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Looking After Your Home and Estate Service Standard
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These are the standards you can expect from Ascham Homes to support you to create a safe and pleasant home and local environment. More detail about this can be found in the ‘Looking After Your Home’ section of the ‘Residents Information Pack’.
Keep you informed
We will let you know about:
- cleaning of communal areas (how frequently and to what standard communal areas will be cleaned)
- proper disposal of refuse, including large items
- keeping pets, and
- storage of flammable material.
If you do not carry out your responsibilities, this could mean you are breaking your tenancy agreement. If this happens, we will take action against you. This could mean we take out an injunction against you and you could lose your home.
We will let you know:
- how to use door-entry systems and will provide you with a door-entry card. If you have lost your door-entry card or key, we will give you a replacement, but you will have to pay for it.
We will:
- give performance information on caretaking standards to Contract Panels (which are made up of tenants’ and leaseholders’ representatives), and
- give you information about the caretaking service in your area.
Work in partnership with you
We will remove dangerous vehicles from estates within 24 hours.
Where an estate has resident-permitted parking we will:
- remove untaxed, abandoned, or un-permitted vehicles within seven days.
If you see a car that is not showing current road tax, that is abandoned or un-permitted, please tell us.
Where people damage estates
If we can get evidence against people who damage the Council’s property, then we will take legal action to stop them doing this again and to obtain compensation from them. This will help us keep your rent and service charges down.
Learn and improve
We will:
- review all caretaking schedules every year with individual tenants’ and residents’ associations (TRAs), and
- make sure that estates are monitored by staff and residents.
Estates are inspected on a regular basis. Each inspection results in a grading ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’, or ‘D’ to reflect the level of cleanliness with ‘A’ indicating that the site is thoroughly clean and ‘D’ indicating that the site has been neglected. Our aim is to achieve mostly ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades with very few ‘C’/’D’ grades, with our proportion of ‘A’s increasing each year. For further information see ‘Estate Inspections’.
Cleaning and maintenance
We will make sure that all estates that are provided with a caretaking service are cleaned and maintained to published standards, including:
- outside and inside paintwork, and other finishes inside and outside blocks, to be clean and free from graffiti
- all areas on estates to be free from bulky waste and litter
- shared windows to be clean
- shared areas to be properly lit, and failure of lighting to shared areas where there is a Health & Safety risk will be dealt with as an emergency repair
- broken glass will be made safe immediately by the caretaker (an order is raised by the Estates’ Supervisor and the work completed within three days)
- banging shared entrance door will normally be eased and adjusted within three days by either the area contractor or the contractor responsible for maintaining our controlled entry systems. Where necessary, new doors are replaced within 21 days
- uneven paving will be made safe immediately where there is a likelihood of trips or falls, with renewal or relaying of paving within 21 days by the area contractor
- defective guttering will be made safe immediately where necessary by caretaker or area repairs contractor. Where needed, guttering will be replaced within 21 days (leaking gutters will also be repaired within 21 days), and
- broken or defective sewer covers will be made safe immediately where there is a likelihood of trips or falls, and they will be replaced or repaired within three days.
We will make sure all places that receive a gardening service are maintained to a high standard, including making sure that:
- grass is kept below 75 millimetres high
- grass is cut to between 25 millimetres and 75 millimetres high
- access ways are kept free from obstructions
- plants are fed and pruned in line with the season
- weeds are controlled on a seasonal basis, and
- we use the best planting solution for each place.
Further, we will:
- make sure that all racist or offensive graffiti on estates is removed within 24 hours of being told about it, and that other graffiti is removed within one week, and
- work towards providing recycling facilities on all major estates and smaller blocks.
Performance targets
Our aims include:
- achieving 30% A, 68% B and 2% C/D grades on Estate Inspections in 2005/06; 40% A, 58% B and 2% C/D grades in 2006/07; and 50% A, 48% B and 2% C/D grades in 2007/08
- completing 97% of Estate Inspections due in 2005/06, 97% in 2006/07, and 98% in 2007/08, and
- carrying out 25% of Estate Inspections accompanied by customers.
