First
Choice
Homes Oldham
Managing our buildings
Easy-read-version
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First Choice Homes
Oldham wants to provide
good quality homes for
people.
We have a new plan so that
we can be sure that our
houses and buildings will be
OK for people into the
future.
The Plan
The main parts of the plan
are..
We want to make sure
that we buy different
types of homes - small
and large, flats, houses.
bed-sits, hostels - to
meet the different needs
of people.
When we ʻdo upʼ homes
- we will make sure that they still look good, are up-todate, and meet the needs of our tenants.
We want to deal with repairs quickly - so that people are
always happy with their homes.
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We want to make regular
checks on the buildings so we
can stop small problems getting
worse,
We want to plan to make the
big repairs so that we have the
money ready when it is needed.
Everything will need to be replaced eventually - boilers,
bathrooms, kitchens, roofs, etc. So we will work out roughly
when we will need to do this - and make sure that the
money will be ready.
The Law,
There is a lot of law and rules that
we have to follow.
There are laws about health and
safety, gas and heating, Asbestos,
Energy efficiency, fire safety,
Construction and design, etc.
All these laws are designed to make
things better and safer for the people
who live in our houses.
The Government has said that all
housing should be wind and weather
tight, warm and with modern facilities.
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In Oldham we have a higher standard - called the Oldham
Standard. This has rules about the standard of kitchens, rewiring, bathrooms, heating, and the outside of the buildings.
Service delivery
FCHO has a repair service which works 24
hours a day, 7 days a week.
Most problems are reported to the Contact
Centre by phone.
The Service Centre Manager is responsible
for checking that all repairs are really
needed.
Some repairs will be dealt
with straight away.
Others will looked at as
part of a bigger repair, or
whether we should
completely ʻdo-upʼ the
building.
The repairs will be done
by either..
• DLO for general repairs,
or
• Apollo Heating - for gas maintenance.
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First Choice Homes
Oldham will do
everything it can to
make sure that
Disabled People can
get any adaptions, or
aids which will means
they can stay in their
homes.
We will work closely
with Occupational
Therapists and the local
Social Services
Departments around
any Disability Issues.
Looking after
our world
First Choice Homes
Oldham wants to make
sure that its homes..
• do not waste energy
and..
• do not cause pollution
This will save money for
everyone, and protect the
planet.
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We will do this by..
increasing loft insulation,
providing more efficient
boilers,
installing double-glazing,
cavity wall insulation.
Customer Involvement
We want to know what people
think. There are different ways that
we listen to our customers..
1. The maintenance service will ask
you what you think about the
repairs that they have done,
2. We will ask all new tenants about
what they think of their new
homes,
3. You could join the Repairs
Contractor Improvement Group. This group looks at how
well the repair work has gone, and suggests ways that the
work could improve.
4. You could join the Tenant Inspector Group. This group
looks at homes before people move in. They have worked
to improve the standard of homes, and cleaning.
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5. Annual Conference - this
is a chance to talk with a
lot of different people in
First Choice Homes
Oldham.
6. Consultation Surveys, these are where we ask
people questions about
what they think about the work that we do.
7. Consultation meetings.
This is where we meet
with groups of tenants to
listen to their concerns.
It is also possible to make
a complaint. We treat
complaints very seriously.
We always try to learn how
we can improve our work
from any complaint.
Monitoring and Review
First Choice Homes Oldham will look at this policy by setting
up a working group.
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First Choice Homes
Oldham will make
sure that customers
have a chance to
help us to look at the
policies around
buildings and repairs.
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