Service standards Information for Southwark Council tenants
Tenants’ handbook www.southwark.gov.uk
Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Service standards Contents
01 Introduction
3
02 Customer care
4
03 Your tenancy
7
04 Home owners
9
05 Consultation and
10
06 Managing your income
12
07 Repairs
13
08 Major works
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09 Maintaining your estate
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10 Safety
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11 Antisocial behaviour
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12 Sheltered housing
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13 Finding a new home
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14 Complaints
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15 Contacting us
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16 Service standards
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resident involvement
and domestic violence
and moving in
2
Page
feedback form
We are committed to providing you consistently high-quality services. This booklet gives you information on the level of service you can expect from us.
Service standards
01 Introduction
We involved our residents in developing these standards. We will measure what we do against these standards and targets using various methods including surveys and quality checks. We will update you in a number of ways including articles in Southwark Housing News magazine. If you do not think we are meeting our standards, please let us know. If you receive particularly good service, we would also like to hear from you. We use your feedback to help improve our service. You can tell us what you think by: • using the feedback form at the back of this booklet; • writing to us at: FREEPOST RSCE-TGHU-CUZB Southwark Council Service Standards Quality Improvement Team 160 Tooley Street London SE1 2TZ
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
02 Customer care service standard Phone The main phone number for housing enquiries is 020 7525 2600. • This number is available from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The main phone number for repairs enquiries is 0800 952 4444. • This number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We aim to answer 80% of calls within 45 seconds (this service standard is under review). When you contact us, we will: • be polite; • always introduce ourselves by stating the name of the borough and our officer’s name; and • if we have to transfer your call, we will explain your enquiry to the person we are transferring you to. Letters and email If you want to send us an email, please contact us at csc@southwark.gov.uk If you want to write to us, please send your letter to: Name of contact (if you know it) Department (if you know it) Southwark Council PO BOX 64529 London SE1 5LX
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Visiting us
Service standards
We will: • try to answer your letter or email within ten working days; • use clear and plain English at all times; and • provide a contact name or department and a phone number on our correspondence.
If you want to meet with a member of staff, you can visit one of our receptions. For the reception addresses, please see the contact sheet below. Our receptions are open between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, except on Wednesdays when they are open between 9am and 1pm. Reception standards When you visit our receptions, we aim to see you: • within five minutes if you have made an appointment; and • within 15 minutes if you have not made an appointment. • when you visit our receptions, you can expect us to: • wear name badges at all times; and • offer you an appointment if you ask for one. We may ask you to take part in a survey about our reception service. We will use your comments to help us to provide a highquality reception service. Our receptions Our receptions have: • a reception desk accessible to wheelchair users; • a range of leaflets with up-to-date and relevant information; • a toilet with disabled access; and • a free phone that you can use to call any Southwark Council service. 5
Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Visiting you If you cannot visit our receptions, we can arrange to visit you. If we visit you we will: • tell you in advance of the time and date of our visit; • arrive at your property on time; • show you a Southwark Council identification badge; • introduce ourselves by name, job title, and give you the reason for our visit; • listen to you and give you advice or options on how to deal with your query; and • aim to make information available in a format that meets your needs, for example, large print. Interpretation and translation services Where they are needed, we will provide sign language and interpretation services: • at our receptions; and • during home visits. We will also provide any help you need to understand our leaflets and documents. Collecting information We are committed to understanding who our customers are. We collect information on our tenants to help us improve the services that we deliver. Assessing our services We check our performance to make sure we are treating our customers fairly. We do this through regular monitoring and through reviews.
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Information We will: • give you a phone number for queries about your tenancy; • give you the name of the housing officer for your area; • monitor your tenancy and tell you of any problems, including any rent you owe; • tell you how we are performing against our targets; and • tell you about local activities.
