Standard of Service
Services to leaseholders and service charge paying freeholders
We will:
- Send all new leaseholders a Leasehold Handbook
- Include any relevant news for leaseholders and freeholders in the newsletter
- Hold a leasehold forum at least 4 times a year
- Hold surgeries at area offices so issues can be discussed in person
- If necessary, arrange to meet with you at our office or at your home by appointment
- Sign our letters with our name, address, telephone number and email address in case you wish to follow up a query
- Respond to letters within 6 working days. If we can’t we will let you know why and tell you when to expect a full response
- As far as is possible, use plain English in our correspondence
- Send an estimated service charge bill before the end of March each year
- Send an actual service charges bill for the previous year by the end of September each year
- Send you a service charge statement in January and July
- Provide information about paying service charges and offer the following methods of payment:
| Payment Method
|
How | Where
|
| Standing order
|
Complete Form | Send to your bank |
| Post direct to us | By Cheque | |
| Phone | Debit Cards | |
| Internet | Debit Cards | |
| Payment Book | By cheque By Cash | At post office
At banks or building societies At our cashiers office |
| Swipe Cards | Swipe card and payment method | At post office, area offices, banks. |
| Direct Debit (future) |
Provide information & advice on
- Service charge enquiries
- Disagreements
- Insurance Claims
- Subletting your property
- Alterations to your property
- Extending your lease or buying the freehold
- The terms of your lease
- Provide presale and remortgage packs to help you sell or remortgage your property
- Provide you with a buildings insurance certificate each year
- Consult you individually on service contracts that last more than 12 months and where you will be expected to contribute over £100
- Consult you individually on major works that are planned to your building or estate and provide details of the works and of your estimated contribution
- Be available between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday and 9am and 6pm on Thursdays (except public holidays)
- Be fair, open and honest
- Apologise for any mistakes and work to correct them
- Respect confidentiality and privacy
Right to Buy Applications
We will:
- Discuss the financial implications of being a home owner
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of owning a home
- Send you a RTB1 form within 3 working days of your request if you would like to proceed with your Right to Buy
- Send you a RTB2 form to tell you if you have the Right to Buy. We will do this within 4 weeks of receiving your completed RTB1 form if you have 2 years local tenancy or 8 within weeks if your tenancy is with another public sector landlord
- Send you a Section 125 Notice (Formal Offer of Sale) within 8 weeks of the RTB2 form if you are buying a house or within 12 weeks if you are buying a flat.
- Send you a reminder letter 12 weeks after the Section 125 Notice if we have not heard from you.
- Aim to complete the sale within 6 months from the date you accept the Offer of Sale
Home Buyer's Grant Applications
We will:
- Discuss the financial implications of being a home owner
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of owning a home
- Send you an application form within 3 working days of your request if funding is available for the scheme and you would like to proceed.
- Let you know within two weeks of receiving your application whether or not you are eligible for a grant and of your grant entitlement
- Aim to arrange an inspection of your property within 6 working days of you contacting us
- Advise you of any works that are necessary to your property within 6 working days
- Aim to complete the process within 3 months of confirming your grant entitlement
What you can do to help us provide a better service:
- Pay your service charges when they are due (to reach us by 15th of each month)
- Pay your major works charges when they are due
- Send us information that we ask for eg. letting details
- Co-operate with us to help resolve issues eg. Send us proof of payment if it appears missing
- Notify us if you are letting your property and keep us informed of your correspondence details
- Do not carry out internal or external structural alterations to your property without obtaining our consent (including window replacements, loft conversions, alterations to doorways, etc)
- Keep important information that we send you eg. Insurance certificate, Section 20 notices, Leasehold Handbook.
- Keep details of the person you have raised queries with so we can follow up issues easily.
- Let us know when we have got things right and when we have things wrong.
