All One Housing staff have a duty to report any problems seen when visiting estates.

Estate inspections, including the inspection of playground equipment, will usually take place monthly on all estates and will be conducted by a Housing Officer, Homeownership Advisor or the Estates Services Officer where applicable, a resident, and a caretaking supervisor where available.

Residents will be notified of estate inspections in good time and encouraged to take part. Residents will provided with accessible, relevant and timely information about the progress of communal repairs.

Estate inspections will be graded, recorded and monitored as part of One Housing’s key performance indicators.

One Housing Group information on estate inspections procedure

Housing Management Estate Services

from the Policy Performance, Improvement & Policy Team:

2 AIMS & OBJECTIVES

Aims:

• To ensure that residents enjoy a safe, peaceful, clean and tidy environment,

• To involve residents in the management and upkeep of their estate.

Objectives:

• To carry out monthly estate inspections of all estates,

• To carry out monthly inspections of the playground equipment on estates,

• To record all estate services issues and monitor the progress of remedial action,

• To widely publicise estate inspections and encourage resident involvement,

• To monitor performance against service standards.

3 POLICY STATEMENT

OHG recognises that residents should have the opportunity to be involved in the upkeep of their estate and will encourage involvement from all members of the community.

OHG will listen to the concerns and opinions of residents, address them where possible, and ensure that all residents are informed of the ways in which they can report any problems. Residents can contact the Customer Contact Centre, their Housing Officer, Estate Services Officer, or their Estate Caretaker to report an issue.

All OHG staff have a duty to report any problems seen when visiting estates.

Some estates will have a team of caretakers working to ensure a good service is provided.

Estate inspections, including the inspection of playground equipment, will take place monthly on all estates and will be conducted by a Housing Officer or the Estates Services Officer where applicable, a resident, and a caretaking supervisor where available.

Residents will be notified of estate inspections in good time and encouraged to take part.

Estate inspections will be advertised in the following ways:

• An annual letter will be sent out in December of each year listing inspection dates in advance for the next year.

• Dates will be placed on estate notice boards, in office receptions, in the residents’ newsletter (One Magazine) and on the resident website.

• Notes for notice boards must be drafted in a bright colour with 14 Font (minimum) to aid visibility.

OHG is working with residents to implement Neighbourhood Management Agreements and local estate inspection standards for individual estates.

5 ESTATE MANAGEMENT RECORDS

All caretaking and cleaning issues identified through estate inspections, residents, caretakers, or OHG staff, will be recorded and updated prior to the next inspection.

The Estate Services Officer or Housing Officer must update this information after every inspection and as and when they receive notification of estate services work from the Property Services Department via email, or from direct reports by residents or caretakers.

Information recorded and monitored will include:

• The issue

• Date reported

• The source (estate inspection, caretaker, resident, OHG staff, other)

• Completion target

• Priority

• Action taken

• Date action taken

• Comments (including the reasons for any outstanding targets)

Officers will check their records on a weekly basis and liaise with the Quality & After Care team in the Property Service Department to follow up any issues outside of target.