Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Service Standards
What you can expect from Luminus
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Our 2020 Vision: The Road to Renewal is a focus on positive change that transforms our communities to mend “broken Britain”. Since March 2000 we have been building a team of people who, daily inspired in their work, seek consistently to give excellent service to our customers. This energises our residents, business partners and the wider community and helps us all find a sense of purpose, hope and fulfilment. As we change, transformation occurs and a brighter future becomes reality.
2
What You Can Expect From Luminus
Part One Your tenancy For more detailed information about your tenancy and the different types of tenancy available: • Refer to your Guide for Tenants • Call our Neighbourhood Services Team on 01480 428550 • Look on our website at www.luminus.org.uk • Send an email to
[email protected] Luminus will provide high quality services to help people get the most from their tenancy and will consult you about any changes which affect you. We will make sure that everyone is able to access our services, regardless of their individual circumstances.
3
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
When you begin your tenancy with us we will • Give you a copy of your tenancy agreement, which is a legal contract between you and us. Your tenancy agreement sets out your rights and obligations as the tenant, and ours as the landlord • Where you are unable to read/speak English or have you have a disability which makes it difficult for you to understand the document, we will give you a copy in another language, in large print, braille, or an audio version. If you would like help please let us know before your tenancy starts • Give you a different type of tenancy, depending on whether you: • Were a tenant of Huntingdonshire District Council before 20 March 2000 • Became a tenant of Luminus Homes or Oak Foundation (formerly HHP), on or after 20 March 2000 • Are a new tenant of Luminus Homes. When you first become a tenant of Luminus Homes we will give you a 12 month ‘Starter Tenancy’ (Assured Shorthold Tenancy). This will automatically become a full Assured Tenancy after 12 months, provided we have not taken action against you for breaking the terms of your tenancy
4
What You Can Expect From Luminus
• Explain what your tenancy agreement means and answer any questions you have about it • Ask you to sign a ‘Good Neighbour Agreement’, which explains how we expect our tenants to behave as neighbours and members of the local community • Talk to you about paying your rent. Where you are experiencing difficulty, we will refer you to our Income and Benefits Advisor who will be able to assist you (please refer to our Service Standard ‘Collecting Rents and Service Charges’ and our leaflet on ‘Income and Benefits Advice’) • Ask you to complete a Customer Needs Survey, which contains questions about any special help you may need to help you get the most from your home and your tenancy. We will take every reasonable step to help you access all our services, regardless of your personal circumstances such as a disability or not being able to speak/read English • Visit you within two weeks of you moving in to check on how you have settled in
5
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Having relationship difficulties/getting divorced? If so, we will • Give you advice about your housing rights and other things to consider about your tenancy agreement • Support tenants or members of their household who are a victim of, or fear they will suffer from, domestic violence • Respect your wishes in helping you find solutions, which may involve looking at options for re-housing • Be supportive and will respect your confidentiality at all times • Give you advice about other services and agencies which may be able to help. This may include our own Tenancy Support Service For more information about our Tenancy Support Service refer to our Service Standard ‘Support Services for Vulnerable and Elderly People’ When a partner, or someone else in your household dies • Our staff will deal with you in a supportive and sensitive way • We will talk through your housing options, which may including continuing the tenancy or finding another suitable home
6
What You Can Expect From Luminus
Passing your tenancy to someone else In some cases you will be able to pass or assign your tenancy to someone else. We will consider each case carefully and tell you of the outcome in writing You may be able to: • Exchange or swap your home with someone else • Assign your tenancy to someone else who would be entitled to your tenancy if you die Running a business from your home • You do not have the right to run a business from your home, but in some cases we may give you permission • You must ask for permission and we will consider each request carefully and fairly Sub-letting (renting) your home to someone else • In some cases we will allow you sub-let part of your home • You must not sub-let all of your home, as this will break your tenancy conditions • We will consider all cases and will inform you in writing of our decision
7
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Taking in a lodger • We will allow you to take in a lodger, as long as this does not lead to the property being overcrowded. (A lodger is someone who pays to live in your home but does not have private use of any of it, except for a bedroom) • We will give you advice on taking in a lodger, to include making sure you are not overcrowding your home Buying your home • In some cases you will be able to buy your home. There are two different schemes available. These are: • The preserved right to buy (tenants who transferred from a ‘secure’ council tenancy, for example from HDC) • The right to acquire (people who began their tenancy after 20 March 2000) • We will consider individual requests carefully • We will give you more information and advice on these schemes upon request
8
What You Can Expect From Luminus
