Improving how we communicate service charges to residents
Feedback gathered from direct resident contact, surveys, complaints and our formal resident groups identified that the way we provide information in relation to service charges was a source of dissatisfaction for MTVH homeowners. In response to this, we established our new Service Charge Collaboration Group with involved residents, which works directly with our homeownership team to influence the quality of our communications to homeowners.
The group has assisted the team with resident communications, the development of the Homeowners Recharge Policy, and the new service charge management system.
In January 2025, members of the group also worked with the Customer Council and other involved residents to shape the content, tone and language of our annual rent and service charge letters for the coming year. This collaboration aims to make the communication as clear and accessible as possible and meet the needs of residents. This has resulted in a reduction in complaints relating to service charge queries and an improvement in homeowner satisfaction regarding the handling of complaints
Improving our repairs service in the Home Counties
In 2022, feedback from our Customer Council, Regional Panels, resident surveys and complaints highlighted that we needed to improve our repair service in the Home Counties. As a result, we decided to bring our repairs service in-house to our own repairs team, Metworks. Residents took part in a review to assess this change, which helped influence resident communication and ensured historic, outstanding repairs were transferred to Metworks smoothly.
The transition took place in June 2024 and in the first six months, resident satisfaction in the Home Counties has increased from 62% to 70% and complaints have dropped significantly.
We would like to thank residents in the Home Counties for their patience whilst we transitioned from our previous repairs provider.
Developing our approach to resident surveys
Our approach to resident surveys has been shaped by you. During focus groups in 2023/24, you provided us with feedback on survey timing, channels, survey fatigue and opting out. Feedback from these focus groups influenced the formation of our Customer Insight Team and the survey platform we use.
As a result of your feedback, an alert process has now been set up to notify Repairs colleagues about incomplete works and refer residents needing support to our Assessment and Support Team.
To further embed a culture of listening to you and acting on your feedback, this year we also sent our resident members of the Customer Service Committee a survey about this report, our annual Residents Report, which helped shape its content and make it even more engaging and accessible.