Golding Customer Offer
We’ve been working with you, our customers, towards this: the Golding Customer Offer. You’ve been telling us exactly what you value in what we do and where you want to see change.
This Customer Offer is a result of all those comments and conversations. It’s aimed at our customers that live in our rented homes and we’re proud to set out our commitments to you here. Thank you for taking the time to help shape them.
You matter
We care about you. We want to get to know you by listening and understanding your unique needs. This will help us to tailor our services to your needs and provide you with the help and support you want and need.
- We’re committed to building a strong and equal relationship with you, where you can scrutinise and hold us to account for the decisions that affect your homes and services. The quality and effectiveness of our service relies on us working together for the benefit of you and your community.
- We’re proud to provide affordable, well-maintained, safe and secure housing to our customers and are committed to supplying services and opportunities that enhance your security and wellbeing.
- We’ll always treat you with respect and be open and honest with you. We’ll provide clear and regular communication on the issues that matter to you, whether that’s about your home, services or community. If something goes wrong, we want to hear from you so that we can put things right quickly.
- We all have aspirations, hopes and dreams for our own, and our family’s, happiness and future. We’ll deliver the services that make your home a haven and help you to achieve your wider goals. In supporting you with your aspirations, we’ll achieve ours.
- Our Director of Customer Experience, Rachel McFarlane is responsible for making sure we comply with the Regulator's consumer standards including meeting the Housing Ombudsman Code.
Contacting us
There are a number of ways you can get in touch with us at a time that suits you.
- Our online customer portal, MyGolding helps you to manage your tenancy anytime, anywhere.
- You can e-mail us at help@goldinghomes.org.uk. We’ll acknowledge your email within five working days.
- Give us a call on 0300 777 2600. We’re here to answer your call from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday (Tues 9.30am to 6pm)) and our emergency phone lines are open 24/7.
- You can also contact us through our Social media channels Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm. We’ll respond to this within two working days.
- If you prefer, you can write to us at County Gate One, Stacey’s Street, Maidstone, ME14 1ST and we’ll acknowledge this within five working days.
- To chat to someone face-to-face, get in touch and we can either meet you at your home or at our County Gate One office by appointment only between 9am – 4pm. We’ll confirm the appointment with you within five working days.
- Our aim is to provide the service that you require in that first contact, and where this isn’t possible, we’ll ask a specialist team to get involved and agree the next steps with you within five working days.
Giving us feedback is easy to do. This could be a compliment, service request or complaint. There are no forms to complete and we’re always here to listen and act. You can raise a compliment, service request or a complaint with us using any of the contact methods above. If you’re using social media, please private message us, to keep your details secure.
Your welcome to Golding
Moving home can be an exciting and sometimes stressful time. We’re here to make the process as smooth as possible.
- We’ll organise a viewing of your shortlisted property via video or in person with a dedicated advisor.
- We’ll provide you with regular updates throughout the moving process.
- If you’re requesting a mutual exchange, we’ll make sure you have a decision within 42 days.
- When you’re signed up, we’ll help you to register on our customer portal, MyGolding, so you can manage your information and service needs when it’s convenient for you right from the start.
Supporting your tenancy
Running a home comes with lots of pride and satisfaction. It also comes with additional responsibilities and costs. Some challenges are temporary, but we’re always here to help.
- If you require any support or advice around managing your home, we’ll work together with you for as long as you need us. This might be via email, telephone or home visits, depending on your needs. We’ll agree a time that suits you and look for solutions that keep you firmly in control.
- Our Income and Welfare Benefits teams are on hand if you’re struggling financially or if you need help to manage your income.
- We’ll inspect your estate and buildings at least once a year. We’ll invite you to join us and to bring your views and concerns, making sure we give you at least one week’s notice.
- If you live in one of our older persons’ (OPAL) schemes, you’ll also have access to a qualified handyperson, to carry out small jobs for you.
Anti-social behaviour
Our neighbours and the people around our homes can be some of the best aspects of where we live, but when problems arise, you’re not alone.