Service standards
03 Your tenancy
We will provide information: • in our regular magazine Southwark Housing News, which we post directly to your home every other month; • in leaflets at our reception areas; • online at www.southwark.gov.uk; and • by post with your rent statements. Introductory tenants When you move in, we will: • give you your tenancy agreement, tenants’ handbook, and guidance for new tenants; • visit you at home within six weeks to make sure that you are settling into your new home; and • let you know within 10 working days if your introductory tenancy becomes secure. If your introductory tenancy is not going to become secure after one year, we will do either of the following: • We will decide to end your tenancy, in line with the law. • We will extend your introductory tenancy for another six months. We will decide this before the ninth month of your introductory tenancy.
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• When we write to you with our decision, we will explain your right to have the decision independently reviewed. • We will clearly tell you about the time limits for each stage of the review process (for example, if you want to request a review, you must do so within ten working days). Succession, assignment, joint tenancy and name changes If you ask us to change the name of your tenancy because of a succession, assignment or change to your name, we will: • provide any forms that you will need within three working days; and • complete the process within six weeks, providing you have supplied all the documents we have asked for. For more information on succession, assignment and tenancy changes, please see the ‘Your tenancy’ booklet of your tenants’ handbook. Vulnerable tenants (for example, tenants with a disability) We will support vulnerable tenants by providing one or more of the following services: • visits from a housing officer; or • the sustain service.
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Annual service charges Leaseholders and freeholders
Service standards
04 Home owners
• We send out statements every three months to all leaseholders and freeholders. • We reply to queries about service charges within ten working days. Leaseholders only We will send out estimated invoices each March for the financial year beginning in April, and send out actual invoices by October of each year for the year before. Freeholders only If you are a freeholder who is required to pay service charges, we can only bill you on actual costs. So we will send you a bill in the autumn, after we have calculated the actual charges for the previous financial year. The financial year is 1 April to 31 March. Major works We will consult home owners on major works we want to carry out. For more information on consultations about major works and charges, please see the home owners’ guide. This is available at our receptions and on our website at www.southwark.gov.uk Information and consultation We provide various ways for you to get information about our services and give us your views.
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Information • We send out general information and updates on services with our three-monthly service charge statements. Consultation • We hold between six and 10 home ownership council meetings throughout the year. • We consult home owners through area forums made up of tenants and home owners. • We aim to hold a conference for home owners once every two years. • We consult home owners about planned major works.
05 Consultation and
resident involvement
We are committed to giving you the opportunity to influence the services you receive. How you can get involved We provide a range of ways for you to tell us your views. These include the following.
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Surveys that tell us whether you are satisfied with our services such as repairs, major works, and customer service. Estate inspections which we carry out every six weeks. This involves inspecting the grounds and shared areas of the estate to make sure that they meet our standards. You are welcome to join an estate inspection. Resident working groups where residents can comment on new services or how services are performing.
Service standards
Tenants and residents’ associations (TRAs) made up of tenants and leaseholders from estates or local areas that meet to discuss local issues. Any local person can attend their TRA. Area forums which are made up of residents elected from the TRAs. If you are a local tenant or leaseholder, you can attend as an observer. Meetings take place every six weeks. Tenant Council and Home Owner Council which are made up of residents elected from the area forums. You can attend as an observer. Meetings take place every six weeks. Tenant conferences which take place every year. You can find more information about how to get involved: • in your tenants’ handbook or home owners’ guide; • in Southwark Housing News; or • online at www.southwark.gov.uk Training and support We provide a tenants’ training programme for residents every year. You can get copies of the programme from the resident involvement team, or from our receptions. Tenant management initiatives Our Tenant Management Initiative Team promotes the benefits of tenant management organisations (TMOs) and work with existing TMOs. For more information about TMOs contact: Tenant Management Initiatives Southwark Council PO Box 64529 London SE1 5LX
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
06 Managing your income Paying your rent • We offer a wide range of ways to pay your rent, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For information on ways to pay your rent, please see the ‘Rent’ booklet of your tenants’ handbook. Managing your rent account If you miss rent payments we will: • explain what you should do, how we can help, and agree how you can pay the rent that you owe; and • contact you by letter. If you have missed rent payments and you fail to keep to an agreement with us to pay your arrears, we will: • take legal action to get the outstanding rent (we will explain your legal rights to you and what will happen if we have to take you to court); and then • tell you in writing that we are going to go to court; and then • tell you the result of any legal action; and then • take action to evict you (force you to leave your home) if you do not make payments ordered by the court. After your tenancy has ended: • we will contact you at your new home if you owe us any rent; and • we may pass your debt to a debt-collection agency for them to collect the rent you owe.
