Derby Homes Tenants Handbook

Transcription

1 Derby Homes Tenants Handbook Derby Homes Floor 2 South Point Cardinal Square 10 Nottingham Road Derby DE1 3QT Telephone enquirycentre@derbyhomes.org

2 TENANTS HANDBOOK The tenants handbook gives information that will help you as a tenant. You can read more about this on the Derby Homes website We want you to be happy in your home and provide you with a high quality service. We have worked with our tenants and leaseholders to set the standards of service you can expect from us. This tenants handbook contains information on: Your tenancy agreement Being a good neighbour Registering on Derby Homes Dashboard Paying your rent Customer Care Repairs Living in a flat or maisonette Supported services Changing your home Your opportunity to get involved Customer care Your Tenancy Agreement When you become a tenant you will be asked to sign a Tenancy Agreement. This is a legal document that sets out the rules of the tenancy. The rules are terms and conditions about the things you must do and things you must not do. It tells you about your responsibilities and how you can end the tenancy. It also explains what your rights are and what you can expect from us as your landlord. Being a Good Neighbour When you sign your tenancy agreement, you will also be asked to sign a Good Neighbour Agreement. This is reminding you that you are responsible for your behaviour and that of your family and visitors. We aim to reduce anti-social behaviour and we rely on you to help us.

3 Register on My Derby Homes Tenants Dashboard If you are a tenant, have access to the internet and an address, you can now set yourself up on online with your own personal account on Derby Homes website. You will be able to view your rent account, pay your rent online, report a repair, and see your repairs statement. Visit Paying your Rent Your rent is charged over 48 weeks each year. You have 4 rent free weeks each year if you are up to date with your rent. We will send you a rent calendar every year that will show you the four rent-free weeks. If you have missed any payments then you will have to pay on the rent-free weeks. Your rent is due on Monday each week and must be paid during the week it is due, or in advance. You must pay in advance if you pay rent every two weeks or at longer intervals. There are several different ways in which you can pay your rent: Direct Debit you can download a direct debit mandate form from our website Online Pay Point Post Office Customer Service Centre( Derby Direct) at 1 Albion Street (8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Thursday, and 8.30am to 4pm Friday ) Over the phone. Touchtone (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) Rents payment Hotline (Monday to Friday 8am to 8 pm, Saturday 8 am to 12 noon) Cheque or postal order sent to Derby Homes headquarters at Cardinal Square Directly from your wages if you work for Derby City Council or Derby Homes See our website for further information

4 Problems paying your rent If you are having problems paying your rent please contact us as soon as possible. Our website gives information on how we can help, advice on housing benefit, money advice and other support. Remember, if you do not pay your rent, you could loose your home Housing Benefit Please visit your housing office or Derby Benefits on Albion Street if you want to claim Housing Benefit. You may have the right to Housing Benefit if you are on a low income. You will need to fill in a form and hand it to your housing office. You will also need to show proof of your income. Our website gives you details on Housing Benefit and the forthcoming changes Repairs If you want to request a repair, you can contact us by Telephone on (Monday to Friday 8am to 8 pm, Saturday 8 am to 12 noon).if you call outside of these hours, there will be an answerphone message giving you an emergency phone number. ...enquirycentre@derbyhomes.org Online through our enquiry forms on our website Online through the My Derby Homes Dashboard section of our website In person at your local Housing Office (see our website for opening hours) We have more details about repairs and maintenance, improvements and alterations, our contractors and safety on our website. We offer a Home Decoration Scheme and a Garden Maintenance Scheme for tenants aged over 60 or registered disabled. There is a weekly charge for the schemes, which is added to your rent. If you receive housing benefit the weekly charge will be covered for you. See our website for more details. Your tenancy conditions are changed when you join the scheme this means you cannot be removed from the scheme in the future. Please contact us if you

