Neighbourhood management

Connect homes are spread across West Yorkshire. Most are in Leeds and Kirklees, with much smaller numbers in Calderdale, Wakefield and Bradford. Most homes are on small estates, in small blocks of flats, or are dispersed in neighbourhoods alongside other homes that may be privately rented, owner occupied, or owned by another social landlord. Our largest concentration of homes is at the Darkwoods estate in Leeds (105 homes).

Our team of Community Housing Officers (CHOs) work on a patch basis. The CHOs deal with all aspects of tenancy management once you have moved into your home.

They can help by:

• Visiting you when you move into your home to see if you need any support and check that you are feeling settled.
• Providing guidance to help you manage your tenancy, such as help and advice on your rent account, with applications for changes to tenancies, and how to deal with neighbourhood problems.
• Supporting you with any environmental or neighbourhood nuisance issues so that your area is a pleasant place to live.
• Working with other organisations such as other housing providers, the police, local authorities and support agencies on local activities and projects.
• Putting you in contact with support and community resources in your local area.

You can find out more information in our Tenancy Management and Conflict Resolution policies.

Our homes are spread across West Yorkshire, and each CHO covers a patch over a large geographical area. This means that you may not see your CHO on a regular basis. CHO's prioritise visits to new tenants, those specifically requesting a home visit, or if we need to visit for some reason. However, if we have not had any communication or contact with you at all in a six-month period, then we will try and get in touch just to check that everything is okay.

Throughout your tenancy, you will have contact from time to time with other Connect staff such as:

• Our Lettings team when you first move into your home.
• Technicians who carry out repairs in Connect homes.
• Gardeners and cleaners if there are communal areas around your home that we look after.
• Rent Accounting Officers whose main job is to collect rent and other charges due.
• Colleagues from our Money Matters team, who can support you if you are having financial difficulties and are struggling to pay your rent.
• Colleagues from our Communities team who can support with neighbourhood action plans and community activities.

Here at Connect our vision is that your neighbourhood will be somewhere where you can lead a happy, healthy life.

We also know that sometimes there is conflict and behaviours that make it difficult to relax and enjoy your home.

This is why we have two policies that make clear Connect’s approach if this happens.

Connect’s Conflict Resolution Policy sets out how we will work with customers when there is conflict between neighbours.

We know from experience that what works when there is conflict is people resolving things themselves,

We also know that where there is anti-social behaviour, hate crimes or hate related incidents (ASB) – then Connect needs to act quickly.

More details about how Connect deals with ASB can be found in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Hate Crime and Hate Related Incidents policy.

We work with partner agencies such as the police and local authorities to tackle criminal and anti-social behaviour in the areas where we have homes. Community Housing Officers work with local police tasking teams in areas when there are concerns about crime and community safety. We are also working as part of the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership to prevent crime and improve safety across West Yorkshire.

We are also committed to supporting anyone experiencing domestic abuse; more information can be found in our domestic abuse policy.

Our Communities team can help if there are projects or activities you want to set up in your local area that will contribute to making it a great place to live. The team works alongside the CHO team, making sure we hear from you about what matters in your area, so that it can influence how we work there and how we can support the local community.

We will work in partnership with you - and where we can, with other local organisations and the wider community - so that we are making the best use of the skills and resources available.

If another organisation is already working on actions to improve the area where you live, we might link up with them so that we do not duplicate work that is already underway. For example, we are represented on the Dewsbury Neighbourhood Board that is working on a long-term plan for regeneration of the town. Because our homes are spread across West Yorkshire, we might also need to work alongside other organisations that have more of a presence in the area.

We can support you if you wish to get together with your neighbours to discuss local matters. This might be to arrange a one-off meeting, to support you if you wish to set up a regular informal tenant group or a formally constituted tenants’ association. All tenants’ associations can access a small support grant.

The CHOs and Communities teams work with residents to create neighbourhood plans that set out local priorities and agreed actions. We don’t have the resources to be able to do this everywhere, so our focus is where residents tell us neighbourhood improvements are needed, or where we identify through data and insight that there are issues in a neighbourhood and where residents are willing to get involved.

There is a small amount of funding available to support getting neighbourhood action started, if you want to get involved in your local area.

Due to some changes in our Neighbourhoods team, we have unfortunately been unable to start a programme of estate walkabouts. We are working on plans with the intention of piloting some walkabouts in late spring/early summer. We will publish details here once the plans are finalised.

It is everyone’s responsibility to care for the environment in and around their home and to be respectful around the use of any shared areas, such as shared driveways, gardens, or internal areas such as stairwells and corridors.

Where possible we provide gardening, cleaning or ground maintenance services using our own cleaners and gardeners, however on occasion we may need to use specialist contractors. This is usually only to communal areas.

When you move into your home, we will tell you what services are provided, and the charge for those services. Once a year we will send you a schedule showing what services you are receiving, and the charge that applies. Depending on where you live, there may be a notice in the communal area explaining how often the service is provided.

Where we provide a service, our team aims to maintain all areas every four weeks, regardless of the season. However, bird nesting season means we are limited to the amount of hedge cutting we can carry out. We will still trim hedges to prevent any health and safety risks, but they only receive full cuts from October – March once bird nesting season is over.

Some grass areas may be left longer before cutting to support the local environment and encourage plants, animals, and insects. This may mean some spaces are cut less often. It’s important to note that between October and February, our teams won’t be out cutting the grass.

Your local authority is responsible for parks and green spaces, playing fields and recreation grounds, cemeteries, playgrounds (amenity areas) and grass verges. Please get in touch with them if there are any issues with these grassed areas.

