Tenant News – Edition 1 (HTML Version)
Published: October 2020
Welcome to your housing service!
Hear about our priorities for the future
Find out how you can get involved
Working together - June Bailey from the Dover District Tenant Group and Cllr Derek Murphy, DDC Cabinet Member for Housing are pictured outside the council offices in Whitfield.
Contents:
1. Welcome
2. Privacy Notice
3. Introduction
4. What do we do?
5. Anti – social behaviour
6. Income and money advice
7. Independent living
8. Dealing with complaints
9. When money is tight
10. Repairs and maintenance
11. Getting involved
12. Getting in touch
1. Welcome
Message from June Bailey from the Dover District Tenant Group
June said: “I am looking forward to working with Dover District Council and continuing to represent the tenants. There may be a few hiccups at first but they will quickly be cured as we all adapt to a different way of doing things.
2. Privacy Notice
Dover District Council is a data controller under GDPR. We process your personal data in compliance with data protection legislation. For more information on how we collect, process and protect your personal data and for information on your rights, please visit our website at www.dover.gov.uk/privacy to view our corporate and housing service privacy notices, which can also be located below.
Corporate Privacy Notice: www.dover.gov.uk/Website/360022-Corporate-Privacy-Notice.pdf
Housing Service Privacy Notice: www.dover.gov.uk/Website/Housing-Service.pdf
Information on the processing and transfer of personal data from East Kent Housing to Dover District Council during the transition period can be found here on the housing homepage at www.dover.gov.uk/Housing/Home.aspx.
If you would like a copy of these Privacy Notices in another format e.g. hard copy, or if you have any questions about these Privacy Notices, please contact us on 01304 821199, alternatively you can email dataprotection@dover.gov.uk.
3. Introduction
From 1 October 2020, Dover District Council will be taking over from East Kent Housing to deliver your housing services.
This is the perfect opportunity to take a fresh look at how we do things to ensure you are as happy with the service we provide as possible.
Improving services for our tenants and leaseholders is our key priority and although we know this won’t happen overnight, we hope you will start to notice the changes we are making.
While we are committed to improvement, some things won’t change - the council is still your landlord, the same contractors will still be dealing with your repairs and maintenance, and many of the staff you deal with will be the same staff you dealt with at East Kent Housing.
We are determined to focus on the things that are most important to you. When we asked you last year what our top priorities should be, you said:
As we start to directly manage our housing, we will keep those three things at the forefront of our minds as we try to build a modern, responsive and caring service that listens to its tenants and does the very best it can for them. This newsletter is our chance to say hello, let you know the best person to contact when you need our help, and explain our priorities for the future.
We hope it will be the first of many. We are proud to be supporting you in the years ahead and we hope very soon you will be proud to be Dover District Council tenants
4. What do we do?
YOUR TENANCY SERVICES TEAM
Housing Management team
Our housing management team are responsible for:
Our housing officers are responsible for distinct geographical areas of the district, often called ‘patches’ and will offer advice, support and help to the tenants who live in the area they manage.
Our housing officers and the areas they manage are:
Theresa Spelzini:
Flora Evans:
Denise Knight:
Geoff Robinson
Our estate assistants are responsible for:
5. Anti – social behaviour
Our anti-social behaviour officers respond to complaints of anti-social behaviour and neighbour nuisance. They work closely with other organisations like Kent Police, Kent Fire and Rescue Service, Kent County Council Social Services and our own local Community Safety team to try to resolve complaints from tenants about nuisance behaviour.
If you need to report anti-social behaviour, the quickest and easiest way of doing this is by visiting our website at www.dover.gov.uk/housing_for_tenants. Alternatively, you can call us on 01304 821199.
If you reported anti-social behaviour to East Kent Housing before 30 September 2020, those details have been passed over to us at the council and we will continue to work on these cases.
6. Income and money advice
Our income and money advice team can help you with free and confidential advice to help you get back on track with your rent payments.
We can help with advice on benefits and maximising your income. We can also direct you to specialist agencies who may be able to offer further help.
Contact us online at www.dover.gov. uk/housing_for_tenants or by telephone on 01304 821199.
7. Independent living
Independent living (sometimes called sheltered housing) is aimed at helping residents aged 55 and over to continue living as independently as possible while providing them with housing-related support. Our Independent Living Managers regularly visit our sheltered housing schemes and tenants to check all is well. Our team is made up of Fiona Young, Kate Pawlica, Julie Peters and Kerstin Darkes.
