Tablet-Equipped Tenants to Be Denied Phone Access to Landlord

A proposed scheme to help tenants access services online would prevent them from requesting services from their landlord by phone.  Halton Housing Trust will at the end of the month distribute 250 devices to tenants as part of a seven-month pilot to get more tenants online and prepare for the introduction of universal credit. Tenants who are issued with the tablets will sign up to the trust’s ‘Digital Deal’ under which they will be trained to use the device and be expected to interact with their landlord through digital means only. Following the pilot it is proposed that tenants will be refused access to their landlord’s non-digital services. The tablets will come installed with an app that enables tenants to pay rent, book repairs and report anti-social behaviour online. The 6,400-home landlord will pay the cost of internet access. Read more on Inside Housing.