Tenant Inspectors

A volunteer group representing Council tenants and leaseholders, known collectively as the Tenant Inspectors, has been appointed to carry out assessments of local housing services to assist the Council in ensuring that the standards agreed with the Tenant and Leaseholder Forum are met.

The Inspectors provide a customer perspective on how well the Housing Services are performing, including what works well and what could be improved.

They begin their inspections with an assessment of the repairs service to see how well it is meeting the standards set for carrying out routine repairs, completing minor aids and adaptations, inspecting work done, offering appointments for repair visits and dealing with out of hours emergencies. This assists housing staff in their audit of these standards.

A range of techniques is used by the Inspectors to assess performance, including telephone surveys and interviews, mystery shopping, checking that the website information is up to date and correct, and estate inspections.

It is intended that there will be three inspections each year.

Tenant involvement is increasingly about using a wide range of measures to improve the performance of landlords. This includes involving tenants and leaseholders in inspections and regulation.

Tenants, leaseholders and the Council have common goals:·

• to engage with the community
• to find out what tenants and leaseholders want·
• to focus on outcomes
• to set the standards
• to ensure value for money.

It is important to have checks and balances in place, to ensure that the Council is achieving the standards to which it is committed. By placing the residents at the heart of the assessment process, it will ensure that it is looking at the service from the customer's viewpoint.

For more information, please contact New Vision Homes on 0300 373 0373 or email enquiries@nvhwoking.co.uk