Customer care
We will provide good customer care to all our customers, our staff will be friendly, polite and keen to help you, dealing with your enquiry with sensitivity and discretion.
We will:
- wear a visible identity badge
- promote and provide equality and fair treatment for everyone
- reply to all correspondence within seven working days
- provide a contact name, office and e-mail addresses, and a direct dial number in all our letters
- deal with all complaints within 28 days and learn from them
- write in plain English
- answer your phone call within five rings, telling you who we are and asking how we may help you
- forward our phone to colleagues when we are out of the office
- call you back on the same day if you call before 1pm or call you back by 1pm the following day if you call after 1pm
- offer translations or special formats of our main documents and of any letter we send. Translations are available for the most common community languages and our special formats include audio tape, Braille for deaf-blind residents, and large print
- communicate through interpreters and British Sign Language (BSL) signers for residents who have specific needs, and
- do our best to give you information and advice about other local services that we do not provide, including services provided by the council and by other agencies.
Further, we agree to:
- provide your personal details when we pass your enquiry to a specialist, together with the details of your enquiry so, that you do not have to repeat it to another person
- keep the appointment that you have made and tell you beforehand if we have to cancel it
- carry out customer satisfaction surveys of at least 10% of our customers, and
- keep you informed of how well we are doing in delivering the service.
You can help us by:
- treating your home and surroundings and our staff with respect
- telling us about any changes in your circumstances so that we can provide you with the best possible service, and
- telling us what you think of us.
We will use customer feedback to improve our service. Please tell us if you feel that we have not met any of the service standards. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a formal complaint.
The leaflet ‘Ascham Homes Complaints Procedure’▀ gives you information about making a complaint and is available through all of our outlets. Our staff will help you make a complaint if you are not able to do so.
How to contact us
You can access our services in a number of ways.
Telephone Ascham Direct on 020 8496 4197
The lines are open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday for a full service.
If you live in Billericay or Wickford, you can phone Ascham Direct on 0845 3000 363 (charged at the local rate).
You can write to us at:
Ascham Homes
Ascham Homes
1 Wood Street
Walthamstow
London E17 3JU.
London E17 3JU.
You can e-mail us at:
Please note that although we check this site regularly during the day, you should not use it to report urgent repairs.
You can visit us at:
Ascham Homes
1 Wood Street
Walthamstow
London E17 3JU.
Open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday
Ascham Homes (Billericay office)
16 Morris Avenue
Billericay
Essex CM11 2LB.
Open 9am to 11am, Tuesdays and Thursdays
16 Morris Avenue
Billericay
Essex CM11 2LB.
Open 9am to 11am, Tuesdays and Thursdays
In an emergency outside the normal hours, as mentioned above, contact the joint Ascham Homes and London Borough of Waltham Forest emergency service on:
020 8496 3000
020 8496 3000
Other useful contacts:
Waltham Forest Direct
772-776 High Road, Leyton, London E10 6AE
772-776 High Road, Leyton, London E10 6AE
Waltham Forest Direct is the London Borough of Waltham Forest Council’s contact centre. For all council services, call them on:
020 8496 3000
020 8496 3000
To get a skip licence, contact: The Chingford Municipal Offices, 16 The Ridgeway, Chingford, London E4 6PS.
If a vehicle has been abandoned on the highway, call:
Freephone 0800 23 23 23 and ask for it to be removed.
Freephone 0800 23 23 23 and ask for it to be removed.
Crimestoppers 0800 555 111
RSPCA, National advice line, Phone: 0870 55 55 99
Ascham Homes's publications
You can get copies of our service standards, information leaflets, Decent Homes programme, Tenants Compact and Residents Information Pack from:
- Ascham Homes reception at 1 Wood Street
- Waltham Forest Direct Shops, and
- Social services public reception areas
If you would like us to post a publication to you, please call Ascham Direct on 020 8496 4197.
Related Documents
These are the standards you can expect from Ascham Homes to support you to create a safe and pleasant home and local environment. (256 KB)