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If you need a repair, you can contact us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on the freephone number 0800 952 4444. How urgent is your repair?
Service standards
07 Repairs
Whenever you contact us for a repair, we will tell you how urgent the repair is and when someone will come to fix the fault. If your repair is not an emergency, you can book an appointment for it to be fixed. For more information, please see the ‘Looking after your home’ booklet of your tenants’ handbook. Emergencies Emergency repairs are faults that are a risk to your health or could damage your home, such as: • a serious leak; • loss of heating in winter; or • no working toilet. We aim to complete emergency repairs within 24 hours. If the situation is dangerous, we will come to your home within four hours. Examples of repairs classified as dangerous include: • loss of electricity in the whole property; and • a toilet that is back surging sewage (sewage is coming out of the toilet from the waste pipe).
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Urgent repairs These are repairs that we don’t class as an emergency, but we still consider urgent. Examples include: • a blocked sink, bath or basin; or • loss of electricity in one room. We aim to complete urgent repairs within four working days. Routine repairs These are the most common type of repairs. We aim to complete routine repairs within 30 working days. Routine repairs are for faults that do not cause a risk to your health, or extensive damage to your home. Examples of routine repairs are: • a dripping tap in the kitchen or bathroom; • damaged tiles which do not cause leaks (in a kitchen or bathroom); or • damaged woodwork which does not cause a risk to your health and safety. Lifts To report lift failures please phone 0800 952 4444 stating your property name and lift number and visible fault. We will attend an out of service lift within two hours of it being reported and where possible reinstate the service on this first visit. If, because a lift requires specialist parts, it will take more than 10 days to repair, we will notify you in writing. We will periodically carry out upgrades to the lifts and this will require them being taken out of service.
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Major works are large or medium-scale improvements to your property or block. Examples include: • major repairs to the structure of your building; and • fitting door-entry systems for the block.
Service standards
08 Major works
Telling you about major works Before the works start, we will give you information and consult you. We will: • let you know what work needs to take place; • let you know how long the work will take, including start and finish dates; • contact you at least 12 weeks before work starts to give you the chance to understand and comment on the work; • formally consult leaseholders on the works using procedures as prescribed by law; and • give you the name of an officer to deal with your queries. We will also: • invite you to regular public meetings to discuss the major works contract, the schedule and how quickly we are making progress with the work; and • agree an appointment time with you if we need to visit your home. Choice of kitchen fittings – tenants only If we are refurbishing your kitchen, we will give you a choice from the models we use before we start the work.
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Satisfaction surveys Thirty days after we complete the major works, we will carry out surveys to see how satisfied you are. Our target is to achieve 90% satisfaction.
09 Maintaining your estate We carry out estate inspections every six weeks. All residents are invited to attend these inspections. To maintain our estates we will do the following: Task
Target or frequency
Check the quality of cleaning at all estate inspections
Every six weeks
Remove any fly tipping in and around your estate
Every day
Remove litter from shared areas in the block including: • stairs • outside balconies • lifts
Every day
Inspect refuse chutes and clear any blockages
Every day
Make sure lifts are kept clean and tidy, including mopping
Every day
Sweep in and around your estate
Every day
Mop the floors of inside shared areas (for example, corridors)
Twice a week
Empty dog-waste bins
At least once a week
Empty litter bins
Once they are 75% full
Keep grass short
5cm or less
Keep flower and plant containers, hanging baskets and areas around hedges clean, and free of litter and weeds
5cm or less
Gas safety We will: • carry out a gas safety check and gas service on your home every year (we aim to check 100% of homes each year); • make sure only ‘Gas Safe’ registered staff carry out these checks; • offer you a morning or afternoon appointment; and • make sure all staff carry identification.
