Home Living Advisors provide advice and support with issues
relating to your tenancy that affect you whilst you are in your
home. It's 8am and I'm visiting a flat with Dave, the Repairs Team
Joiner. We are carrying out a lock change to get in the property
because there is a severe leak and the tenant has been unavailable
for some time. Once the property is secure and the leak is fixed, I
leave a message for the tenant to contact our Customer Hub so they
are able to get back into their home, and alert the call out
service in case the tenant returns home after 8pm.
When I return to Sale Point, I check any messages passed from
the Customer Hub on our computer system. Did you know that every
time you phone our Customer Hub, the computer system helps them to
deal with your enquiry while you are on the phone? If they can't
deal with the enquiry or it's something I need to know about they
will send me a message.This means that I can spend more time out
and about in our neighbourhoods, talking to customers
face-to-face.
I then get a phone call from Jane from the Customer Hub
informing me that she has a distressed customer on the line who is
reporting an incident at the property next door. The property has
been left unsecure and she is worried that further damage will be
caused.
I speak to the tenant and then contact the local Police
Community Support Officers and arrange to meet them at the
property. I sit with the neighbour and listen to what has happened
and inform her of what we can do, assuring her that her report will
be treated confidentially.
Walking into the lift I notice that the button on the lift is
missing for one of the floors. I mention it to the caretaker on the
way out of the block and he has already made a call to the Customer
Hub to raise a repair.
As I deal with this issue, I receive another call from the
Customer Hub who transfer a call from a tenant who urgently wants a
Home Living Advisor to make a visit today. Upon my visit, the
tenant invites me into her home and tells me that she has been
experiencing ongoing neighbour nuisance. I listened to the customer
and explained the ASB procedures we follow to deal with nuisance
neighbours and agreed the actions that I would take following the
visit.
During my visit, she mentioned that she was in rent arrears. I
checked my net book which provides access to rent account
information and I was able to tell her the outstanding balance of
her account. After discussing her income, I felt she may be
entitled to additional Housing Benefit and I arranged for our
Welfare Benefits Officer, Catherine Hardman to contact her to
provide support.
Back at the office I check our records on the neighbour reported
as causing nuisance and discover that there have been previous
complaints of nuisance by another tenant, so I contact the person
and invite them into the office for interview to discuss the
allegations that have been made.
I check my messages to see if any calls have been returned and
find out I have an appointment for an accompanied viewing tomorrow.
I've had a call back from Mr and Mrs Green who saw another property
yesterday who want to accept it, and so they have arranged an
appointment to sign up for the property tomorrow. The sign up is
where I meet new tenants and I explain our Tenancy Agreement and
their rights as a Trafford Housing Trust tenant. This is a great
part of the job and the tenants are really excited about moving
into a new home and I like to help them to choose the decorating
materials that we provide free of charge.