Compensation for improving your home • We will allow you to carry out alterations and improvements to your home, after you have received written permission from us and based on certain conditions • When your tenancy ends, we may pay you compensation for authorised improvements which you have made to your home Gas/oil servicing • Every year, by law, we have to service your gas/oil boiler and check the safety of the system, ventilation and any additional gas appliances you may have installed • We will make an appointment to carry out this work • You must give us access to carry out the work and if you fail to do so we can take legal action against you
9
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Information and consultation We will give information and consult with you if we are considering: • Changing the way we manage your home • Improving or carrying out major repairs to your home • Demolishing your home Not following the rules of your tenancy If you break the terms of your tenancy we will: • Explain to you how you are breaking the terms of your tenancy • Give you the chance to put this right • Take action against you, either in the form of an injunction or a possession order, which may result in you being evicted
10
What You Can Expect From Luminus
When will we take action against you for breaking the rules of your tenancy agreement? There are a number of ways in which tenants can break the rules of their tenancy. These include: • Non-payment or late payment of rents and service charges • Anti-social behaviour/nuisance • Sub-letting your whole home • Running a business from your home without our permission • Not looking after your home or any common parts of it • Giving false information which has been used to decide if you would be given the tenancy Please refer to your Tenancy Agreement, the Guide for Tenants, or speak to a member of our Neighbourhood Services team for a more detailed explanation of the reasons why a tenancy can end and the different actions we can take when you break the rules of your tenancy.
11
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Measuring our performance We monitor the way we perform in delivering tenancy management services. We have set the following targets: New tenant visits • Carry out new tenancy visits for 100% of tenants within the first two weeks of their tenancy Gas servicing • Carry out annual gas servicing to 100% of homes with gas central heating systems • Carry out annual oil servicing to 100% of homes with oil-fired central heating • Carry out annual solid fuel servicing to 100% of homes with solid fuel central heating systems Overall satisfaction with our service • Every three years we carry out a customer satisfaction survey of all of our tenants. In 2007 87% of our tenants were happy with the overall service we provide. We aim to improve on this result in our 2010 survey.
12
What You Can Expect From Luminus
Part Two Neighbourhood Management We will work in your local neighbourhood to help make it a clean, safe and attractive environment for you to live in. Working with you in your local community Our Neighbourhood Wardens will hold weekly surgeries. The weekly surgeries will give you the chance to meet your Neighbourhood Warden and tell them about any concerns you have about your local neighbourhood. The weekly surgeries are held at: • Yaxley Information Centre Tuesday 9.30am- 1.00pm • Ramsey Information Centre Tuesday 1.30pm-4.00pm Looking after your neighbourhood • Neighbourhood Wardens will carry out inspections every week and check: • Litter, fly tipping dog mess, graffiti, abandoned cars, dangerous/illegal parking • Grass cutting and shrub and tree maintenance • Communal areas of blocks of flats are clean and have no health and safety issues
13
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
• Entry systems to flats are working properly • Lifts are working properly, including the alarm • Rubbish in communal areas is not causing a nuisance or a danger to the health of others • Fencing and other items which are the responsibility of Luminus are in a good state of repair • Faulty street lighting, and any other items which are the responsibility of the district and county councils have been reported to the relevant authority • Neighbourhood Wardens will carry out general works to improve your local environment. These include: • Picking litter • Carrying out gardening work to untidy communal areas • Removing graffiti • Contacting tenants who are causing nuisance to their neighbours through flytipping, untidy gardens and inconsiderate parking
14
What You Can Expect From Luminus
Working with vulnerable residents Our Neighbourhood Wardens will: • Visit elderly tenants in their homes regularly to make sure they feel safe, and address any concerns and queries • Carry out regular visits to our sheltered housing schemes and deal with any issues raised by the residents • Visit vulnerable tenants regularly, as advised by our Tenancy Support and Neighbourhood Services teams • Install key safes and ‘Life Line’ (community alarm) systems in the homes of vulnerable people and carry out repair visits. For more information about key safes and ‘Life Line’, please call our Community Services Team on 01480 428562 • Put people in touch with the local Bobby Scheme. The Bobby Scheme provides free advice and crime prevention aids to vulnerable people, for example door chains. Getting involved in your community through partnership working Our Neighbourhood Wardens will work with other organisations in your community. Together we can make your community a better place to live. Examples include: • Getting involved with local schools • Meeting with local residents • Attending Parish Council meetings • Working with the police 15
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Improving your local environment through the Spot the Solution scheme ‘Spot the Solution’ is a unique project where we work with local residents to identify how we can make improvements to the physical environment of your neighbourhood, to help make it more secure, provide better facilities and improve the way it looks.
