Tenant Focus Group meeting 26th May 2023

We are indebted to the tenants who give up their spare time to help scrutinise the work we are doing – taking place over a working lunch (food and refreshments provided), we cover a variety of topics and are always keen to hear from anyone interested in joining us.

Damp and Mould Policy

First on the agenda was the recently adopted Damp and Mould Policy. This had previously been circulated to our tenants for comment before being presented to Management Committee for approval. Officers reiterated the Association’s commitment to partnership working with tenants to resolve issues quickly and help ensure residents can enjoy a healthy home. A risk-based approach will see the Association identify households at greater risk of experiencing condensation and damp, taking a proactive approach to tackling this issue. We looked through the Association’s website, which hosts a plethora of useful information (flowcharts & videos), including what to do in the event of finding damp and mould within the home.

Summer Newsletter

Content for the summer newsletter was agreed, which will focus on the following topics;

• Upcoming Estate Inspections
• Garden and grass maintenance
• Being a considerate neighbour when enjoying garden areas
• Development updates
• Cleaning kitchen & bathroom extractor fans (tenants responsibility)

Estate Inspections

Our team of Housing Officers will be completing a tour of our entire estate during the summer months, a key element in us maintaining tidy and presentable schemes where tenants are proud to stay. Through our social media channels (and in the newsletter) tenants are being encouraged to flag up any issues or concerns with us so these can be investigated when the team are on-site.

Hjaltland’s performance 2022/23

We are accountable to tenants for the services we deliver. At the end of every financial year, we submit a report to the Scottish Housing Regulator, using a set of indicators prescribed by them. The regulator will then use this data to monitor our performance. We also use this to create our Annual Report (the Tenant Focus Group also help with this), whilst we will also compare our own data with our peer group, once the return has been verified and published.

As a group, we went through our 2022/23 submission line by line, explaining any variation in performance in comparison to the year before. In general, the trend shows an improvement in service provision and efficiency, confirming the impact of Covid-19 is no longer impacting on delivery. The group were satisfied with the data presented and did not feel any further scrutiny was required.

Next meeting

The next Tenant Focus Group meeting will take place in September. In the meantime, tenants will be providing input into policies going up for approval, and the drafting of the Annual Report.