The Council has agreed anaverage rent increase of1.09% from April 2010.The actual rent rise will varyaccording to the size of the property.Some rents may reduce by up to £1 aweek while others may increase byup to £2 a week.

Under Government guidance rentswere initially reduced by 0.9% in linewith inflation. But the Governmenthas set “target rents” – bringingcouncil and housing association rentsto the same level within the nextthree years – so we had to introducea 1.0% rise.

We regret that this Governmentguidance means there is no newmoney to reduce the currentmaintenance backlog. Some parts of the repairs programme willcontinue to be suspended for atleast another year.

Councillors reluctantly agreed tocontinue with the reduced investmentprogramme after hearing the Councilwas still required to give over £8 million to the Government

in subsidy despite the £3 millionshortfall in its own budget.

Richard Botham, Head of LandlordServices, said: “We continue to be inan impossible position and thesystem is grossly unfair.

“We don’t have enough money tospend on our own homes yet theGovernment still expects us to paymore than £8 million to subsidisecouncil houses elsewhere in thecountry”.

The City Council needs a minimumrepairs budget of £10 million tomaintain the current repairsprogramme, although Governmentallowances only give it £7 millioneach year.

Whilst the Council complies with theGovernment’s Decent HomesStandard, over 30% of Council homeshave a kitchen over 20 years old or a bathroom over 30 years old. 10% of homes have both old kitchens and bathrooms.

Mr Botham added: “I apologise toour tenants who will not get amodern kitchen or bathroom.

“The Government has promised toaddress this under-funding and weare awaiting announcements whichwe hope will give us the money weneed from April 2011.”

e d i t i o n 1 M a r c h 2 0 1 0

e d i t i o n 1 6

housing news for Winchester City Council tenants and leaseholders

Tenant News, produced by Tenantsfor Tenants can be found at the back of this edition

househouseGovernment rules force rent increase

� Our apology� Changes to Heating

Systems Maintenance� You said we did � Could you be a

Tenant Inspector?� New Housing

Surgeries Launched

inside this edition:

I hope you kept warm andsafe during the ice and snowand that Easter is warmerthan Christmas!

Spring is very much in the airand as always it’s the time toget back into the gardensand discover if your plantsmade it through the winter.

Don’t forget to get ready forthe annual gardeningcompetition, which this yearincludes a new category. Theentry form will be in the Juneedition of on the house.

I would like to hear yourviews about on the house.We ask these questions everyfew years and it’s reallyimportant to hear from youso that we get ourcommunication right!

I look forward to hearingfrom you!

Glynis Cole

Dear Readers

p a g e 2 w w w. w i n c h e s t e r . g o v . u k

Look out for our ‘Facts About

Asbestos’ leaflet inside, which

has been updated in line with

the Health & Safety Executives

new initiative “Asbestos –

the Hidden Killer”.

We must stress that providing you follow the guidance in this leaflet you are at no risk from any material in your home that contains asbestos.

Tradesmen are given strictinstructions on how to deal with

any asbestos they encounter in the course of their work to ensure thatneither they nor you are put at any risk. There is no legal requirement forthe Council to remove asbestos from its housing stock.

If you do have any concerns, please contact Property Services on 01962 840 222.

If you have any particular needswhich affect how you are able touse or be involved in our servicesor how you would like to receive

information - for exampletranslation, interpreters, Braille,

audio tape, large print, sign language - please contact theCustomer Service Centre either bytelephone: 01962 840 222 or by

email: customerservice@winchester.gov.uk

Winchester City Council, City Offices, Colebrook Street,Winchester, SO23 9LJ.telephone 01962 840 222 fax 01962 841 365email housing@winchester.gov.uk website www.winchester.gov.ukTelephone calls may be recorded.Printed on 75% recycled paper.

T E X T P H O N EThis facility is available for readerswho are deaf or hard of hearing.Please telephone 01962 878 982.

get it tapedIf you would like any of theinformation in on the house madeavailable in large print or audioformat, please call Glynis Cole onFreephone 0800 716 987.

thebigwordtelephone interpreting service

The Council uses a 24-hourTelephone InterpretingService, which also provideswritten or recordedtranslations including audiotapes and CDs.

