Last year we started a service charge process review. This involved a group of customers being interviewed by staff to look at what areas we need to improve on and from this we set the recommendations for improvement. This process is still underway, but we wanted to highlight some of the progress that’s been made so far.

Improving the information we share with you

We’ve reviewed the information we provide around service charges and last year we specifically completed a full review of the service charges information that’s available on our website. You now have access to more detail around the services being delivered and, in some cases, how we calculate those charges for areas you are being charged for. Visit our rent and service charge web page here. We’ve also updated our Service Charge Policy which is currently going through the internal sign off process.

Introducing better sales literature

More recently, we’ve been reviewing our sales literature regarding the information provided about service charges, to help customers understand these in more detail during the purchase of their homes.

Dedicated contact centre team

We set up a dedicated option to discuss the rent and service charge increase on our phone line as a trial from April 2022. We’ll monitor the success of this to decide whether to retain or adapt this approach. Customers who call in can select ‘option one’ which will take them through to a specialist team who will try to answer any queries at the first point of contact. This team also takes steps to ensure that when calls are passed over to other teams, or call-backs are requested from other members of staff, these are passed onto the right people who can answer these queries efficiently.

You can find more information here on how to provide us with feedback on our services.