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About | How we are governed | Service standards | Latest news | Jobs | A-Z services | Tenant and estate | Anti-social behaviour | Home Ownership | Report your repair | Applying for housing | Getting involved | Pay your rent | Housing contacts | Hounslow Council | Access for all | Staff awards | Sheltered Housing | Rent a garage | |
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The services and standards that are part of our Tenants Service Charter are monitored and reported to tenants in Hounslow Homes News. Management Reports that tell you how we are performing are also available on this site. Our Mission Statement, Objectives and Values set out our commitment to making a positive contribution to you by providing high quality housing services and by participating actively in the community. Hounslow Homes is also fully committed to equality for all people, with positive regard and fair treatment for all our communities. Below you can find the details of the standards of service we have agreed to provide in consultation with customers’ representatives, the Council and other stakeholders. You can also view the 'Tenants Service Charter - Our Service Standards', in full, which is also available from your local housing office. Select a link: Using and accessing our services Independant Living for older persons In order to put our mission into practice we have four key aims:
We will endeavour to put our customers first We will put customer consultation and feedback at the heart of our operational practice We will ensure that all our services are fairly and equally provided We will invest in the development of our organisation and its workforce We will become a learning organisation and encourage a culture of entrepreneurship within a social enterprise We will establish leadership through effective governance and accountability back to top Using and accessing our services Our Customer Service Centre is open form 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday. Contact the Customer Service Centre on 0800 085 65 75, minicom 0800 389 98 21 or e-mail to housing.repairs@hounslowhomes.org.uk You can:
If you are a leaseholder you will have additional responsibilities for repairs to your property as set out in your lease. Emergency Calls If you have an emergency (e.g. a burst pipe) and the Customer Service Centre is closed, then please call our out of hours service on 020 8583 2222. back to top These are open weekdays between 9am and 5pm and (by appointment only) on Thursdays until 5.30pm. You can visit us to talk about your tenancy, rent account, anti-social behaviour, your estate or any other issue concerning you. Some of our services are available via this website, such as paying your rent online, or reporting a repair. We will ensure that information and correspondence about our services is available to you in your language or the format of your choice and we offer a range of communication aids including:
Visiting our Receptions We will ensure that our housing offices have clearly displayed opening hours. We will ensure that our housing receptions are physically accessible We will endeavour to keep reception areas clean and tidy Our staff will wear identity badges which show their name Our staff will behave in a professional, polite and courteous manner. If we ever have to close our offices we will:
Appointments and Interviews We will ensure our ticket queuing systems in our receptions have clear instructions as to how to use them. If you do not have an appointment to see a housing officer we will operate on a first come first served basis We will try, wherever possible, to offer a choice of times and to provide an appropriate interviewer for any needs you tell us about, including interpreters and signers. We will make sure you know that you can bring someone to an interview with you if this would be helpful to you. We will aim to meet with tenants promptly for interviews or apologise if we are delayed. back to top We will aim to give you a choice of appointment times when we need to visit you. There are some occasions when we will not offer appointments, normally when we are carrying out tenancy checks. This is to ensure properties are legally occupied by the correct tenant, have not been vandalised or abandoned and to help us identify and target our services to our more vulnerable tenants. We will let you know as soon as possible if we cannot keep an appointment we have made with you. We will confirm any agreed action in writing. back to top We will answer all letters, information requests and emails within 10 working days or write within that time to explain the delay in giving you an answer Our service managers will ensure they take ownership of the issues you raise with them and that an appropriate response is sent to you when they have completed any investigations which prove to be necessary. We will write in plain English and make sure the full name, address and contact details of the writer are clear on any correspondence we send to you. Our staff will out an out of office message on email address which include their date of return an alternative contact name for emergencies. back to top We will answer the telephone within 20 seconds. In some circumstances you call may be directed to an answer machine/voicemail facility and respond to any messages within one working day. When we answer the telephone, we will tell you our name and what section we work in. If we need to redirect your call, we will tell you why and to whom we are transferring your call. back to top Our staff or contractors who will work in your home will: Not start work to the outside of your home without letting you know Arrange appointments with you if they need access to your home Apart from emergencies, only work between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday unless specifically