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Winter edition - December 2023 |
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LATEST NEWS FROM COTTSWAY |
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As a valued Cottsway customer, it's important to us that you feel informed about our work. Did you know that in the past year, we: - Invested £11.52 million in repairing and maintaining homes.
- Refitted 335 empty properties ready to become homes for more people.
- Offered £30,000 in grants to support communities and individuals with training and education.
- Provided over £50,000 to support an independent Citizens Advice debt advice service and provided tenancy support for more than 500 customers.
You can find out more about what we’ve done in our latest Annual Report
So far during 2023-24, we’ve also worked with partner agencies and attended events to help support customers and our communities during the cost-of-living crisis, started work to improve energy efficiency of some of our homes and responded to regulatory and Government changes, to ensure we’re meeting - or exceeding – the standards expected of us.
The rent you pay helps us to manage, maintain and improve Cottsway homes. We are currently carrying out our annual rent review and will follow the latest Government guidelines when setting our rent charges for the next financial year.
We will write to you in early 2024 to let you know what your new rent amount will be from April.
If you have any queries or you’re struggling to pay your rent in the meantime, please see Money help and advice
Welcome to our latest customers We continue to work with partner agencies to provide more new affordable homes for rent and shared ownership. So far this year, we’ve taken handover of 132 newly built homes – with over 70 more due to be completed by the end of the financial year.
We’re also delighted to have new customers join us in Cirencester this month after Cirencester Housing transferred their properties (176 homes) to us. Work will continue over the coming weeks to ensure this transition continues to go smoothly.
Welcome to everyone who’s moved into a Cottsway home this year!
Telling us your thoughts Latest figures from the independent market research company that we use to carry out Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs) surveys among our customers show 91% overall satisfaction.
Your views are important to us, so it’s really pleasing to receive these high satisfaction rates. Our website has more information and latest TSM results
We’re continually working to improve and can only do this with your feedback, so if you have anything to tell us – good or bad! – please get in touch. There are also various ways for you to get involved and have your say. Find out more: |
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| Finally, with more of us spending time at home during the festive season, we’ve included some safety information in this newsletter and on behalf of everyone at Cottsway, I would like to wish you all the best for 2024.
Richard Reynolds - Chief Executive |
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Customer Charter We’ve recently refreshed our Customer Charter, which sets out the standards you can expect from us and lots of information about the services we provide.
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Do you need to cancel a repair appointment?
If you can't make a previously agreed repairs appointment, please contact us as soon as possible to rearrange it. Please give us at least 24 hours' notice so we can offer the slot to another customer.
If we can't keep an appointment with you, we will try to let you know as soon as possible but if we do not give you 24 hours' notice, we will give you £15, and where possible we'll immediately rebook the appointment.
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Property inspections We carry out ‘stock condition surveys’ every five years to ensure homes are safe and maintained to the Government’s ‘Decent Homes Standard’.
As well as ensuring the property is safe, we use the information to plan future improvement works to your home, so it’s very important that we're able to gain access to your home - we’ll contact you in advance when it’s time for your next survey. |
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Be fire safe - including vapes! Please take a look at our website for some simple fire prevention steps to protect yourselves, your families and your home.
Be aware! Vapes are electrical and their battery can cause fire if damaged - they must be disposed of safely. Check with your local council for services to safely recycle vapes.
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Advice on water escape Hopefully you don’t ever encounter this, but water escape is possible from various locations in your home - from a sudden burst pipe to a minor leak that may remain undiscovered for months. Watch this short videoclip from Zurich Insurance to see the common causes of leaks and what to look out for.
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Are you covered? Contents insurance provides cover for the contents of your home against things like fire, flooding or theft. It’s not provided as part of your tenancy agreement, but we’ve teamed up with Thistle Tenant Risks and Great Lakes Insurance UK Limited, who provide the My Home Contents Insurance Scheme to provide a specialist policy for tenants.
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We’re working with our grounds maintenance contractor John O’Conner to create wildflower spaces in some of our neighbourhoods to create wildlife habitats and support biodiversity on the land we own and manage.
Jeffs Terrace in Charlbury is one of the areas where we’ve worked this year, along with the local community, to plant wildflowers this summer.
If you have an area in your local community that could benefit from planting or wildlife improvements, we’d love to hear from you. |
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SIGN UP TO MY COTTSWAY Over 1,000 customers have signed up to My Cottsway to view their rent balance and payment history, make payments, set up Direct Debits and update their contact details online 24/7. We’re working to add more services to the portal, so sign up now!
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CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR OPENING |
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Our offices are closed to the public unless you have an appointment, but we’ll still be responding to your calls, emails and messages at the following times over the festive period: - Friday 22 December: 8.30am - 3pm
- Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 December: Closed
- Wednesday 27 December: 8.30am - 5.30pm
- Thursday 28 December: 8.30am - 5.30pm
- Friday 29 December: Closed
- Monday 1 January: Closed
If you have an emergency repair while we are closed, please call 01993 890000 |
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This has been sent to you as a Cottsway customer. We follow data protection regulations and you can view our full privacy statement on our website. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter you can unsubscribe at any time. Click here to unsubscribe. |
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