If you, a relative or aneighbour would like to talkto the Council through aninterpreter, please contactyour Area Housing Manageron 01962 840 222.

Asbestos leaflet

o n t h e h o u s e p a g e 3

I would like to apologise to all our tenantsfor the leaflet that was sent with thequarterly rent statement.

The leaflet was issued to everyone in error and wesincerely apologise for the distress and upset caused tothose of you who pay your rent.

Winchester City Council continues to be one of the bestperforming landlords in the area for collection of rentand our quick response when arrears increase isessential to maintain our good performance. The arrearsleaflet was aimed at providing advice and assistance to

those tenants in rent arrears and should not have beensent to the high proportion of good payers.

We accept that this mistake does not meet the highstandard of customer care that we aim to meet all of thetime and we will ensure that this does not happen again.

In the future any leaflet included with the quarterlystatements will be a ‘Thank you’ to all of you whomaintain clear rent accounts and general adviceregarding the ways people can make payments andwhat to do if any of you experience problems paying.

Richard Botham, Head of Landlord Services

Area Housing Manager, MariaDore will be at the monthlysurgeries to help with tenancyissues including rent arrearsand anti social behaviour.Various forms will beavailable, such as HousingBenefit, Change ofCircumstances andHampshire Home Choiceapplications, and Maria willbe able to help peoplecomplete them.

Maria said: “If you have a tenancy issue that you wishto discuss or you just want to meet me and put a faceto a name, then please come in to see me on any of thedates below. You don’t need to make an appointment.”

Maria is also available every Tuesday afternoon at the City Offices, Colebrook Street, and may be around atother times.

She can also be contacted through customer services on 01962 840 222 or by email: mdore@winchester.gov.uk

Our apology

New Housing surgeries launchedTwo residents’ surgeries have been launched in Kings Worthy and Weeke.

Weeke SurgeryMeets: Thursday 8 April, 3 June, 8 July,

5 August, 9 September, 7 October

Where: Lanterns Children’s Centre,Bereweeke Road

Time: 10am-1pm.

Kings Worthy SurgeryMeets: Last Saturday of the month:

24 April, 22 May, 26 June.

Where: Communal Lounge, Harwood Place, Kings Worthy

Time: 10am-12noon.

It is being trialled for six months.

Maria Dore

Housing TermMaintenance ContractsContracts for day-to-day responsivemaintenance and reinstatement of voidproperties are to be renewed in April 2011.The work is worth around £3milliona year and so the Council has tofollow strict European Union (EU)procurement procedures.

A team of Council Officers has beencompiling the tender documents sincelast October and has consultedmembers of TACT – Tenants and Council Together.

The Tenders are due to be published in April and theCouncil will make its final decision on the contractor byDecember 2010. The new contracts will start in April 2011.

The Council is tendering separately for Environmentalservices including refuse collection, recycling and pest control.

If you think improvements are needed to the currentservice give the Tenant Involvement team a ring on Freephone 0800 716 987.

Changes to HeatingSystems Maintenance

Engineers from the Kinetics Group are now responsiblefor servicing and maintenance of all gas and solid fuel boilers.

These engineers were originally employed by 1st SaxonClenmay, which was part of the Renovo Services GroupLtd. When Renovo went into receivership inNovember 2009 all staff and engineers employedon the Winchester City Council contract transferred

to the Kinetics Group.

Kinetics engineers have continued to provide acommitted service especially during the worst winter wehave experienced in the UK for 30 years.

Kinetics is an experienced provider of all types ofmaintenance services in the social housing sector. Once the legal transfer is completed the Council willwrite to all tenants affected by this change.

Should you have any queries please contact theCustomer Services Team on 01962 840 222.

Would you like to help us review andimprove our services? We will cover allout of pocket expenses including childcareand travel costs while you are working.You will need to commit to about six days over roughlyabout a two-month period and be able to attendtraining before you start.

Our next inspection will be towards the end of this yearand will cover Tenant Involvement.

“The training and inspections were a greatexperience,” said Paul Bungey.

