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Rent Collection and Debt Recovery Service Standards
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These are the standards you can expect from the rent collection and debt recovery service Ascham Homes provides. More detailed advice about paying rent is available in the ‘Residents Information Pack’.
Be professional, accessible and open to your views
We will:
- offer you the choice whether you pay your rent weekly fortnightly or monthly in advance, and
- offer you the choice of how to pay your rent through a wide range of payment methods including Direct Debit, handitill, PayPoint, deduction from salary or pension, online, by phone, by post and by cash payments. See the Rent and Housing Benefit section of the ‘Residents Information Pack’▀.
Keep you informed
We will:
- advise you about your possible right to housing benefit and other benefits and help you to fill in forms if you cannot do this yourself
- advise and arrange for you to pay any debt you owe us in instalments. If you do not let us know that you are in difficulty, we can’t help you. We operate a hotline which you can use 9am to 5pm to discuss your rent account and rent payment on 020 8503 6242
- always tell you when your rent, heating and water charges are changed. The Council decides how much the rent or heating charge increase should be each year. The water authority sets the water charge
- send you a statement of your rent account four times a year, and
- provide you with an application form for household contents insurance and collect insurance premiums. Please note if you are behind with your rent you will not be able to have this insurance cover.
If you receive income support and you are behind with your rent we may be able to arrange for the Benefits Agency to take money from your benefit and pay it directly to the Council.
We will take legal action if you do not pay your rent. We will take all necessary legal steps to evict you on behalf of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. For more information see ‘Pre-Eviction Panel’
If you rent a garage from the Council we will collect payments. If you fall behind we will issue a notice to quit and repossess the garage. Please note that if you have rent owing on your home, you cannot rent a garage.
Performance targets
Our aims include:
- to collect 94% of rent owed on council housing in 2005/06, 96% in 2006/07, and 97% in 2007/08
- to collect 101% of income as a proportion of rent due
- to have only 15.5% of tenants with more than seven weeks of (gross) rent arrears in 2005/06, 15% in 2006/07, and 14.5% in 2007/08
- to serve 25.8% of tenants in arrears with notices of seeking possession
- to evict 0.33% of tenants as a result of rent arrears in 2005/06, 0.32% in 2006/07, and 0.31% in 2007/08, and
- to let 50% of all garages in 2005/06, 54% in 2006/07, and 60% in 2007/08.
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
Our rent account and rent payment hotline is 020 8503 6242, open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
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
1 Wood Street
Walthamstow
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
Other useful contacts:
Waltham Forest Direct, 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
The Revenues and Benefits Service
221 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 9PH
Telephone: 020 8496 3000
Leytonstone Citizens Advice Bureau
Greater London House, 547-551 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 4PB
Telephone: 020 8988 9620
Fax: 020 8558 7911
221 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 9PH
Telephone: 020 8496 3000
Leytonstone Citizens Advice Bureau
Greater London House, 547-551 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 4PB
Telephone: 020 8988 9620
Fax: 020 8558 7911
Walthamstow Citizens Advice Bureau
167 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 3AL
Telephone: 0870 1264 026
Website: www.walthamforestcab.org.uk/wcab
167 Hoe Street, Walthamstow, London E17 3AL
Telephone: 0870 1264 026
Website: www.walthamforestcab.org.uk/wcab
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.
You can download all our publications from our website: www.aschamhomes.org.uk
Related Documents
These are the standards you can expect from the rent collection and debt recovery service Ascham Homes provides (224 KB)