Rented Housing
Please click on the links on the left for further details about aspects of our affordable rented housing.
 Frequently Asked Questions
Service Standards
Granta Housing Society is a charitable organisation, which exists to serve the community by providing, managing and maintaining quality social housing to the highest standards for those in greatest need.
To show our commitment to high quality services we set and publish our standards and monitor performance against them. Our Customer Service Promise provides a summary of some of the standards you can expect from Granta.
If you are not happy with the service you receive, or have any suggestions for improvement, please inform us immediately. Copies of our Comments / Compliments & Complaints procedure are readily available from our Head Office. In some circumstances compensation may be payable in accordance with specific policies.
We will be happy to provide you with more information and explain any of our policies and procedures in greater detail upon request.
Customer Care
If you contact the Society you can normally expect Granta staff to:
- Welcome you and deal with any enquiry in a helpful, fair and friendly manner
- Ensure that an appropriate officer is seen or appointment made within 5 minutes
- Ensure that prior appointments are kept to within 5 minutes
- Arrange for an interpreter or language signer if necessary
- Carry an identification pass and give you their name
- Answer the telephone promptly and politely within 30 seconds
- Acknowledge your letter within 5 working days and/or
- Respond to your letter within 10 working days
- Arrange home interviews in certain circumstances when you cannot visit the office
Repairs and Maintenance
Granta places great emphasis on maintaining and improving the quality of it's housing stock to protect and enhance it's amenity level for tenants. Granta will:
- Ensure all properties are maintained to a high standard
- Acknowledge in writing all maintenance requests
- Inform residents as soon as possible of the action being taken
- Complete all emergency repairs within 24 hours
- Complete all urgent repairs within 5 working days
- Complete all routine repairs within 28 days
- Carry out tenant satisfaction surveys to monitor Granta and contractors performance
- Arrange for inspections and repairs to be carried out by appointment at convenient times
- Ensure contractors are efficient, courteous and tidy
- Require all Granta staff and contractors to carry identification
- Provide a 24 hour emergency repair service
- Ensure tenants are consulted about cyclical redecoration or service programmes
- Pay compensation in certain cases where we fail to meet our performance targets
Housing Management
The Society's residents and those who approach it for help are our most important customers. We want to provide all our residents with an excellent housing management service.
Granta will:
- Conduct sensitive or confidential interviews in private and protect access to such information accordingly
- Assess all applications for housing in accordance with our published criteria and policies
- Give applicants our decision within 28 days of receipt of application / interview. (or completion of assessment for Care and Support schemes)
- Notify you of your right to appeal against the Society's decision
- Review your circumstances at least annually once accepted onto a waiting list
- Try to house anyone on our waiting list within 12 months of being accepted
- Ensure that offers of accommodation are reasonable and appropriate to your needs
- Ensure the property is normally clean, habitable and in good repair when offered
- Enforce the terms of your tenancy equally for you and your Granta neighbours
- Recruit and retain well trained and equipped staff to deliver an efficient management and maintenance service
Consultation and Participation
The Society acknowledges its accountability to residents be seeking to enable them to have a genuine opportunity to influence decisions. Granta will:
- Consult with you on any significant change affecting the delivery of the management service to you and your home
- Provide regular tenants newsletters and publications keeping you informed about what Granta is doing and the standards to which it performs
- Promote and help finance independent and representative residents associations at our different estates
- Carry out regular satisfaction surveys to identify ways in which we might improve our services
Quality Management
Granta is committed to quality and continuous improvement in terms of the standards and costs of the services it provides. We recognise the importance of people and procedures in achieving quality, and will:
- Provide comprehensive induction, to include customer care, for all new staff
- Commit the Society to achieve and retain Investors in People status
- Integrate NVQ's within our corporate training policy
- Focus staff appraisal systems on training needs and personal development
- Regularly up-date Procedures Handbooks and Service Level Agreements
- Continuously improve I.T. facilities and communications equipment
- Measure and publish indicators of performance against targets
- Monitor customer satisfaction through regular meetings and surveys
- Maintain robust internal audit and quality assurance mechanisms
Rents and Service Charges
In providing affordable, value for money housing services Granta agrees to:
- Set rents in fair and consistent manner in accordance with our published policies
- Set assured rents at levels which are affordable to people in low paid employment
- Set charges in Care and Support schemes such as are reasonably required to meet costs
- Never increase rents or charges more than once a year without your agreement
- Provide you with a full copy statement of your rent account at least every six months
- Give at least four weeks notice of any rent increase
- Give advice and assistance on claiming benefits and arranging payments
- Never set assured rents in excess of local Housing Benefit levels
- Consult with you regularly on the standards and cost of services provided
- Publish audited annual accounts detailing service charge income and expenditure for your home
- Grant a right of appeal to the Society if you are unhappy with the set rent or charge
- Enable you to refer any increase to an Independent Rent Assessment Committee
- Give you the opportunity to meet and agree appropriate action to deal with arrears
Equal Opportunities
As a housing provider and as an employer Granta is committed to equality of opportunity across all its activities. We aim to:
- Give all applicants, residents and staff fair and equal consideration
- Monitor compliance with appropriate legislation and codes of practice
- Maintain and monitor all applications for housing and employment having regard to gender, disability and ethnic status
- Treat any breach of our Equal Opportunities Policy as a matter of gross misconduct for staff
- Act as soon as possible on any allegations of harassment
- Make harassment of any nature against neighbours or staff of a breach of tenancy
- Monitor contractors for compliance with our equal opportunities objectives
Suggestions and Complaints
This charter summarises the high standards of service you can expect from Granta.
However, if you have cause for complaint or suggestions for improvement please let us know as quickly as possible. We promise to:
- Acknowledge your suggestion / complaint and take action upon it the same day if possible or within a maximum of 5 working days
- Deal with your suggestions and complaints politely, impartially, fully and effectively
- Write to you within a maximum of 20 working days to let you know what progress has been made in pursuing the matter
- Keep you regularly informed of our actions and progress until the matter is resolved
- Bring your grievance before the Society's Committee Members if you are dissatisfied with the decision
- Bring any complaint to the attention of the appropriate Registration Officer for our Care and Support schemes
- Enable you ultimately to apply to the Housing Corporation for an Independent investigation by the Housing Association Ombudsman
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