For an information sheet, please contact the TenantInvolvement team on Freephone 0800 716 987 or byemail: tenantinvolvement@winchester.gov.uk

You can also visit www.winchester.gov.uk and followthe links to Council Housing and tenant participation.

Could you be a Tenant Inspector?

p a g e 4 w w w. w i n c h e s t e r . g o v . u k

o n t h e h o u s e p a g e 5

What do you think of

Win £50 prizeWinchester City Council is committed to communicatingwith tenants and leaseholders about all aspects of thehousing service.

As you may know, we involve tenants through TACT(Tenants and Council Together) and other formal andinformal groups.

We also give you the latest news through on the houseand Tenant News.

Tenant Involvement Manager Glynis Cole said: “It isreally important to hear what you think of on the house:do you like the newsletter, do you read it and do youfind it interesting!”

You will see a survey form inside this issue – pleasecomplete and return it to the Freepost address by Friday23rd April 2010. It won’t take long and everyone whoreplies will be entered into a prize draw for a £50 ofLuv2shop high street vouchers. Alternatively tocomplete the survey online go towww.surveymonkey.com/s/onthehouse

Lynn Curtis, Claire Scott and Richard Botham with theawards presented to the Council’s Community AlarmService. The three awards mark full accreditation of theTelecare Services Association’s three performancestandards – dealing with emergency call handling,responding service and equipment installation.

Awards Hat TrickFor Community Alarm Service

Problems with a neighbour? This new service may help.The Council has launched a new, free service to helpresolve problems between neighbours.

Winchester Assessment Service can help to resolveneighbour problems such as noise nuisance, verbalabuse, parking, rubbish or issues over the use ofcommunal areas.

Your Area Housing Manager can refer you to thisindependent service and then both you and yourneighbour will be visited separately by a trainedimpartial Assessment Officer.

The Officer will provide a balanced report of theirfindings to your Area Housing Manager. This will includerecommending solutions for your problems, one ofwhich may be a referral to mediation.

If a referral is madeto mediation, youwill be visited by an independentmediator who will hear your story. They will then visit your neighbour to hear their version of events.You will be encouraged to hear each other’s point ofview and reach a confidential informal agreement.

Assessment and Mediation are successful in resolvinglow level cases of nuisance and anti-social behaviourbecause people often do not realise the impact of theirbehaviour on others.

For further information about the service, please contactyour Area Housing Manager on 01962 840 222.

p a g e 6 w w w. w i n c h e s t e r . g o v . u k

Paying your rent-make life easierwith Direct Debit

Your rent or licence fee is due everyweek and has to be paid regularlyand in advance.

We know that it can be difficultgetting out to pay the rent or post aletter but you will receive areminder if your rent is late and wehaven’t been warned.

Why not pay by Direct Debit, whichavoids the inconvenience and worry.

There are many advantages:

� Rent is collected automatically

� If amount changes we will writeto you before the money is taken

� It is cheaper for the council tocollect rent by Direct Debit

� More money is available tospend on essential repairs.

Under the Direct Debit guaranteescheme, your bank or buildingsociety will refund you immediatelyif money is taken from your accountin error.

More information is available on ourwebsite, www.winchester.gov.ukor from the Rents team on 01962 840 222.

Giving NoticeIf you are moving home you must give us written notice to end yourtenancy. You can either fill in a termination form or send us a signed letter.

Your notice period starts from the date the Council receives your form andyou must give:

� Four weeks’ written notice to end the current tenancy.

� Two weeks’ written notice if you are transferring to another Councilhome or a property owned by one of our partner housing associations.

We will write to you, letting you know the date your tenancy will end andwhen you must return the keys. You must continue to pay your rent andcharges during your notice period.

If you move home and do not give us notice you will continue to be chargedfor the property until we are legally able to end your tenancy. This couldlead to you getting rent arrears which you will be responsible for paying.

Printed termination forms are available from the Customer Service Centre,support staff for older people’s housing and your Area Housing Manager.

Please contact the Customer Service Centre on 01962 840 222 if you wouldlike to talk to us about giving notice.

Rent Arrears – Advice and UpdateTenants with money problems will be given help and advice to clear rentarrears but we can only help if you tell us about these problems.

