Our purpose is to be an excellent housing association, providing high quality affordable homes and effective services that meet our residents’ aspirations.
We have agreed a number of service standards so that you know what you can expect from us.
Communication standards
If we visit your home, we will:
Make an appointment and arrive on time.
Give you plenty of notice if we cannot keep the appointment and offer to re-arrange.
Show identification before entering your home.
Make sure our contractors keep to these standards too.
If we get things wrong, we will:
Apologise for our mistakes. Put it right as soon as possible and keep you informed of our progress.
Let you know that you have the right to complain, and tell you how to make a formal complaint.
Tell you how we have learnt from our mistakes and what we are doing to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again.
Always welcome your suggestions for improving our service.
In all our contact with you, we will:
Try to get things right the first time.
Explain when we will be able to deal with your enquiry, if we can’t do it straight away.
Be polite and treat you fairly and with respect, paying attention to any special requirements you may have.
Respect your confidentiality and give you access to any personal information that we hold about you, in line with our legal duties.
Explain your rights and responsibilities.
Provide a consistent standard of service
In all our communication with you, we will aim to:
Write to you in a way that is straight-forward.
Be honest and clearly explain the reasons for any decisions we make; even if this sometimes means that we have to give you bad news.
Provide information in large print and/or audiotape upon request or where we know a need exists.
Provide access to translation or interpretation services upon request or where we know a need exists.
Look for ways to assist any residents who have a disability, mental or physical ill health which may make communication difficult.
If you write or e-mail us, we will:
Reply with a response that fully answers your enquiries, within ten working days.
If we cannot provide a full response, we will let you know who is dealing with your enquiry and when you can expect a reply.
If you telephone our offices, we will:
Answer the call within 15 seconds and give you our name.
Answer your enquiries immediately, or transfer you quickly to someone that can help you or take a message.
If you leave a message, we will return your call by the end of the next working day.
If you visit us, we will:
Greet you quickly and politely, within five minutes of your arrival.
Be on time for any appointment you have made.
If you do not have an appointment, we will make sure you do not have to wait more than 20minutes to see someone who can help you.
Keep our reception areas clean and tidy, and display up to date information.
Provide private interview rooms to discuss confidential issues.
Report your repair at a One Stop Shop and use the freephone service
Write to us at Scania House, 17 Amwell Street, Hoddesdon, Herts. EN11 8TS
Out of hours you can call Central Control for emergencies on 01992 639561
Inspections
We will arrange an appointment to carry out a pre / post inspection
Our contractors will make appointments where necessary
If an appointment cannot be kept, we will tell you as soon as possible and arrange another appointment
Ordering repairs
We will order repairs according to priority as below and in accordance with our policy
Category 1
Response within 2 hours. For matters which are a threat to life and limb, we will make safe. Includes items such as broken windows leaving property insecure, dangerous or exposed electrics, lock changes where no other keys to gain access, gas leaks.
24 hr response. Used when the defect causes considerable inconvenience to the tenant or may become a risk to like or limb if not attended to; such as failure of cold water supply or burst pipe. We will attend site and make safe or carry out the repair.
Category 2
Within 7 working days. Where a repair is urgent or you would suffer considerable inconvenience, such as leaking wash hand basin (where leak cannot be contained by use of bowl or bucket). This also includes repairs to door entry systems, extractor fans, roof leaks.
Category 3
Within 28 days. This priority is used for all routine repairs, such as replacement of internal doors, fences, tiles, plastering and replacement baths.
Category 4
Within 56 days. Where there is a requirement for bespoke fittings (such as renewal of UPVC windows or doors.
Major Works
We will
Write to let you know when major works are proposed at least 14 days prior to any works being started
Telephone to make survey appointments
Try to keep to morning or afternoon appointments as required
Keep you informed through a dedicated tenant liaison officer.
Liaise with you and contractors to keep things running smoothly.
Respond to you within 2 working days
Check that you are completely satisfied with the works once they are finished.
Lettings
We will
Send you application forms and supporting information within 2 days of you expressing an interest in moving home.
Register the application within 5 working days.
If you are elderly, we will visit you within 7 days of your application, so that we can try to make sure you get the most appropriate housing.
Give you 3 days from receiving an offer to view the property and a further 2 days to decide whether to accept it.
Make sure the property offered to you is handed over in good condition, in accordance with our lettings standards.
We will give you contact details of your housing and maintenance officers.
We will give a final decision on any mutual exchange requests within 42 days of completed application forms.
Estate Management
To keep your estate in order, we will
Visit you in your home to discuss any housing related matter, on request.
Invite you to join us on estate inspections, within a month of your request.
Remove any untaxed, dumped vehicles within 15 days, less if it is dangerous.
Deal sympathetically with any request for assignment or succession, and make a decision within 14 days of the relevant facts being obtained.
To help keep you safe, we will
Respond to reports of anti-social behaviour within 5 working days
Respond to reports of serious anti-social behaviour e.g. threats, racial harassment or actual use of violence, within 24 working hours.
Investigate incidents as racists if a complainant or a witness calls the incident racist
Keep you up to date with our actions, by whatever means you prefer (phone, email, and so on)
Close a case of anti-social behaviour only after speaking to the complainant beforehand
Support witnesses and victims wherever possible in a way that suits you.
To keep your estate clean and well looked after, we will
Remove any homophobic, racist or sexist graffiti within 24 hours of being told about it.
Remove any dumped items within 48 hours of notification of it.
Remove any hypodermic needles or other dangerous items within 4 hours of being told about them.
Work to set schedules to keep your estates clean and tidy.
Attend to any calls where people are stuck in lifts within 2 hours of call being received.
Retirement housing
We will
Paint 2 rooms every 3 years in the homes of elderly or disabled tenants, on application.
Redecorate the common areas of all retirement schemes every 7 years.
Assess all new tenants to make sure that the retirement housing is appropriate for you.
Provide a varied programme of social activities and entertainment. .
Provide a scheme manager, who will contact all tenants at a pre agreed frequency. .
Provide regular support on a needs-led basis.
Money matters
For tenants, we will:
Offer you a range of methods to pay your rent and any service charges, including direct debits, standing orders, at the Council’s one stop shops, at the post office (although there is a small fee) and by credit / debit card.
Provide you with a rent and service charge statement every quarter.
Offer you affordable payment plans if you fall behind on your rent or service charge.
Assist you with housing benefit claims and signpost you to other agencies as appropriate.
Take prompt and robust action against those persistently not paying their rent or service charges.
For leaseholders, we will
Send an annual service schedule by the beginning of June each year
Send quarterly invoices to those who do not pay their service charges by direct debit
Send an annual invoice to all leaseholders paying by direct debit
Only invoice for the cost of services provided. No profit element will be included in the charges.
Base invoices on the estimated charges for the current year, as set out on the service charge schedule
Adjust charges after the year end for the actual costs incurred
We have a number of different ways to measure whether we are meeting these standards. These range from call handling and correspondence statistics, to mystery shopping results and monitoring feedback from residents and service users. We will make sure that we give staff (and residents) feedback from these measures, so we all know how we are doing in delivering against these important standards.
If you would like to join our mystery shoppers group, take part in estate inspections or be on the residents’ panel, please call Peter Walkinshaw on 01992 453776
