A maintenance contractor responsible for repairing social homes in one part of Kent has entered into administration.

Dartford council says it did not renew its contract with the Breyer group due to the business’ “difficulties” and while a plan is put in place to get services “back to normal”.

Tenants received a text from the local authority last Tuesday (April 1) informing them it is only able to complete “emergency and urgent repairs”.

“We have plans in place to mitigate the impact on our tenants and are aiming to get services back to normal as soon as possible,” it read.

It comes after the Essex-based firm, which provides roofing, repair and refurbishment services to local authorities and housing associations, confirmed it had entered into administration last week.

It took Dartford council by surprise despite in January a housing service update report being presented which showed the local authority was aware of shortcomings and had ordered an action plan for improvement for the contractor.

It read: ”Breyer Group, the council’s repairs and maintenance contractor, continues to underperform in some areas.

”KPI performance is below target across reactive maintenance, voids and planned works.”

The report also noted “unacceptable delays” and “poor standards of works and repairs”.

The council undertook a market review to benchmark their performance and costs with a view to reviewing the contract and issuing a formal improvement plan with key milestones.

Trade magazine Construction Enquirer reports Breyer was “battling for survival” with subcontractors allegedly telling the publication they were not being paid by the £80m firm, and that in the past month three other companies have lodged “winding-up petitions” against Breyer.

A winding-up petition is a formal request by a creditor asking that the courts force a firm into compulsory liquidation due to large amounts of outstanding debt not paid.

Two of those petitions have been withdrawn following settlements, but some debt is still outstanding, it was reported.

A spokesperson for the Breyer Group confirmed to KentOnline as of April 2 they were in administration - with auditing firm RSM UK taking control.

Dartford councillors were all sent an email the same day from housing boss Peter Dosad, saying: “Whilst we have known this was coming for some time and have plans in place to mitigate the impact on our tenants, the situation has escalated quickly in the last week.”

Tenants have been told emergency and urgent repairs will be undertaken by different contractors.

Cllr Jonathon Hawkes (Lab), opposition leader on the council, said it was “deeply concerning” to learn that the council’s contract with Breyer had come to an immediate end.

“We urgently need to know if any costs of early termination will now fall on Dartford taxpayers,” he added.

“There are questions for the Conservatives to answer and they now need to act to ensure that our tenants do not experience delays to important or safety critical repairs and maintenance.

“The administration have claimed that ‘they have been preparing for this for some time’ and we also know that Breyer were previously issued with an improvement notice by the council due to poor performance.

“That means there are no excuses for the Conservative Council not to be ready and it will be unacceptable if there now delays to vital repairs and maintenance to council homes.

“Our tenants deserve better than that.”

A spokesperson for the council said: “We have been working closely with Breyer in recent months on the delivery of this service, however, we have taken the decision not to extend our contract with the company.

“We have plans in place to mitigate the impact on our tenants, services will be back to normal as soon as possible.

“We are in constant discussions with the Regulator for Social Housing throughout this process.”