Our commitment
Thank you for renting a home with us. We want you to have the best experience possible.
What you can expect from us
- We want you to love living in your home, to feel safe and secure, that we listen to what you say and treat you with respect. We want it to be easy for you to access our services and feel confident that we will deliver what we say.
- Your house, bungalow or flat is your home, and it is important that we respect that.
- If you are unhappy with our service and make a complaint, we’ll acknowledge your complaint within five working days and provide a resolution and response within a further 10 working days. We may contact you by phone or email to discuss your complaint and what we can do to resolve it.
Moving in and out
- When you move into one of our homes you can expect it to be clean, safe and in a good state of repair. It will meet our New Home Standard which includes all legal health and safety requirements.
- The property will be decorated where required and cleaned throughout.
- If you want to move out, we will explain the process, inform you of your tenancy end date and any rent or other charges due. We will provide a reference to your new landlord, if applicable, within five working days.
Rent
- Our rents are set using government guidelines. We’ll explain your rent and service charges to you when you move in and let you know how much you need to pay in advance. Our preferred payment method is Direct Debit, but we will provide you with several ways to pay, including online and telephone. When your rent and service charge changes, we will write to you. If you have any queries that we can’t answer immediately, we will get back to you in five working days.
- We’ll ensure you can access your rent account balance digitally outside of opening hours. If you require a paper rent statement, we will send this to you within five working days.
- If your rent account falls into debt, we will provide support where needed to help you get your account back into credit.
Your safety
- If you are experiencing a welfare or safeguarding issue you can expect our staff to be knowledgeable about recognising this and where you can find support.
- If you are experiencing domestic abuse, we have staff who will be able to help you find support services and work with you to resolve any housing related issues such as security to your home or registering to move.
Regulatory compliance
We commit to meeting the regulator’s requirements in relation to delivering landlord services, in collecting and reporting on the tenant satisfaction measures, in business and performance reporting and in our commitment to be reasonable, accessible and transparent
Listening to you
- We want to hear your views on our service, so we can make well-informed decisions. Your feedback is important to us, so don’t hesitate to let us know if there’s something we’ve done well, or anything we should be doing better.
- We commit to offering a range of diverse and inclusive ways to engage so all tenants have an opportunity to influence and scrutinise our strategies, policies and services.
- We are dedicated to making reasonable adjustments to our service where reasonably practicable for disabled tenants or other groups who may need additional support to access our services.
Repairs and maintenance
- We know you’ll look after your home. So will we. We’ll keep it in a good state of repair and ensure it meets the Decent Homes Standard. To enable us to do this we will:
- Carry out a survey on your home at least once every five years to make sure it is in good repair
- The electrical wiring will be checked every five years (except storage heaters)
- Carry out an annual service and inspection of gas, oil and solid fuel heating systems (the frequency of other heating types will depend on the system fitted)
- Ensure your home is at least an ‘EPC C’ rating for energy efficiency by 2030
- Make sure you have functioning smoke detectors on each floor and that a carbon monoxide detector is installed wherever there is a fuel burning appliance. - When you report a repair, we will agree on an appointment date with you and let you know of any preparations you need to make before we arrive.
- We’ll attend within 24 hours for emergency repairs, three days for urgent repairs and 28 days for routine repairs. We’ll aim to complete your repair right first time, however there may be circumstances where we’re unable to fix things in one visit or more work is needed. For these more complex repairs we aim to complete them within 90 days. We will keep you informed with any new timescales and any further appointments you might need.
- Should your heating system need to be replaced, we will aim to replace it in five working days. If you need a little more help, we will provide you with temporary heating in your home within 24hrs where a repair cannot be completed.
- When a big improvement is planned (kitchen, bathroom, windows, external doors), we will contact you for a survey and discuss the options available. We will then organise it for a time and date at your convenience and explain the process. We will aim to complete the works within five working days – if it will take longer, we’ll let you know.
- We provide a minor adaptation service (grab rails, banister rails etc) and you can request these works either via our website or our customer service team.
If you need any adaptations to your home due to a medical / health need (level access shower, ramped access, wash dry toilet), you will need to contact Adult Social Services at the County Council who will arrange for an Occupational Health Assessment so that recommendations can be made for a possible Disabled Facility Grant with the local authority. - If you ask for permission to make alterations to your home, we will not unreasonably refuse and we will respond to your request within 10 working days.
- If you do damage your home, please repair it, or we will have to charge you for the cost of repairing it ourselves.
Your community
- We will make sure the area you live and share with your neighbours is kept clean, safe, well-maintained, and meets our Neighbourhood Standard. This includes play areas, car parks, communal areas/facilities, and any land owned by us.
- If you’re experiencing anti-social behaviour in your home or community, you can report this in confidence on our website, via email or over the telephone. In the event the victim reports there is a risk of harm or a hate crime, we aim to contact you about your report within two working days, all other reports will take up to five working days. Please make sure that you contact the police if it is an emergency, or a serious incident.
- Where an anti-social behaviour case is opened, you can expect to receive a victim risk assessment and regular contact outlining the actions we are taking to resolve the issue. We will not close your case without consulting with you first.
- If you are reported to be causing anti-social behaviour, we will investigate this and consider whether action needs to be taken. During the case you will be given the opportunity to discuss the matter with us and provide any information which might help to resolve the issue.
Getting in touch with us
- You can get in touch with us via our website, by telephone or by email. We will be available to talk to you over the phone Monday to Friday between 8am to 6pm.
- If we are coming to visit you in your home, our team will always have ID with them and let you know why they are visiting. We’ll aim to let you know in advance of our visit, where possible and come at a time convenient to you.
- You are welcome to appoint a representative to handle and support your communications with us as necessary. We ask that you please submit this request in writing, however if this is not possible, we’ll accommodate reasonable adjustments.