Service standards
10 Safety
If tenants do not let us into their homes for a gas safety check, we will take further action. Eventually we will force entry. We will make sure that all our properties have valid gas safety certificates when we let them. Electrical safety We will make sure that all wiring is thoroughly tested in empty properties before we let them to tenants. Fire safety We will • give you guidance on fire safety in the home; • provide you with information about what to do in the event of a fire; • not allow gates that block access to more than one home, for example, across a balcony or corridor, or that block fire exits; • make sure fire risk assessments are carried out for all shared areas; • work with the London Fire Brigade to help you to have smoke alarms fitted;
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
• consider fitting fixed smoke alarms when we carry out work on your home; and • remove anything that is blocking the escape routes. We may take more expensive items, such as new bikes, into store. You can find more information in the Health and safety’ booklet of your tenants’ handbook. Restricted areas We will make sure there are clear notices to warn you not to enter parts of buildings such as boiler rooms. Lifts To report a lift trapping in your block please phone Southwark Council on 0207 378 9546 stating your property name and lift number. We will make sure there are notices telling you not to use lifts if there is a fire. Asbestos We will: • provide you with guidance if we know there is asbestos in your building; • give you advice if you want to make improvements and alterations to your home.
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Reporting antisocial behaviour You can report antisocial behaviour (ASB) by: • calling our antisocial behaviour phone number 020 7525 2600; • emailing us at csc@southwark.gov.uk; • writing to us (see the address under the customer care service standard); • filling in an online report form on our website at https://eforms.southwark.gov.uk/462.html; or • contacting your housing officer.
Service standards
11 Antisocial behaviour
Dealing with your report When you report an incident of ASB, we will: • give you the name of an officer who will deal with your case; and • set up an ASB file on your case. Investigating After you have contacted us, we will ask for your permission to investigate your complaint. Keeping you informed After we have investigated your complaint, we will: • tell you about action we have taken to deal with the problem; or • tell you why we were not able to take action; and • update you on the progress of the case at least once a month. 19
Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Types of antisocial behaviour and response times We put all reports of ASB into one of three categories. Some examples in each category are shown below. Please see below for how quickly we will contact you. Category 1 - You will be contacted within one working day • Drugs, substance misuse or drug dealing • A hate-related incident (based on a person’s sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion or age) • A report of offensive or hate-related graffiti • Domestic violence • Other physical violence • Serious abuse and threats to staff Category 2 - You will be contacted within three working days • Noise • Vandalism and damage to property • Prostitution Category 3 - You will be contacted within five working days • • • •
Pets and animal nuisance Nuisance from vehicles Litter, rubbish, flytipping Disturbing use of shared areas and public space, for example street drinking • A dispute between neighbours Reporting domestic violence
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We will: • make sure anyone who comes to our receptions about domestic violence is seen within 15 minutes;
For more information about domestic violence, see the ‘Domestic violence’ section of the ‘Being a good neighbour’ booklet of your tenants’ handbook.
Service standards
• assess the risk to the person who reports the violence; • offer an interview with someone of the same sex if asked; and • tell you what support we and other agencies can give.
Improving our service to you We will ask you to fill in a form to tell us how satisfied you are. We will send you this within 28 days of closing your case. We do this to help us to continue to improve the service.
12 Sheltered housing Sheltered housing schemes are buildings that are adapted for older people, so they can live independently. These schemes are for people who only need low levels of support. For more information on sheltered housing schemes, please see the ‘Moving home’ booklet of your tenants’ handbook. Viewing our homes We will: • accompany you when you view the property; and • offer you a virtual tour of the scheme.
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Moving in Before you move in we will give you a welcome pack. This will include: • a welcome letter and a copy of your tenancy; • the name and contact details of your housing officer and income officer; • information on local services; • out-of-hours contact details; • fire safety information; • information on door-entry systems or safety alarms; and • details of any shared facilities. Surgeries We carry out surgeries to discuss housing matters every month. We will: • publish a programme of monthly surgeries; • provide a housing officer and income officer at each monthly surgery to discuss any tenancy problems, including rent payments, and offer advice or information; and • carry out estate inspections of the grounds and shared areas to make sure that the grounds and shared areas meet our standards. You are welcome to join estate inspections. Repairs You can report repairs on the freephone number 0800 952 4444. We will provide you with a freephone in the shared area. You can use this phone to contact us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if you need a repair.