Examples can include: • Improving landscaping to estates and communal areas of flats • Improving security to communal areas, including gardens • Improving parking arrangements • Installing security measures such as fencing and lighting If you have any suggestions on how Spot the Solution can improve your neighbourhood please speak to a Neighbourhood Warden or call our Tenant Liaison Officer on 01480 428531 to find out more. Measuring our performance We monitor the way we perform in delivering estate management services. We have set the following targets:
16
What You Can Expect From Luminus
Supporting vulnerable people Our Neighbourhood Wardens will maintain a visible presence in your local community, and in particular will keep in contact with the most vulnerable people in your neighbourhood. This will involve carrying out visits to the following people every month • At least thirty visits to elderly tenants • At least thirty visits to sheltered housing schemes • At least thirty visits to other vulnerable tenants Reporting repairs • Our Neighbourhood Wardens will report repairs on behalf of tenants within 24 hours of being informed • Our Neighbourhood Wardens will raise repair orders for communal areas within 24 hours of identifying them Customer satisfaction Every three years we carry out a full customer satisfaction survey. In 2007 87.2% of people who responded to the survey said they were satisfied with their area as a place to live. Our aim is improve on this result in our next full customer satisfaction survey, in 2010.
17
Tenancy and Neighbourhood Management
Your feedback is important to us. If you feel that Luminus services are not meeting the standard we have set out in this leaflet, please contact our Customer Services Team by either: • Calling 01480 428333 • Calling any other Luminus number, where you will put through to our Customer Services Team • Coming in person to our offices at Brook House • Completing an ‘Online feedback’ form which you can access through our website at www.luminus.org.uk • Putting your issue in writing to us at Luminus Group, Brook House, Ouse Walk, Huntingdon, PE29 3QW • Completing a Comments, Compliments and Complaints form – available to download from our website or by requesting one by phone, or in person More information on how to get in touch with us and make a comment about our services can be found in our ‘Customer Service’ Service Standard. We will work with customers to review our Service Standards each year, to ensure we continue to meet them and to look at how we can improve services for the future. If you would like to be involved in reviewing our Service Standards please call our Performance Review Officer on 01480 428728. 18
What You Can Expect From Luminus
19
For a copy of this leaflet in large print, audio cassette or in another language call 01480 428707
For a copy of this document in large print, audio or in another call 01480428707 language 01480 428707 Luminus Group • Brook House • Ouse Walk • Huntingdon • PE29 3QW T: 01480 428777 • F: 01480 428555 •
[email protected] • www.luminus.org.uk
A+ EÅçGL×OÅÅ [ÅQÍÅ Å %lÅÅãÌ[Å , %×QÅÅCÅãTÅÅ [Åç %Xî \ÅçbçÌ^Å ãYãTÅÅ ãZÅçX EÅÅÌ[ÅÓX 01480 428707