- Everyone has the right to live peacefully in their homes, so we offer advice and useful information to help you deal with any anti-social behaviour via our dedicated website page.
- If you need support, or you’d like to raise a complaint about anti-social behaviour, we’ll always make sure you have a dedicated advisor on hand to discuss this with you.
- We’ll assess the circumstances and respond within two working days to agree next steps and frequency of contact.
- We’ll aim to resolve your concerns (dependant on the issue) through mediation, use of our noise app or home visits to you or your neighbours.
- We’ll stay in regular contact with you until the case can be closed. There may be instances where your concerns may not be anti-social behaviour, but we’ll always provide you with advice (such as talking with your neighbour).
Repairing and maintaining your home
Maintaining your home is the biggest service we provide. Our team of skilled colleagues are here to deliver a quality service, as quickly as possible.
- If you’ve got an emergency, you can let us know by calling 0300 777 2600. We’ll visit to make your home safe within 24 hours.
- You can find out more about emergency repairs here.
- For any routine repairs, we’ll book an appointment with you within 28 days.
- If we need to make more than one visit to complete a repair, we’ll confirm the next steps or any future appointment before leaving your home.
- We’ll always respect your home and its contents.
- If you’re without heating or hot water at any time between 1 October until 1 April, we’ll respond to this as an emergency.
- We’ll service your gas appliances every year and do electrical safety checks every five years.
- If your smoke detector or CO detector (where required) stop working, let us know straight away and we’ll fix it within two working days for you.
- Our dedicated Building Safety team look after the safety of everyone living in our blocks of flats and sheltered schemes. You can find the latest update for buildings seven floors and above on our dedicated website page or contact the team on building.safety@goldinghomes.org.uk
- For information about the standards you can expect from us please see our repairs guide.
Dealing with damp and mould
Living with damp and mould is not just unpleasant, it’s unhealthy too. We take dealing with this problem as seriously as you do, and we’ve put quality services in place so that we can tackle this together.
It’s important to be aware of damp and mould and how to prevent it. You also need to know how to deal with it quickly if you think it’s in your home. Visit our website page for useful information on damp and mould, how to prevent it, and how to report it to us or contact dampandmould@goldinghomes.org.uk.
- Once you’ve contacted us, we’ll be in touch within five working days to book an appointment with you.
- During our visit to your home, we’ll work with you to help get rid of existing damp and mould and provide you with advice on how to prevent it reoccurring in the future. We’ll let you know what we need to do within ten working days.
- Once we’ve completed the works in your home, we’ll visit again to make sure you’re happy with the service we've provided.
Aids and Adaptations within your home
Aids and adaptations are changes to your home that make living there easier for you day-to-day so that you can enjoy more independence. Through our aids and adaptations service, we can make changes specifically for you.
We’ll do an assessment to make sure you meet the eligibility criteria for minor or major adaptations and will support you through to completion of the work.
Minor adaptations could include:
- Fitting grab/handrails
- Raising sockets and lowering or raising light switches
- Changing current taps to lever taps
- Fitting a half step to the front or back door
Major adaptations could include:
- External ramps
- Fitting a shower over a bath (letter from healthcare professional required)
- Installing a bath (letter from healthcare professional required)
If you find that you need adjustments to your home so you can get around more easily and safely, please email adaptations@goldinghomes.org.uk.
- We’ll be in touch within two working days
- If necessary, we’ll work with you and a professional person who’s experienced in advising on adjustments
- For small changes that are needed, like fitting a handrail, we’ll complete the work within 28 days
For some major adaptations, like stair lifts, wet rooms and kitchen adaptations, you’ll need to apply to your local authority for a Disabled Facilities Grant. You can find out more about this on the government website.
Cleaning and maintaining shared spaces
You can expect a great service when we care for the shared areas of the buildings where you live, as well as the outside planted or lawned spaces we look after.
