You said, we did
We really appreciate your time and that of others in giving us feedback about the services we provide.
You might wonder what we do with all this feedback. Below, you’ll find a list of changes we’ve made as a result of it.
Replacing kitchens, bathrooms and windows
April 2021. Through our big check-in during April, you told us that you'd like more commmnunication about when we'll carry out major maintenance to homes like replacing kitchens, bathrooms and windows. During May we wrote to about 500 residents who were due to have kitchens and bathrooms replaced this year to provide more information on when this work will take place. You can read more including details of our investment in homes over the next 10 years in our results from our latest big check-in article.
Website account access for home owners
February 2021. Home owners told us that they'd like the same access to the website as renting customers with the ability to see acount data, make payments and report and track repairs. So, we've enable home onwers to register on the website and access their account from any device.
Repair wait times
December 2020. We received several complaints and other feedback, where you told us that it was taking us too long to fix minor repairs.
So, we now use external contractors as well as our own repairs team. By April 2021 this had brought the average wait time for repairs down from 26 to 18 days and our aim is to reduce it further to 16 days.
When a tenant dies
December 2020. We received some complaints from family members saying that the legal document we send after a tenant dies (asking them to return the property to us) felt cold and unsympathetic in the circumstances.
So, we’ve introduced a pause in the process, where we first call the family personally and explain what will happen next, when and why.
Fixing common heating breakdowns
December 2020. We looked at some of the complaints and feedback we’d received following heating breakdowns and saw that it was taking time to order certain common parts we needed to fix heating breakdowns.
So, we now keep these common parts in stock, meaning we don’t have to order them. This has reduced the time it takes us to fix these types of breakdown.
Being clear about section 20 costs
December 2020. Several home owners told us that we weren’t being clear about the costs they would be expected to pay for section 20 works or contracts.
So, we’ve changed our internal processes, so that we can provide clearer information to home owners about the costs and we’ve changed our letter to home owners to include these details.
Home swapping - cleanliness of properties
December 2020. We received some complaints about the cleanliness of properties that people moved into following a home swap.
Home swaps usually happen on one day, meaning that the property isn’t empty for any period of time enabling us to clean it. So, we’ve added cleanliness to the list of things we check at a property prior to approving the home-swap. It’s now a condition that the current tenant cleans the property to our normal standard before we approve the swap. We’ve also made this clear in the letters we send to tenants who have applied to swap homes.
Got a suggestion?
Why not fill out our compliments and comments form and give us your comment or suggestion.