Our aim is to support residents without intruding and while maintaining both freedom and privacy. You can find out more about sheltered housing and how to apply for it on our website at www.dover.gov.uk/housing_for_tenants
8. Dealing with complaints
You can make a complaint in the way that best suits you – online, in person, by phone or by letter. A complaint is not a request for service or an enquiry about a service. In general, the following issues will be treated as part of the council’s normal business rather than through the complaints process. Examples of this could include:
Examples of this could include:
Stage One:
The people who can best deal with any problems you have are those who directly provide the service. If you are not happy with the way you have been treated by the Council, you should contact the Department concerned.
In many cases it will be possible to deal with your complaint straightaway and a telephone call to let you know we have resolved your problem may be enough. If not it may be appropriate to write and tell you what action we have taken or to explain the position. You are entitled to a reply within 10 working days. If the matter cannot be resolved in that time, you should get a letter explaining why not and giving you a new deadline.
Stage Two:
If you are unhappy with the outcome of Stage 1, you can take the matter further and ask that the Council’s Professional Standards Officer consider the matter who will aim to respond within 20 working days.
If you are still not satisfied with the reply you can then refer your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service.
9. When money is tight
One of our main priorities is to collect all rent and service charges due to be paid. It’s important to collect as much as possible as the rent money we collect pays for the service we provide and repairs to be carried out. We can’t offer services without the money to pay for them.
We know that most tenants don’t want to be behind with their rent payments but we also recognise everyone’s circumstances are different.
Some residents will lose their jobs and/or have less money and may be struggling to keep up with their rent payments.
We are sympathetic to tenants who fall behind with their rent and we will give all the help and advice we can.
The earlier we know about a problem, the quicker we can help. If you fall behind, we will contact you to find out if you’re having money troubles.
If we can’t get in touch with you by phone, text message, email or post, we may visit your home.
You may be eligible to claim benefits such as Universal Credit to help towards the cost of your rent. Visit gov.uk/universal-credit to find out if you could claim.
You might also be able to claim other benefits such as Council Tax Support. Visit our website at dover. entitledto.co.uk/home/start to see if you could claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support.
Need independent housing advice or help with other bills?
You can get free, impartial advice from a number of organisations, including:
10. Repairs and maintenance
You’ve told us that how we deal with repairs and maintenance is your top priority for us to focus on.
Things the council is responsible for:
-
Plumbing - burst pipes, no hot water, leaks within the home, water hammer, overflow running, toilet repairs/renewal, total loss of water (unless outside the Council’s control)
Things you’re responsible for:
Reporting repairs
Who deals with different types of repairs?
Our contractors deal with a wide range of household repairs, but there are some things that are your responsibility to fix. The list opposite shows the main types of repairs we look after, and those you’re responsible for. You can find a full list of repairs you are responsible for on our website.
Please remember that you are responsible for any repairs needed because of damage caused through neglect or misuse, even if the damage was accidental.
If you need to report a repair, use the contact details below. If you reported a repair to East Kent Housing before 30 September, these details have already been passed to the contractor who will ensure the issue is dealt with.
Household and communal repairs:
Gas, hot water and central heating repairs:
Fire safety
If you live in a flat, you must not store any of your belongings in communal areas. These are a fire hazard and if you don’t remove them when asked, the council can take action to dispose of them.
Gas safety
If you have a gas supply to your home, it’s really important that your boiler is serviced every year. We will contact you to let you know when your service is due - for your own safety and that of your neighbours, please do make sure you allow our contractors into your home to service your boiler and make sure it is safe.
Other
11. Getting involved
There are many ways you can get involved to help us to help you and we always promise to listen. You can:
Want to know more?
Contact Beth Eddolls, our Tenant Involvement and Improvement Officer by email at tenantinvolvement@dover.gov. uk or by phone on 01304 821199.
Alternatively, tear out the form opposite and send it to us at the Council Offices, White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover, CT16 3PJ and we will get in touch with you.
If you’d be happy to receive future tenant newsletters by email instead of getting a printed copy in the post, this would help save money we could then use to help improve the service we provide.
If you’d be happy with this, please indicate this on the slip, or email us at tenantinvolvement@dover.gov.uk.
12. Getting in touch
Contact your housing team:
At the time of writing, we are running an appointment only face-to-face service from our Whitfield offices at White Cliffs Business Park, Whitfield, Dover, CT16 3PJ from 10am to 4pm (closed for lunch 12.30pm to 1.30pm).
The Gateway offices in Dover town centre are currently closed.
For the latest details, please see www.dover.gov.uk/Customer-Services/Home.aspx.
Online:
You can get in touch with us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at doverhousing@dover.gov.uk. Send us an email and one of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.
By telephone:
Call us on 01304 821199. Lines are open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (except Bank Holidays). This line can also be used for out of hours emergencies