- Please report any health and safety concerns straight away and we’ll assess this and be out to sort it within one working day if needed.
- Where a tree is causing an emergency, we’ll be there within two working days.
- We encourage all customers to safely dispose of bulky waste using local recycling centres. Where fly tipping occurs, we’ll remove waste left on our land to keep the area clean and safe within three working days of it being reported. We’ll report fly tipping incidents to Waste Crime Officers within the Borough Council.
- Please let us know if you spot any graffiti and if it’s offensive we’ll remove it within two working days.
- For information about the standards you can expect from us please see our repairs guide.
Putting things right
Our colleagues work hard to deliver a great service, and you tell us we’re doing that most of the time. Sometimes things do go wrong, and when they do, we welcome the opportunity to put things right and turn things around
- Complaining couldn’t be easier. Just tell us. It’s as simple as that. You can use any of our contact channels, whatever suits you. Our complaints page will provide you with more information.
- We’ll confirm we have your complaint within five working days, if not sooner. If we find the complaint needs further investigation, as some will, we’ll let you know within ten working days exactly what we plan to do, by who and by when.
- We’re here to help. Our aim is the same as yours: to find a resolution for you.
- We’ll use the information you tell us about your complaint to help us learn and improve our service to you.
- We'll publish the types of complaints we've received and lessons learnt in our annual review.
Safe Homes
We’re regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing who sets standards for us to meet. We also have to follow relevant legislation, like the government’s Decent Homes Standard.
This means we must provide you with a home that’s free from hazards, in a reasonable state of repair, have reasonably modern facilities and services and not be too hot or too cold. We invest in your home over time to make sure that it meets this standard.
- We also have to comply with Health and Safety legislation. We ensure your home is safe through regular checks like stock condition surveys, gas, electrical and other compliance checks, too. Please help us to do this by allowing us access to your home.
- You have the right to a home that’s fit for human habitation. You also have the right to receive notice from us when we need to visit to carry out repairs or maintenance or to check the condition of your home. If you need adjustments to your home because you’re disabled, you have a right to this too.
- Our Director of Customer Experience is responsible for making sure we comply with the Regulator’s consumer standards, including meeting the Housing Ombudsman Code.
Working together with you
We want your home to be a place of comfort, security and enjoyment. When you’re at home, you’re also surrounded by your neighbours, shops and services that make up your own local community.
Communities thrive when you all play your part in large or small ways. Here are some of the ways you can work together to help build communities we can all be proud of.
- You’re the eyes and ears of our communities. We’ll always work with you to keep your community welcoming and safe. If you’re concerned about the wellbeing or safety of a neighbour or something that is happening in your community, please let us know so we can help or check in. We can change lives for the better just by reporting what we see.
- We all know that litter and rubbish lying around spoils the look and feel of your streets and green spaces. You can make a difference and help our planet by taking your rubbish home and using the recycling and waste facilities provided. But, if the facilities don’t work for you, or there’s not enough, please tell us, and we’ll do our best to solve the problem.
- We have building safety experts, equipment and systems all committed to your safety, but your role in keeping yourself and those around you safe is vital. If you have a carbon monoxide alarm fitted in your home please test this monthly and smoke detectors weekly and report any faults to us straight away. If you live in a building with shared areas, please keep them clear of belongings and rubbish. It’s also important you know the evacuation plan for your building. Contact us at building.safety@goldinghomes.org.uk for more information.
- Pets can be an important part of your life. Cleaning up after your pets and making sure they don’t create a noise nuisance is vital in making sure they are welcome members of the community. Please be a responsible owner, for everyone's benefit.
- Feeling respected and valued is vital to our wellbeing, no matter where you are; whether at home, work, or in the local community. Our colleagues will always treat you with respect and consideration and we ask that you do the same for them.
- Get involved! We want to hear from you about the needs of your local area, and how you feel about our services. Please complete the feedback surveys that we send when you’ve received a service and consider taking part in a discussion group – your views matter and we love to hear your thoughts!