Tenant Participation

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Tenants are at the very heart of the service we provide. We are committed to providing quality services to our tenants and to ensuring that all tenants have access to participate in shaping the service that they receive. Tenant participation is a two-way process that involves sharing information and ideas to help improve standards and services.

We want to encourage our tenants to get involved in ways that suit them, and you can decide how much time you give. Many tenants don’t want to be involved in formal forums or meetings, so we have set up a register of interested tenants to ensure that any tenant can have a meaningful say from the comfort of their home. Any tenant can be included on the register. Tenants who join the register will be contacted for their views on areas of the Housing Service that are of interest to them. We use different ways to get in touch. This may be a phone call, email, completing a survey or taking part in a small focus group discussion to provide feedback and ideas.

If you would like to get involved, please get in touch with us

Areas you can be involved in

Communication / Information

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  • Respond promptly when you contact us
  • Resolve issues as quickly as possible
  • Be polite, helpful and professional at all times
  • Treat everyone with equity and fairness
  • Communicate clearly, avoiding jargon
  • Maintain confidentiality, ensuring only those who need to see your information do so
  • Take responsibility and rectify any mistakes we make
  • Use your views to help us improve the way we do things
  • Tenant Tick – tenants have an opportunity to review and approve documents, all approved documents are to have a ‘Tenant Tick’.
  • Tenant Handbook - how can this be developed to be more helpful for tenants?
  • Newsletters – do you find these interesting and useful?
  • Can you help?

 

Rents

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What we will do…

  • We will explain how rent levels are set, including constraints.
  • Tell you how our rents compare to others Landlords
  • Explain how your Rent is Spent, and how most of it goes on maintenance and improvement to your home
  • Provide details of current and proposed rents

What we want to know from you…

  • Do we ask you the right questions about affordability and value for money?
  • Your views on rent levels in Shetland and how best to use that income.

 

Repairs

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  • Are you satisfied with the standard of the repairs service
  • What happens when a repair is reported
  • How we prioritise repairs
  • Are our repair timescales right?
  • Repair responsibilities – are tenant & SIC responsibilities clear and fair?
  • Do you know where you can get information about repairs and who to contact

 

Service Performance

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  • Do you know where to find information about how the SIC Housing Service is performing as a landlord?
  • Tenants are provided with a Housing Report Card every October.
  • Do we provide the information you want to know about?