Last year, the Council was granted more than 500 possession orders andactually evicted four tenants for non-payment of rent.

Rent and council tax arrears are considered priority debts, which means theyare considered more important than store cards and catalogue accounts.

Zadia Green, Arrears Officer, said: “If the problem is short term anagreement can be reached to pay a little extra on top of the weekly rent toclear the arrears gradually.

“If it is a long term problem you can discuss with your Area HousingManager a way forward and how you can get help.”

Paying the rent is your responsibility and failure to pay could mean losingyour home.

Between April and December last year, the Council:

� Served 510 Notices of Seeking Possession

� Evicted 4 tenants

� Was awarded 35 Possession Orders by the Courts.

Please contact your Area Housing Manager on 01962 840 222 for more information.

o n t h e h o u s e p a g e 7

You said We didYou wanted to be able to havemore opportunity to comment onthe repairs service you receive.

We changed the format of ourgreen Customer Care Cards toinclude more questions about thestandard of work carried out andthe tradesmen who attended.

We are also carrying out telephonesurveys during the evening to giveyou the best chance of feeding yourcomments back to us.

Your comments, both good and badare fed back to contractors to helpthem review and improve theservice they offer.

Residents in Pine Road, BishopsWaltham complained that peoplewere parking inconsiderately anddamaging grass verges whendropping their children at school.

We arranged for a ‘no parking ongrass verge’ sign to be erected tohelp prevent vehicles parking anddamaging the verge.

Residents in Fleming Place, ColdenCommon and Greens Close, BishopsWaltham complained that peoplewere parking inconsiderately inexisting parking areas around theflats and houses.

We arranged to have white linespainted in the car park to makeclear parking bays to encouragemore considerate parking forresidents of the flats and houses aswell as a Resident Only parking signin Bishops Waltham.

You said... We did... (�)We take your views very seriously and although it is not always practical orcost efficient to action all the suggestions we receive from you, everysuggestion is considered on its own merit.

If you want to get more involved in improving your housing service and community but don’t havea lot of time to attend meetings then register withTenant Talk, where you can choose how and when to be involved. For more information give the TenantsInvolvement team a call on Freephone 0800 716 987 or by emailtenantinvolvement@winchester.gov.uk. Or complete a registration form on line at www.winchester.gov.uk/TACTand click on Tenant Talk on the right hand side of the page.

We also consider comments made through questionnaires, forums, andTenant and Resident group meetings. Below are some of your suggestionsand the action we have taken.

Thank you for your suggestions, keep them coming in!

Please let us know if you havechanged your home or mobiletelephone number, or your email address.

Call the Customer Service Centre on01962 840 222 or email ushousing@winchester.gov.uk andwe will update your details. It isimportant for us to have the correctcontact details in case we need toget in touch with you.

If you think a property may havebeen abandoned, please let yourArea Housing Manager know. Signs of abandonment include:

� Not seeing the occupants for several weeks

� Curtains not being drawn or opened

� Bins not being put out or taken in

� No lights on in the property in the evenings.

Your Area Housing Manager whocan be contacted on 01962 840 222, will investigate allreports of abandoned properties. Ifa property is abandoned we wantto take action as soon as possibleso we can re-let the property tosomeone else.

Abandonment

Contact Details Reminder

Odd jobs around the home

The service is provided by ‘In touch’and is supported by HampshireCounty Council’s Adult Services.

Jobs include:

� Plumbing (replacing taps & washers)

� Replacing doors, boxing in ofpipes, putting up shelves

� Fitting light bulbs

� Erecting flat-pack furniture.

The ‘In touch’ service costs £10 plusVAT (discounts for people on means-tested benefit) and you can eithersupply your own materials or buythem from ‘In touch’. All ‘In touch’handypersons have an enhancedCriminal Records Bureau check.

The Council is still responsible for itsrepairs obligations as set out in yourtenancy conditions and Handbook.

More details are also available from‘In touch’ on 0845 459 5036 orwww.intouchsupport.co.uk

w w w. w i n c h e s t e r . g o v. u kp a g e 8

Residents aged over 60 can getgardening help through a servicelaunched by Hampshire CountyCouncil in July last year.

