Our housing service standards

The Council's commitment to providing an outstanding service in everything we do includes the pursuit of improvement that has shaped our vision for the housing management service; ensuring the service is built on sound systems, processes and staff on which the Council's culture and values will be embedded.

In addition to this the Regulatory Standards for housing providers set out by the government, contain specific expectations and outcomes that all housing providers, including the Council, are expected to achieve. The Regulator of Social Housing sets the Consumer Standards for housing providers and it is the Regulator's role to intervene where there is failure to meet the standards.

The standards that apply to the Council's housing provision are:

• Home Standard -sets expectations for registered providers of social housing to provide tenants with quality accommodation and a cost-effective repairs and maintenance service
• Tenancy Standard -sets expectations for registered providers of social housing to let their homes to tenants in a fair, transparent and efficient way
• Neighbourhood and Community Standard -sets expectations for registered providers of social housing to keep the neighbourhood and communal areas associated with their homes clean and safe, co-operate with relevant partners to promote the wellbeing of the local area and help prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour
• Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard -sets expectations for registered providers of social housing to provide choices, information and communication that is appropriate to the diverse needs of their tenants, a clear approach to complaints and a wide range opportunities for them to have influence and be involved

These standards underpin the principles of the high quality service Folkestone & Hythe District Council (FHDC) want to provide to Tenants and Leaseholders, including supporting a culture of inclusivity and resident involvement.

Our service to you

Our staff will always:

• Tell you their name when they meet or call you, will always carry identification and be professional, helpful & courteous
• Make sure our contractors carry identification and are also polite, helpful & courteous
• Deal with your enquiry as quickly as we can
• Aim to arrive on time for appointments & visits (please allow a reasonable amount of time for unscheduled delays), or let you know if we are running late
• Give you reasonable warning where possible when we have to change or cancel an appointment
• Leave a calling card if we find you are not in
• Follow government data protection requirements when dealing with your personal information

Listening to your comments

We put a very high value on tenant engagement, enabling tenants to have a say in how we do things. Tenant engagement comes from and promotes a culture of mutual trust, respect and partnership between tenants, leaseholders and the landlord. It exists when these interests work together towards a common goal of better housing conditions and housing services.

The council's Get Involved web page describes a variety of ways of having a say and getting more involved in service delivery, and co-creating a great housing service.

If we get it wrong

We know that there may be times when things go wrong; we want to know if you are not happy and have the opportunity to put things right. We always want to hear any feedback you have and the easiest way to do this through our Ways to Contact Us form.