Estate Service Standards
Your home is probably grouped together with other council housing forming part of a larger area or estate. Estates vary in terms of size, design and layout. For this reason, some or all of the following elements may be present on your estate:
- play areas and equipment
- parking areas
- service roads
- footpaths
- communal entrance / security doors
- internal communal entrances, stairways and landings
- communal grass areas
- communal shrub and other planted beds
- communal drying areas
- estate signs and notice boards
- communal glazed areas
- bin areas and refuse chutes
- communal lighting
These elements form part of your estate environment and it is important that they are maintained to a good standard. We are responsible for ensuring that all parts of your state environment are maintained to a good standard. So that you know what to expect in terms of the standard of your estate environment, we have published a set of estate service standards.
This standard covered score areas of our service including:
- grounds maintenance
- caretaking and cleaning
- undertaking communal repairs and
- dealing with abandoned vehicles
This standard sets out our commitment to driving up standards on the States and provides a clear and readily understandable point of reference for tenants and leaseholders regarding the quality of our services.
Caretaking services
We provide a caretaking service for the shared areas on the council's housing estates. The type of work carried out varies from block to block but generally tasks include:
Communal areas inside blocks:
- inspecting and reporting any graffiti and deliberate defacement on walls, stairwells and landings
- inspecting lighting in communal areas and reporting faults for repair
- cleaning communal holes and floors on the ground floor of blocks of flats
- specialised cleaning of carpeted or high finished flooring
- cleaning and reporting faults in lifts.
Residents have a responsibility to keep clean other communal areas inside blocks of flats.
Maintaining other communal facilities:
Cleaning and clearing:
- bin stores/bin chute rooms
- blocked pin chutes
- drain covers and gullies
- some stairs and landings
- play areas
- some grassed areas
- paved amenity areas
- car parks and garage areas
The service to your block
Each block/estate that receives the caretaking service will soon have a block notice, usually on the entrance door or intake cupboard door. Each notice will say:
- who your caretaker is
- when they will visit your estate
- how long they will be on site
- what level of service they will deliver
- other useful information such as contact names and numbers
We know that caretaking standards are very important to residents' view of their block or estate. We will monitor the performance of the caretakers and report this to the residents through their engagement meetings.
How you can help us
You are responsible for disposing of your household rubbish. If you have a rubbish chute in your block don't use it for large items as it will get blocked. Also don't use the shoot late at night; it will disturb your neighbours.
If you're taking rubbish down to the bin areas, be careful not to spill any on the way.
Remember you are responsible for clearing furniture and large items, don't leave them out in the shared areas. You can get rid of large items of household waste at the following sites in the borough:
- New Years Green Lane Civic Amenity Site
New Years Green Lane, Harefield, UB9 6LX - West Drayton Waste Weekends
Railway Sidings, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, UB7 7QT