The charity Shaw Trust has a teamof staff and volunteers whoprovide a professional gardenmaintenance service:

� Available to tenants orhomeowners in Hampshire

� All year round gardening

� Up to six visits each year

� Each visit lasts up to four hours

� One-off visits can be arranged.

The service is not free but there is areduced rate for people on meanstested benefit.

Shaw Trust has over 20 years’experience of providinghorticultural services and all staffand volunteers are checked by theCriminal Records Bureau.

For further information, includingprices and details of how theservice operates, telephone 0845 6044 643.

Now turn the magazine over to read

You can also contact the Customer Service Centre on 01962 840 222.Winchester City Council does not guarantee any work carried out underthese services and is not responsible for the maintenance or replacement ofany fixtures and fittings installed by ‘In touch’.

Do you need help at home or in the garden?Are you are aged over 60 or disabled and do you need help with odd jobs or gardening?

Residents in the Winchester City Council district can now get help from two local organisations, that will help peoplelive independently in their own homes.

The Council has included anew ‘Novelty Container’category in the annual GardenCompetition.

All tenants and leaseholders areable to take part in thecompetition which includes Best

Front Garden, Best HangingBasket and Best ShelteredScheme categories. Judgingwill take place in the summer.

Look out for the entry form in the June edition of on the house.

Hampshire Over 60s Gardening Support Service

Email grounds.maintenance@shaw-trust.org.uk or visit Website www.shaw-trust.org.uk/hampshire_gardening_service

Garden competition winners 2009

New novelty prize in garden competition!

Q u e s t i o n n a i r e w w w . w i n c h e s t e r . g o v . u k

We’d like to know what you think of on the house. Please take a couple of minutes to fillin our questionnaire and return it to the FREEPOST address at the end.To complete this form on line go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/onthehouse

houseTELL US WHATYOU THINK OFON THE HOUSE

1 Including yourself, how many people in your household have looked through/read on the house?

2 When on the house arrived did you:

3 How relevant to you is the information in on the house?

4 How interesting to you is the information in on the house?

6 Did you like the following aspects of the newsletter?

7 Was the type easy to read?

Yes Please go to Q9

No Please go to Q8

8 If you ticked ‘No’ to Q7 can you briefly explain why and/or which sections were difficult to read. (This will help us improve future editions)

9 Are there any topics you would like to see covered in future issues?

a

b

c

Very relevant Relevant

Neither relevant or irrelevant

Not very relevant

Not at all relevant

A lot A little Not at all

a The size

b The use of colour

c The style

Read it in detail Flick through it Put it in recycling

Very interesting Interesting

Neither interesting nor uninteresting

Not very interesting

Not at all interesting

Win £50 ofLuv2Shopvouchers(See over the pagefor more details)

10 What else could we do to make the newsletter more interesting?

11 Would you be interested in joining a small group of people to help with editing tenants’ publications?

Yes

No

Some questions about you

The information provided in this section will only be used to help us analyse your responses to this questionnaire ingreater depth and will not be used to identify individual responses. You don’t have to answer these questions, butanything you tell us about yourself will help us to improve our newsletter.

12 How old are you?

Please answer the question in this section buy putting a tick in the appropriate box

16 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44

45 to 54 55 to 64 65 to 74

Your Post Code

(This helps us analyse the responses by where you live in the district, we can not identify individuals from this information)

To be entered into the prize draw to win £50 worth of Luv2Shop high street vouchers pleasecomplete the next section.

Name

Address

Post Code

Daytime Tel. Number

Mobile Tel. Number

Email Address

If you have any particular needs which affect how you are able to use or be involved in our services

or how you would like to receive information - for example, translation, interpreters, Braille,

audio tape, large print, sign language - please contact the Customer Service Centre

either by telephone: 01962 840 222 or by email: customerservice@winchester.gov.uk

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey. Please put it in an envelope and address it to: The Tenant Involvement Manager, Winchester City Council, FREEPOSTNAT15377, Winchester, SO23 9ZW by Friday 23rd April 2010.