Who's Who
We understand it can be confusing to know who to speak to and what we do, so we've listed the names of our customer facing staff. These are our staff who work with tenants and are your point of contact.
They are responsible for different things so you might speak to a different member of staff based on which service you need, these can be:
To speak to your Officers on your patch you can call them on 01304 801084 and select the option suitable for your enquiry.
The Duty line is manned by our Housing Officers on a rota system, they can answer your query or pass it on to your Officers who can call you back.
We have a variety of ways you can contact us.
Housing Officers
Housing officers have a geographical patch and deal with:
- Tenancy checks
- Authorising tenancy changes, successions and ending the tenancies
- Tenancy enquiries
- Support for vulnerable tenants and attending case conferences
- Low level nuisance and tenancy disputes.
- Attending gas forced entries and evictions.
- Untidy gardens, garden clearances and tree removals
- Serving notices
- Some arrears visits
- Housing officers also act as duty officer for our telephone system.
Andy Friend
- Tower Hamlets and St Radigunds
- Canadian Estate
- Villages: Martin, Whitfield, Guston, East Langdon, Ashley, Shepherdswell , Tilmanstone, Nonington, Coldred, Aycliffe, Capel-le-Ferne, Church Hougham, Temple Ewell and Alkham
Flora Evans
- Dover Town
- Aylesham
- Villages: Eythorne and Elvington, Wingham, Preston, Staple Stourmouth, Goodnestone, Shatterling and Ash
Faye Martinez
- North and Middle Deal
- Upper Deal
- Villages: Sholden, Walmer, Kingsdown, Ringwould and St Margaret’s
Theresa Spelzini
- Sandwich
- Buckland and Green Lane
- Melbourne and South African Estate
- VIllages: East Studdal, Ripple, Northbourne, Woodnesborough, Worth, Hacklinge and Eastry
Geoff Robinson
- St Monicas, Shooters Hill, George St, Erith Street and Herbert St
- Ad hoc Housing Officer duties.
- Part time hours: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday am.
Assistant Housing Officers (Estates)
Our Assistant Housing Officers (Estates) are out on estates every day, carrying out health and safety checks in blocks and on estates.
They monitor the cleaning contractors, work closely with DDC grounds maintenance and waste teams and serve notices to enforce safety requirements.
If you see them in your area, say 'Hello' and let them know if you have any questions or concerns.
Hayley Rose
- Dover Town
- Tower Hamlets/St Radigunds
- South Africa Estate, Green Lane/Buckland,Canadian, Melbourne Avenue
- Villages: Whitfield, Martin, East Langdon, East Studdal, Guston, St Margaret’s, Ringwould, Ashley, Aycliffe, Capel, Temple Ewell, Alkham and Church Hougham
Alison Baughan
- Deal and Walmer
- Sandwich
- Aylesham
- Eythorne and Elvington
- Villages: Kingsdown, Sholden, Ripple, Worth, Northbourne, Hackinge, Ash, Eastry, Woodnesborough, Coldred, Goodnestone, Nonington, Shepherdswell, Tilmanstone, Preston, Shatterling, Staple, Stourmouth and Wingham
Assistant Housing Officers
Our Assistant Housing Officers are responsible for our lettings process, you may meet them when you sign up.
Other things they do include:
- empty home management
- viewings and lettings of homes.
- Deal with tenancy terminations
- Liaise with housing options to advertise empty properties.
- Arrange offer letters
- Arrange to view properties with applicants.
- Liaise with property services to get work completed on empty homes
- Sign up new tenants.
Rebecca Willoughby Reed
Hannah Allen
Housing Officers (Anti-social Behaviour)
The ASB officers deal with more serious nuisance cases and usually manage cases in a particular patch. They:
- Prepare cases for court and attend
- Install sound recording equipment
- Manage ASB cases
- Obtain injunctions
- Support for victims and vulnerable perpetrators
Pat Turley
- Tower Hamlets and St Radigunds
- Villages: Aycliffe, Capel, and Church Hougham
Simon Drew
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Villages: Aylesham, Eastry, Goodnestone, Hackinge, Kingsdown, Nonington, Northbourne, Ringwould, Ripple, Shatterling, Staple, Stourmouth, Woodnesborough and Worth
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Deal, Walmer and Sholden and Sandwich
Gillian Christie
Independent Living Managers
Our ILM's look after our Independent Living Schemes and residents. Doing everything from sign ups, viewings, health and safety checks, liaising with contractors/ external agencies and signposting.
