because the officer who signed the tenant up remembers. After that, reviews depend on diary entries, and officers change patches, go on leave or leave the organisation.
Months later, someone notices a starter tenancy with rent arrears and an open ASB case reaching its end date with no review recorded. Whatever the right outcome was, nobody has had the chance to decide it properly.
Why reviews slip
- Review dates are not created automatically from the tenancy start date.
- Officers change patch and review dates do not move with the tenancy.
- Information for the review is in several systems.
- Review outcomes are written in notes, not as a clear decision.
- End dates without a decision are not reported until they pass.
The starter tenancy is meant to be a period of support and review. Without a reliable schedule, it quietly becomes neither.
What missed reviews cost
New tenants who need support, with benefits, budgeting or settling in, do not get it early, and their tenancies are more likely to struggle. Tenancies with serious problems reach their end date without a considered decision. The options your policy intended are lost, and officers feel they have let both sides down.
The problem is usually invisible until a case goes wrong, because a missed review leaves no trace. Nobody reports on reviews that did not happen. Managers only find out when a tenancy with problems reaches a point where the options they expected to have are no longer there.
The starter tenancy tracking we build
- When a starter tenancy is created in your housing management system, the visits and reviews your policy requires are scheduled from the start date.
- Each review is assigned to the officer for the patch, and moves automatically if the patch changes.
- Ahead of each review, a summary is prepared for the officer: rent account and arrears, recent contacts, repairs, any ASB cases and support referrals.
- The officer records the review on a tablet or laptop, including support offered and a clear outcome using your categories.
- Tenancies approaching the end of the starter period are listed with their review history, and those without a decision are flagged to managers with time to act.
- Support referrals made during reviews are tracked to see whether they were taken up.
| Point in the tenancy | What happens |
|---|---|
| Tenancy starts | Reviews scheduled from the start date |
| Before each review | Summary prepared for the officer |
| Review completed | Outcome and support recorded |
| Approaching end date | Listed with review history |
| No decision recorded | Flagged to manager |
Your starter tenancy policy, review content and any decisions about the tenancy are yours and your advisers'. The tracking makes sure the reviews happen and are recorded.
What officers and managers see
Every starter tenancy has a schedule that follows it, whatever happens to patches and staff. Officers go into reviews with the facts. Support is offered when it can still help. Managers see every tenancy approaching its end date and can make sure each has a considered decision.
Is this how starter tenancies go for you?
- Starter tenancy reviews rely on officers' diaries.
- Reviews are missed when officers change patch.
- Preparing for a review means checking several systems.
- Outcomes are buried in notes.
- Tenancies reach their end date without a recorded decision.