Neighbourhood quality standard
Our responsibilities
believe housing is committed to maintaining neighbourhoods and estates in a clean, tidy and safe condition.
We want people living in our homes to be proud of their neighbourhood and where they live. To help achieve this, we have created a Neighbourhood Quality Standard that sets out how we will work with partners and what you can do as a resident to help.
- Deliver a litter picking service in conjunction with Durham County Council
- Carry out regular estate inspections with residents /partner agencies (where requested) to identify any issues and act on these in a timely manner.
- Regularly inspect communal areas and estates to identify maintenance issues, environmental concerns, health and safety risks, and opportunities for improvement.
- Work with the council and any other relevant organisations.
- Ensure that any of our empty properties are secure, are not unsightly, and their gardens are well maintained until the next customer moves in.
- Remove any graffiti in a timely manner; with offensive and hate crime graffiti being removed within 24 hours (where possible).
- Provide a grass cutting service to open spaces
- Provide hedge cutting to open spaces twice a year to ensure that they do not exceed 6ft (183cm)
- Ensure prompt action is taken to deal with trees on our estates that may present a danger to people or property.
- Carry out two chemical weed control sprays a year
- Ensure that the gardens of our empty properties are tidy and have the grass regularly cut prior to a new tenant moving in.
- Take action against customers who breach their tenancy agreement
- Work with the police, relevant local authority and other organisations to deal with any anti-social residents
- Take swift, appropriate and proportionate action against those who cause a nuisance, whether the tenant of the property, a household member or a visitor to the property
- Keep complainants up to date on the progress of a reported anti-social behaviour case
- Continue to work with relevant local authorities to reduce incidences of dog fouling and fly-tipping on estates, and to investigate the possibility of taking action against those who refuse to co-operate
- Ensure that dangerous items such as used hypodermic needles are removed as quickly as possible
Working together to create happier communities
The quality of our neighbourhoods is a shared responsibility between believe housing, our residents and partner agencies. We will work closely with a range of organisations to make the best use of resources and improve outcomes for our customers.
These organisations may include local authorities and police forces across the areas where we own and manage homes, such as Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council, Darlington Borough Council, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, Hartlepool Borough Council, Durham Constabulary, Northumbria Police and Cleveland Police.
- Refuse collection and recycling
- Antisocial behaviour involving non-tenants
- Street lighting
- Private landlord enforcement
- Neighbourhood wardens or community safety teams
- Roads and most pavements
- Street cleaning
- Fly-tipping on land they are responsible for
- Provision of salt bins
- Parking offences and traffic calming measure, where applicable, in conjunction with the relevant police force.
- Policing and crime
- Police Community Support Officers
- Supporting action on antisocial behaviour, crime and community safety issues
- Parking offences and traffic calming measures, where applicable, in conjunction with the relevant local authority.
Be proud of your neighbourhood
We all have a part to play in making our estates places that people are proud to call home.
- Keeping your garden clean, tidy and regularly cut
- Maintaining hedges and ensuring they do not reach a height of above 6ft (183cm)
- Cleaning up any dog fouling left by your dog or the pets of any visitors to your home or street immediately
- Keep communal corridors, stairwells, landings, entrances and other shared areas clean, safe, tidy and free from personal belongings, obstructions or anything that could block access or create a fire safety risk.
- Do not tamper with, damage or wedge open fire doors, and make sure communal entrance and exit doors are kept closed and secure.
- Not leaving litter or fly-tipping, and ensuring that all bulky items are disposed of responsibly
- Put your rubbish out on the bin collection day only (and bring bins back in following collection)
- Report repairs, damage, safety concerns, graffiti, fly-tipping, breaches of tenancy conditions or other neighbourhood and communal area issues as soon as possible to the most appropriate organisation, such as believe housing, the relevant local authority, police force or other agency.
- Not breaching any part of your tenancy agreement.
- Being a good neighbour by showing common sense, courtesy and behaving towards them as you would expect them to behave towards you.
Keeping things relevant
We want to make sure we continue to deliver services on our estates that meet tenants’ needs and reflect changes in lifestyles.
We will monitor this standard through service level agreements, performance checks and customer feedback, so we can understand how well services are being delivered and where improvements may be needed.
Spectrum 4, Spectrum Business Park,
Seaham, County Durham, SR7 7TT