Julie Peters
- Eastry Court
- Goschen Road and Lowther Road
Fiona Young
- Sunny Corner
- Norman Tailyour House
- Wilmott Place
Kerstin Darkes
- Hazelwood Meadow
- St Barts Road
- Barnesende Court
Tanya Philpott
- Lambert House
- Harold Street
Kate Pawlica
- Reece Adams House
- Cauldham Close
- Wellington Gardens
Customer and Transaction Officers
The customer and transactions team provide administrative support for the housing service. They primarily log and respond to customers by manning the phones and monitoring email inboxes.
They also log post, administer mutual exchanges, monitor complaints, log tenancy changes in our computer systems and various other tasks to support the housing management service.
Carina Wilson
Gemma Fletcher
Michelle Barber
Jane Andrews
Our Income Recovery Team
Our income recovery team look after our rents and help support residents to pay their rent and avoid court action.#
For information about your rent and our service, visit the rents section of our website.
To contact the Income Recovery Team call 01304 801084 and select option 1.
Income Collection/Recovery Officers
Kate Howard, Income Collection Officer
Area: CT13, 15, 18, CT17 9H plus CT16 2D
Vacant Post, Income Recovery Officer
Area: CT3
Victoria Sherred, Income Recovery Officer
Area: CT17 9A/9B/9E/9L/9R/9S/9Q plus CT16 2R/2S
Christine Sayer, Income Collection Officer
Area: CT14 plus CT16 2B/2H
Our Income Recovery/Collection Officers are responsible for:
- Regularly monitoring rent accounts and promptly contacting tenants who miss payments,
- Taking payments.
- Processing of Direct Debits and refunds,
- Negotiating repayment agreements.
- Case management and escalation to more formal legal action where needed.
- Preparing and issuing Notices.
- Liaising with the Legal team.
- Processing of Housing Verification forms from the DWP,
- Managing and monitoring Court and Eviction cases.
- Ensuring tenants receive appropriate support and advice to enable them to receive their full benefit entitlement.
- Provide basic debt and welfare benefit advise, including referral to and liaison with external agencies and the Money and Benefit Advisor.
Graeme Cook, Specialist Income Recovery Officer
Area: CT16 minus CT16 2R/2S/2D/2H/2B. Plus Shared Ownership properties and garages.
Our senior income recovery officer:
- Deals with some of the more difficult and complex arrears cases for the Income Recovery Officers particularly when they involve court and eviction.
- Deputises for the Income Manager and supports when necessary.
- Responsible for a small patch of properties.
Benefit and Money Advisors
Jennifer Owen
Area: CT3, CT13, CT14 and CT16 2B and 2D.
Marie Kent
Area:
CT15, CT16 minus CT16 2D/2B, CT17 9H, CT17 9A/9B/9E/9L/9R/9H/9S/9Q and CT18.
Our benefits and money advisors offer our tenants:
- Comprehensive welfare benefits and money/financial inclusion advice to help them maximise their income and minimising rent arrears.
- Information and advice on Welfare Reform changes as they relate to Housing and other Benefits, help identify vulnerable tenants to target support to them.
- Support tenants to take up appropriate benefits and return to work initiatives.
- Practical support to address debts and manage and budget their income.
- Provides support to all new tenants to help prevent them falling into rent arrears and sustain tenancies.
- Keeps abreast of and disseminates information on all national and local benefits changes, both legislative and administrative, through research and maintaining networks
Beth Becks is our Tenant Engagement and Continuous Improvement Officer. Beth works along side our Housing Management team and is responsible for:
- Creating ways in which customers can work with us to improve and shape our services
- Facilitating consultations with tenants and leaseholders
- Supporting established tenant groups, including focus groups, tenant groups and special interest groups
- Organising and attending community events
- Performance reporting and facilitating customer scrutiny
- Facilitating transactional surveys and perception surveys
- Writing Keep Me Posted updates
- Involvement in additional projects which aim to improve the services provided, such as communications, newsletters and website updates.
To contact Beth, email tenantinvolvement@dover.gov.uk.
To keep updated with the latest news and consultations about the housing for tenants service, please sign up to Keep Me Posted and tick 'Housing For Tenants'.