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We carry out the following safety checks. • We will test fire alarms in shared areas every three months. • We will test emergency lighting every month.
Service standards
Safety and security checks
13 Finding a new home and moving in
We provide a free weekly magazine with information on properties that are available. You can bid online from any computer. We also provide free access to computers for tenants to bid online in one-stop shops and area housing receptions. Moving into one of our properties When you move in, we will make sure the property is clean and safe and meets the lettable standard (see below). We will: • give you a welcome pack which includes your tenancy agreement, tenants’ handbook and rent payment card; • tell you how much rent and service charge you have to pay each week; • and how and where you can pay; and • help you to claim Housing Benefit if you are entitled to it. Viewing our homes We will accompany you when you view the property.
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
Support when you move in • If minor work needs to be done (such as painting), we can provide you with a decorating budget. • We will arrange a visit to your home within six weeks of your tenancy starting to discuss your rent payments and offer any advice or information you may need. • We will send you a rent statement each month with details of all rent due and all payments received into your account. Lettable standard We will make sure that our properties are in a suitable condition before your move in. For more information see the lettable standard, details of which can be found on our website www.southwark.gov.uk
14 Complaints, compliments and comments
We are committed to providing high-quality services to our customers. If you are not getting the level of service that we say we provide, we want you to tell us about it so that we can put it right. We aim to acknowledge 100% of complaints within three working days. You can find full details of how to complain on our website and from leaflets available from our receptions.
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Service standards
You can make a compliment, comment or complaint about the housing service: • by phoning 020 7525 0042; • in writing by letter, complaints form, fax or email (see details below); • in person; or • for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing, using the TexBox service on 020 7525 3559. Complaining by letter If you want to write to us, the address is: Corporate Complaints Team Southwark Council PO Box 64529 London SE1 5LX Complaining by email If you want to send an email, please contact us at complaints@southwark.gov.uk In person You can make a complaint in person at any of our receptions. Please see our contact details (on the next page) for their addresses. If you want to make a complaint, or you have made a complaint and want to find out the next steps to take, please pick up a copy of the complaints procedure, which is available in the reception areas of one-stop shops and area housing offices.
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Southwark Council tenants’ handbook
15 Contacting us You can contact us: By phone The main phone number for housing enquiries is 020 7525 2600. • This number is available from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. • The main phone number for repairs enquiries is 0800 952 4444. • This number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. By email At csc@southwark.gov.uk By letter If you want to write to us, please send your letter to: Name of contact (if you know it) Department (if you know it) Southwark Council PO Box 64529 London SE1P 5LX Receptions The addresses of receptions that are open to the public are shown below. These receptions are open between 9am and 5pm on weekdays, except on Wednesdays, when they are open between 9am and 1pm.
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Borough and Bankside Area Housing Office 169 Long Lane SE1 4PN
Camberwell Area Housing Office Harris Street London SE5 7RX
Dulwich Area Housing Office Crown House 41 to 43 East Dulwich Road London SE22 9BY
Nunhead and Peckham Rye Area Housing Office 27 Bournemouth Road London SE15 4UJ
Rotherhithe Area Housing Office 153 to 159 Abbeyfield Road London SE16 2BS
Peckham One-Stop Shop Ground Floor Peckham Library 122 Peckham Hill Street London SE15 5JR
Walworth One-Stop Shop Wansey Street London SE17
Service standards
Bermondsey One-Stop Shop 17 Spa Road London SE16 3QP
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Notes
We want your views. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve our services or any comments on the contents of these service standards, please fill out the form below (attach additional sheets if necessary) and post to:
Service standards
16 Feedback
FREEPOST RSCE-TGHU-CUZB Southwark Council Service standards Quality improvement team 3/3 160 Tooley Street London SE1 2TZ YOU DO NOT NEED A STAMP COMMENTS:
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If you would like a response to your comments, please fill out your details below. Name Address
Postcode
Service standards
Notes
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Updated: April 2010