agreed. Keep safe all the materials and equipment used on site. Take away building rubbish form gardens and other areas outside your property Keep you home secure at all times. Show you their ID before entering your property Not use radios or smoke in your property Use dust sheets and protective covers to protect your possessions Be polite and clear as to what they will be doing in your home Respect your cultural or personal circumstances. You have the right to refuse to let people into your home if you are not happy about their behaviour (except in an emergency) back to top We expect our staff to be polite and courteous when they speak to our tenants, and we believe that our staff are entitled to expect our tenants to act in the same way. We will take action available against any tenants that are abusive or violent towards our staff. back to top Hounslow Homes want to encourage tenants to be involved in making decisions about their homes and estates and the services they receive. There may be a residents group or association on your estate that you can join. Tenants that wish to set up a group or association can speak to the Tenant Participation Officer in their area for help and advice. The Hounslow Tenants Compact is an agreement between Hounslow Homes, the London Borough of Hounslow and the Hounslow Federation of Tenants and Residents Associations (HFTRA). It covers more information on commitments to tenants and leaseholders such as:
Find out more by visiting the 'Getting Involved' page on this site. back to top We aim to carry out 95% of emergency repairs within 24 hours. We will tell you if your repair is an emergency when you report it. We also aim to carry out non-urgent work within 12 days(by appointment) and to complete 90% of all communal repairs within our target timescale. We aim to service all gas heating and hot water boilers every year back to top We aim to remove 99.5% of offensive (e.g. racist) graffiti within 2 working days and 96% of all non-offensive graffiti within 7 working days We will publish details of our caretaking and cleaning standards at each location where a service is provided, so you know what will be done and how often. If you cannot see one on your estate, contact Caretaking Services on 020 8583 6300. We will also provide a communal gardening service and we will ask you for your views about the service every year. We expect 70% of our customers to express satisfaction. We will remove abandoned and dangerous vehicles from our estates - 99% of them within 2 days if they are dangerous or within 7 days otherwise from the date they were reported to our contractor. back to top When you move into one of our homes we will gave you an information pack about your property and local area. We will give you advice on welfare and housing benefit whenever you need it, but we do aim to collect all rent that is owed to us. We will take recovery action any customers who do not pay their rent. back to top Occasionally some of our tenants will experience problems to do with noise or neighbour nuisance, or even racial harassment, other forms of harassment and domestic violence. We are committed to working with our partners, e.g. the Police and Mediation Services, to eradicate these problems and to deal with the perpetrators. We have a specialist Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Team who can be contacted via the Customer Service Centre or in person at your local housing office. The ASB Team includes:
back to top Independent living for older people Hounslow Homes works in partnership with the London Borough of Hounslow to provide housing related support and reassurance to people in the community who have particular needs. This includes:
We aim to:
back to top The Home Ownership Unit provides services to tenants who want to buy their property. It also provides services to leaseholders and service charge paying freeholders who have already bought their properties, either from the council or on the open market. We aim to issue 95% or response notices to Right To Buy applications within 28 days, and to issue 95% of offer notices detailing price and conditions of purchase, within a further 8 weeks for houses or 12 weeks for flats and maisonettes. We will collect 100% of the service charges owed to us and we will take action to recover these costs under the terms of the lease if we need to do so. An information book is also available for leaseholders that explains the service they should expect to receive. We also have a leaseholders forum where leaseholders can discuss the service they are receiving. You can make an appointment to visit the Home Ownership Unit by contact them direct. See the housing contacts page for details. You can also email to home.ownership@hounslowhomes.org.uk, or write to: Home Ownership Unit Hounslow Homes’ 21 High Street Feltham TW13 4AG back to top Although Hounslow Homes is committed to providing excellent services to our customers, this doesn’t happen all the time and you may want to let us know you are unhappy by making a complaint. You may not be getting the level of service we say we will provide or do not agree with our policies or practices. It doesn’t matter whether the service is provided by one of our staff or contractors/partners, we want you to tell us about it so we can put it right. You can contact the Complaints Team by:
The complaints officer will first arrange for the manager responsible for the service to reply to you. We will write to you to confirm receipt of your complaint, and tell you when you can expect a reply. This will normally be within 2 weeks of the date you made your complaint. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, we will arrange for the matter to be independently investigated. You can read more about the complaints service and process in our How to complain leaflet. back to top |
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