Cleaning and caretaking

We provide a cleaning or caretaker service for the shared areas at many of our properties. As a home owner, you contribute to the cost of these services through your weekly service charge.

Caretaking

Our caretakers carry out cleaning to shared areas inside and outside our buildings, but also have a number of other important roles, such as:

• checking the performance of our contractors
• arranging for contractors to carry out repairs to shared areas
• checking for safety hazards
• telling us when improvements are needed
• answering residents’ questions
• advising whether there are any residents who may need more support.

Our caretakers are on hand to quickly deal with problems. For example, they will report anti-social behaviour to the neighbourhood officer and, in serious cases, work with them and other agencies to resolve things.

Cleaning

Where a property does not have a caretaker, we may provide a cleaning service to keep shared areas clean. The cleaning service will usually be at least weekly and include:

• picking up litter
• sweeping and mopping internal floors
• vacuuming carpets
• dusting and wiping paintwork
• removing marks and graffiti from walls where possible
• cleaning glass that can be safely reached
• making sure rubbish is in bins
• cleaning and disinfecting bin areas and chutes
• cleaning lifts.

Our standards

We are committed to maintaining high standards at our properties. In providing you with estate services, we aim to:

• remove offensive graffiti within 24 hours of it being reported to us and other graffiti within five days
• keep roads, paths and other hard areas clean and clear of dumped items
• keep play areas clean and safe
• keep bins and bin areas clean and clear
• keep garden areas free of litter
• keep internal areas and lifts clean and clear of dumped items
• clean the inside glass, frames and sills of windows in shared areas
• make sure lighting in shared areas is in good working order
• deal with illegally parked or abandoned vehicles.

We hold regular site inspections to make sure that the shared areas of our buildings are well maintained, with high standards of cleaning, caretaking and grounds maintenance. We encourage residents to take part in these inspections and advertise the dates on noticeboards in shared areas and on our website. We carry out a residents survey every two years and use your feedback to help improve our services.