In the winter, we will top up the grit bins where these are located on our sites, such as our schemes for older people.

You can contact us via the customer portal or call us on 0300 5000 600 if you have a query about the gardening, cleaning or ground maintenance service.

Connect’s Customer Charter contains a commitment to ‘publish our response times on our website for key services so you know what to expect when you contact us. 'Key services’ means income collection, housing management, repairs, lettings, general enquiries and complaints.

For all general enquiries to Customer and Community Services teams, these will be responded to within five working days.

These timescales apply to the following

• Emails sent to the following inboxes – gettinginvolved@connecthousing.org.uk,  yourhome@connecthousing.org.uk,  hello@connecthousing.org.uk.
• Emails sent to individuals email addresses (except when an out of office message is received indicating that individual is not in work).
• Voicemail messages left for Connect colleagues.

Where there is an ‘out of office’ message on either an email inbox or voicemail facility, if an urgent response is needed then please contact the central inbox or call 0300 5000 600 and a member of the Housing Liaison Officer team will deal with your enquiry.

Mutual Exchanges

A decision must be made within 42 calendar days from receipt of formal application.

Formal complaints

There are separate specific timescales for formal complaints.

Stage 1

Timescale to acknowledge: five working days.

Timescale to provide full response: 10 working days.

Stage 2

Timescale to acknowledge: five working days.

Timescale to provide full response: 20 working days.

For more information, view our compliments and complaints page.

Tenancy fraud happens when someone tries to obtain, or lives in a home they’re not entitled to. It’s against the law and unfair to others who are waiting for a place to live. It can also cause problems in your community, like anti-social behaviour or neglected properties.

Some examples of tenancy fraud:

• Giving false information when applying for a home.
• Not living in the property as your main home or leaving it empty.
• Subletting your home or selling your keys to someone else.
• Swapping homes without getting permission first (mutual exchange).
• Not telling us when a tenant has passed away so someone else can move in.
• Using someone’s home for criminal activity or taking advantage of vulnerable tenants.

What you can do to help

Make sure you let us know if there are any changes in your household, like a change of name, anyone new living with you or if anyone no longer lives at the property for any reason

Keep an eye out for signs of tenancy fraud in the area you live in.

What should you look out for?

We all want our neighbourhoods to be safe, welcoming, and fair. Here are some signs that tenancy fraud might be happening nearby:

• Unusual or suspicious activity around a property.
• Different people regularly moving in and out.
• Rumours or talk about a home being sublet.
• A property that always seems empty.
• Someone collecting rent directly from neighbours.
• A new person suddenly living at a property without explanation.

For more information, view our Tenancy Fraud policy.

Benefit Fraud

Claiming benefits fraudulently is not classed as tenancy fraud but it’s illegal and taking money that could be used to help others that need it. If you suspect fraudulent claims are being made you can report these here.

If you notice anything that doesn’t seem right, please let us know. By reporting your concerns, you’re helping to protect homes for those who truly need them and keeping your communities a great place to live.

Most streetlights are owned and managed by the local authority. If you spot a problem with street lighting and you are unsure who to contact, you can check on the gov.uk website.

There are exceptions to this, and the local authority website will help you understand who is responsible.

Most of the roads, pavements and verges etc are maintained by the local authority. However, there are some exceptions. You can use findmystreet.co.uk to find out who has maintenance responsibility for an area.

Connect is responsible for some trees in our neighbourhoods, but some may be owned by the local authority or other landowners. Tree surveys are carried out by suitably competent staff or contractors on an ad hoc basis as and when any concerns are identified.

Smaller trees and bushes which are below two metres in height, and which are within private gardens, are the responsibility of tenants to maintain as part of the general garden maintenance. Where such trees and bushes are in communal garden areas, they will be looked after as part of our ground maintenance service.

Where trees are identified as requiring maintenance, only where there is an identified risk of injury or damage to property are these dealt with as soon as possible. All other requests are added to a programme for maintenance to be carried out twice a year.

Further information can be found in Connect’s Tree Management Policy. Any concerns can be reported to us via hello@connecthousing.org.uk, or by phone on 0300 5000 600.

Before bringing a mobility scooter or e-bike to a Connect site, you must get permission from Connect and ensure that there are suitable arrangements for storage, either inside your home or away from communal areas.

Due to fire safety, mobility scooters and e-bikes must not be stored or charged in communal areas. See our mobility scooter and e-bike policy for more details.

Due to the fire risk presented, where necessary Connect will take action to remove scooters and e-bikes stored unsafely. The tenant will be charged for the removal and storage, and legal remedies may be sought where appropriate.

If there is a bin store near your home, it is our responsibility to maintain the structure, and it is residents’ responsibility to dispose of waste appropriately and to keep bin areas clean and tidy. Every time we attend to overspilling bins and clean the areas, this costs extra money, which is generally something we recover through the service charge.

Your local authority deals with waste management and recycling. If waste is placed in the wrong bin, the local authority may not take the waste away. This may mean Connect has to pay for this and recover the cost through the service charge.

Please get in touch with the local authority if you have any issues with refuse collection, want to know your collection days or anything else. You can usually find information about refuse collection and recycling on the local authority website.

Street cleaning and maintaining public spaces is the responsibility of the local authority. You can report street cleaning issues online to them in most cases.

You can find out more about street cleaning on the gov.uk website.

If you are concerned about hard standing areas and are unsure if we are responsible for these, please contact us.

If you are aware of fly tipping or abandoned vehicles on Connect land, please report it to us on 0300 5000 600, or by emailling hello@connecthousing.org.uk.

If the fly tipping or abandoned vehicle is not on Connect land, then please report it to your Local Authority for them to investigate.