5 are interested in joining the scheme. Living in a Flat or Maisonette Living in flats and maisonettes brings special responsibilities to all who live there. Our website has information on Communal areas and door entry Mobility scooters Noise nuisance Pets Supported Services We can provide a number of services to help you keep your independence and stay in your own home. For more details on all of these services, please see our website. Supported Living helping people over the age of 60 or people over 40 years old in receipt of high rate Disability Living allowance. Tenancy Sustainment Service supporting new tenants in their first year. The Tenancy Support service - working with vulnerable people to help them keep and run their home. We can offer support to the following groups: People who have recently moved into a new home following a period of homelessness Young people aged between 16 and 25 Ex-offenders People at risk of offending People living with HIV/AIDs Survivors of domestic abuse Family Intervention Project (FIP) provides support to high need families

6 Changing your home Derby Homes, local housing associations and some private landlords with properties to rent in Derby work together and operate the same allocations scheme. You only have to fill in one application form to be registered on the Housing Register. We advertise properties for rent through Derby Homefinder. When you are registered you will be able to look for properties using Homefinder. Each week a variety of properties are advertised on Derby Homefinder. You can express interest in up to 3 properties a week. If you need help, contact us. You can find more information about this on our website. You can also contact us or the Housing Options Centre on Derwent Street. Your opportunity to get involved We value your views and want to consult with you to help ensure that we offer the right service. There are many different ways for you to get involved and have your say. Housing Focus Groups Neighbourhood Forums Junior Wardens SHOUT Apply to be a Board Member on either Derby Homes Board or the City Board Derby Association of Community Partners (a voluntary organisation made up of tenants and residents. They exist to represent peoples concerns and to discuss them with us and other statutory bodies. The DACP hold monthly open meetings and can help you access training sessions. Contact DACP on or dacp1@hotmail.co.uk To find out more about this, contact Derby Homes on , or visit our website

7 Customer Care Our customer care standards have been developed with tenants and leaseholders. Copies of our Customer Care Charter leaflets are available on our website Derby Homes will: make sure all our staff have customer care training monitor our standards and ask tenants and leaseholders to help us do this publish the results of this so everyone can see how we are doing. respect you and your home consult with you involve tenants and leaseholders to monitor and improve our service care for your property behave professionally deal fairly with complaints. Our staff will: be polite and helpful deal with your problems quickly wear name badges be well informed and trained in their duties carry official identification badges while on duty outside the offices make appointments when we need to visit you, or carry out repairs. Our customer care standards have been agreed with our tenants. We regularly check to make sure we are meeting the standards. We aim to: answer 70% of calls within 10 seconds answer 100% of calls in less than 90 seconds monitor calls to help make sure we are providing good service. Display our office opening times and out of hours emergency numbers Give 10 working days notice of any office closures for training or holidays Reply to letters within 3 working days Display photographs of key staff Keep the reception area is clean and tidy

8 Have relevant and up to date information on display Offer you a private interview if you want one Make sure that you are not kept waiting for longer than 10 minutes Explain why if we have to keep you waiting Give help to people who cannot read or speak English Satisfaction Surveys We regularly send out satisfaction surveys to finds out what people think about the service. This helps us to make improvements so your responses are really important to us. If you receive a survey, please take a few moments to fill it out. Comments Scheme Comment forms are available at all Housing Offices and on our website. You can use these to give us your views about our services. This can include suggestions, questions or general comments. You can post the forms back to us free of charge or hand them in at your Housing Office. Whatever your views, we will investigate and reply to every comment you send us. Complaints We always try to get things right first time but we know this doesn t always happen. We take all complaints seriously and try to learn from our mistakes. Please talk to us if you are not happy with any of our services. You should first contact the staff who provided the service. If you are still unhappy you can speak to a manager. If you still feel that the situation has not been resolved, you can make a complaint. There are details of our complaints procedure on our website. If Derby Homes has made a mistake, there are various things that we can do to put it right. Our website has details of what we can do, and details of any compensation that you may be entitled to.