At Perthshire Housing Association, we aim to provide a range of high quality services that meet the needs of our existing and future residents. We make every effort to respond to your enquiries and your requests for services in an efficient, friendly, helpful and professional manner. We like to know whether we are achieving our aims, and continually work to review our practices, based on the formal and informal feedback that we receive.

As part of our annual monitoring process, we are particularly interested in finding out about your experiences in contacting us over the past year. An information leaflet entitled “Making Service Enquiries” is available from us. It details the customer contact standards that we have set, including our aims for:

Answering telephone calls within 5 rings;
Keeping you waiting no longer than 5 minutes, if you have an office based appointment;
Responding to all telephone enquiries no later than the next working day;
Responding to most letters within 10 working days, and all within 20 working days;
Contacting you within 2 working days to arrange a suitable date and time, if you request a private interview.

As mentioned above, we also work towards achieving high standards of customer care outwith these specified targets.

Have you contacted the Association (for example, by writing, telephoning or by visiting us) over the past year?

If you telephoned the office, was your call answered promptly on all occasions?

If you wrote a letter to the Association, did you receive a written response within 10
working days?

If you telephoned or visited the Association’s offices, was the member of staff you
spoke with polite and helpful?

If you visited or telephoned the Association’s offices, was your enquiry dealt with
promptly?

If you sent e-mail to the Association, did you receive an initial response by the next
working day?

In general, when speaking with members of staff, how would you describe their
response to your enquiries – Helpful, understanding, friendly, unhelpful,
unsympathetic, unfriendly?

If the member of staff you spoke with was not able to give an immediate answer to
your enquiry, did they indicate how long it would take to get back to you?

In general were you satisfied with the overall outcome of your enquiries and the
explanations you were given?

When you contacted the Association, how well do you think your views were listened
to and acted upon?

Overall, are you satisfied with the quality of advice, information and assistance you have received from the Association during the past year?

In general, how satisfied are you with the service you have received when contacting
the Association during the past year.

If you have moved into your home during the past 12 months, what do you think
about the quality of information you were given when you signed your tenancy or
moved in?

In many of our housing schemes, particularly those where there are flats with common areas and staircases, the Association provides caretaking services. On a weekly basis, the caretaker will:

Sweep and clean common stairs and entrance areas
Sweep paved drying areas and bin stores
Sweep car parking areas and surrounding pavements
Ensure all rubbish is removed on collection day
Clean window ledges and stairs in common closes.

In addition, the caretaker will be responsible for ensuring landscaped areas are kept litter free. During the winter, the caretaker will make sure that grit boxes are kept filled and will try to spread grit on footpaths as necessary. Whilst caretakers are expected to carry out these duties, they are also actively encouraged to monitor the general appearance of the buildings and condition of the surroundings, and report any faults they find or areas that need improving.

If there is a caretaker who looks after common areas where you live, do you think the stairs (including banisters and railings), walls inside the common close, windows (including glass, sills and frames – inside and outside) in the common close, are kept clean and tidy?

Are the car parking area and footpaths well maintained, kept litter free, and gritted when needed during winter?

In general, how satisfied are you with the caretaking services you receive?

Are there any parts of the common areas where you live that could be looked after to
a higher standard by the caretaker?

Do you think there are any other tasks that should be carried out by the caretaker?

Do you think there is anything else that could be done to improve the caretaking service, for example, should the caretakers be on site more regularly?

In some of our housing schemes, where there are areas of landscaping that are not looked after by Perth and Kinross Council, we provide landscape maintenance services. We have appointed a contractor to:

Cut the grass every two weeks during the Summer;
Strim rough grass three times during the Summer;
Tidy shrub beds once in Spring then six times during the year;
Maintain young staked trees and hedges twice a year.

During the course of the year, particularly during the summer months, we aim to continually monitor the standard of work being carried out in landscaped areas. So that we can address specific local issues, and deal with any problem areas, we find it particularly helpful to receive information directly from residents.

Do you think the communal landscaped areas and features, such as the common grassed areas; shrub beds, trees and hedges are well maintained where you live?

How would you describe the appearance of the common grassed areas, shrub beds,
trees and hedges?

What do you think could be done to improve the appearance of the grassed areas, shrub beds, trees and hedges – Tended to more regularly, more care taken, better workmanship?

Are there any common areas or landscape features that are often missed or poorly maintained in the area around your home?

Are any common areas being misused, for example through children playing or people creating their own paths or ‘shortcuts’?

Do you think the trees and hedges around your home add to the appearance of the area?

Do you think there is anything else we could do to improve the landscaping service provided?

Depending on where you live and what services you receive, you may pay a Service Charge in addition to your weekly rent. In determining the basic rent you pay, we take account of the cost of providing you with the range of housing management and customer services. In the same way, Service Charges are set at a level to cover the cost of providing services that are additional to the rent, such as landscaping and caretaking. As a result, the Association makes no profit through applying Service Charges. The level of Service Charge applied at different housing schemes varies slightly, in accordance with the different amount of landscaping and caretaking work carried out.

Would you describe the Service Charges you pay for caretaking and landscaping services as being good value for money, reasonable or too high?

If the services were improved, for example, by increasing the frequency of landscape maintenance or caretaking work, would you be willing to pay additional Service Charges?

In addition to continually trying to improve our existing customer services, we are also keen to develop new services and find the best ways of delivering these services. In April this year we launched our new interactive website: www.perthshireha.co.uk

Through the site you can report repairs, ask for information, search for a property or talk to other residents in the “chat room.” The website has been created as part of our commitment to providing a range of accessible and efficient means for people to contact us. These new methods of service provision and communication will be developed further as we learn more about your needs and preferences.

You may already be familiar with some of the services such as shopping, banking, booking tickets for events, financial products and various public services, already provided on the Internet. If you’re not, you may be interested in finding out more about accessing these services, as well as our own housing services, online.
Alternatively, you might want to find out about developing skills in using computers and the Internet. We are currently investigating some ways in which we might be able to help you and we are keen to find out about your particular level of interest.

Have you ever used the Internet to do shopping or to access banking services or public service information?

Did you know that you could report repairs through our website?

If you have access to e-mail facilities but have not yet sent e-mail to the Association, is there a particular reason for this?

We hope that you have found the above information useful and the questions asked have prompted you to post your comments on the noticeboard.

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