How Karbon Homes increased resident portal adoption from 27% to 72.7%
Karbon Homes replaced its legacy resident portal with Plentific's digital self service platform, increasing portal adoption from 27% to 72.7%, doubling digital repair requests and giving residents an easier way to manage their homes online.
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Key outcomes
72.7%
of tenancies now registered on the portal, up from 27%.
114%
increase in repairs reported through the portal.
30,000+
users now registered on the platform.
44%
of customer interactions are now digital.
Customer Background
Karbon Homes builds, manages and looks after affordable homes for people across the North of England, with 34,000 homes spanning diverse communities across the North East and Yorkshire.
Karbon's three strategic aims are to provide good quality homes, deliver excellent service to customers, and shape strong, sustainable places for its communities.
Alongside affordable homes, Karbon supports customers who need more than a place to live, including financial advice, community services, sheltered accommodation and training through Karbon Foundation combining a sound business approach with a strong social purpose.
“Plentific worked closely with our teams to understand our requirements and configure a platform that works for our residents, our colleagues and our wider business. The result is a solution that gives us the flexibility to continue evolving our digital services over time.”
- Samantha Colligan, Digital Customer Engagement Product Lead - Karbon Homes
A legacy portal and disconnected systems, across two brands
Karbon Homes needed to replace its legacy resident portal with a modern, scalable self-service solution that could improve the resident experience, integrate with existing systems and evolve as customer needs changed.
The key challenge was supporting two distinct brands on a single platform. Alongside Karbon Homes, the solution needed to support its subsidiary, 54North, with separate branding, standalone mobile apps and tailored functionality, while avoiding the complexity of managing two separate systems.
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A single platform for every resident interaction
Plentific implemented a single digital self service platform that supports both Karbon Homes and 54North, while delivering a tailored experience for each organisation's residents. The solution combines the Resident Portal, Resident App and Repairs Diagnostics in one connected platform.
Residents can report and track repairs, make payments, access documents, update their details and manage everyday tenancy services through simple digital self service. The platform integrates with Karbon's core systems, providing access to live information without additional manual processes.
Built on a shared, scalable foundation, the platform maintains separate branding, standalone mobile apps and tailored customer journeys for each organisation. It gives Karbon the flexibility to expand digital services over time as resident expectations and business needs continue to evolve.
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Strong adoption and increased self-service
Since launching the platform, Karbon Homes has achieved rapid resident adoption and a significant shift towards digital self service. More than 30,000 residents are now registered, with portal adoption increasing from 27% to 72.7% of all tenancies.
Digital engagement has also delivered measurable operational improvements. Repairs reported through the portal increased by 114%, while 44% of customer interactions are now digital. Self served interactions have risen from 13% to 29%, and 21% of repair journeys now include self help guidance, enabling many residents to resolve issues without needing to raise a repair request.
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Active Housing’s offering
Active Portal
Active Diagnostics
Delivered since launch
October 2025
Initial platform launch.
January 2026
The Karbon Homes mobile app launched.
June 2026
Documents went live, giving residents access to damp and mould summaries.
July 2026
Tailored repairs update for Byker residents, plus a damp and mould update supporting Awaab's Law.
"After taking a little extra time to make sure the experience was the best it could be, our resident portal launch was a huge success. We were thrilled to see around half of our migrated customers logging in within the first few days. Our collaboration with Plentific has been invaluable in helping us deliver a smoother, more connected online customer experience."
- Samantha Colligan, Digital Customer Engagement Product Lead - Karbon Homes
Continuing to expand digital services for residents
The launch of the new platform marks the start of Karbon’s ongoing digital transformation journey. Working with Plentific, Karbon will continue to enhance the platform, introducing new capabilities that make it easier for residents to access services, manage their tenancies and resolve issues independently.
Upcoming developments include:
Phase 2 of the damp and mould module, expanding support for proactive management and compliance with Awaab’s Law.
A new Cases module, enabling wider case management capabilities across resident services.
Digital onboarding and applications, helping prospective residents complete their journey online.
By continuing to build on a single, scalable platform, Karbon can evolve its digital services over time while maintaining a consistent experience across both Karbon Homes and 54North.
“This is not just about launching a new portal; it is about creating a platform that can grow with us. We now have the foundations to continue introducing new services, using customer insight and feedback to shape ongoing improvements and delivering great digital experiences that make it easier for residents to access support when they need it.”
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