News for Bristol City Council tenants and leaseholders
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Welcome to housing news, in this edition:
- Housing and Consumer Standards Programme update
- Recent improvements in your homes
- Report and prevent damp and mould
- Coming soon: Resident and Community Panel
- New high-rise residents’ group
- Help shape how the council allocates social housing
- Important changes to Universal Credit
- ...and lots more!
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Welcome from Councillor Barry Parsons, Chair of the Homes and Housing Delivery Committee
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Watch Councillor Barry Parsons discuss the progress the council has made to improve your homes since the Regulator for Social Housing's judgement last year, as well as future plans to transform our city's housing.
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Our new plan to help improve your home
Watch our latest video introducing the council’s Housing Consumer Standards Improvement Strategy. This video outlines the positive changes to our services and enhancements your living standards we plan to make.
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Recent improvements in your homes
Our repairs and maintenance team is prioritising to make sure your home is fully compliant with safety requirements. Since June 2024, we have reduced the number of outstanding electrical inspections by 50%, and the number of non-compliant smoke detectors by 60%.
Almost 6,000 stock condition surveys across our 28,000 homes have been completed. These surveys give us a much better understanding of your home’s condition and quality. Over the next 12 months we plan to complete another 12,000.
We understand that damp and mould is an area of concern for many of you, which is why we are focussing on plans to address the high number of outstanding cases as a priority.
And finally, following your feedback, we have carried out an internal review of our repairs and maintenance services. We now have a clear understanding of the improvements we need to make, and we have already started working on plans to reduce the amount of time it takes for us to deal with repairs. We will share more details about this in the next edition of Housing News.
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Thank you for your feedback
Thank you to those of you who have already given us feedback by attending one of our recent Housing Forum meetings or by contacting us directly.
We’re working to introduce more ways in which you can have your say and influence the council’s decision making. Opportunities will be shared in future editions of Housing News, and via our website.
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Coming soon: Resident and Community Panel
Work is underway to create a new Resident and Community Panel made up of tenants, leaseholders, local independent community organisations, and housing experts. This group will have a role in key decision making and will work closely with the Homes and Housing Delivery Committee. If you are interested in using your tenant experience to help improve our services, and ensure compliance with the social housing and building safety regulators. To find out more and get involved please email tpu@bristol.gov.uk. Thank you to everyone who took the time to feedback on the proposal to create a Resident and Community Panel. Your input will shape how the panel will operate. |
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Say ‘Hi!’ to the new high-rise residents’ group
We are setting up a new group for tenants and leaseholders who live in high-rise buildings.
The High-Rise Living Group will be an opportunity to talk about communal living areas, building safety, collective wellbeing, and other topics that are important to residents who live high-rise buildings.
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Help shape how the council allocates social housing
We want to make the housing letting process fair, easy to use, and transparent for everyone.
We're currently inviting feedback on proposed changes to how homes are allocated via HomeChoice Bristol, the council’s social lettings service, and how we best support those on the social housing waiting list. The consultation closes at midnight on Friday 11 July.
We will also be giving you the chance to comment on our proposed changes to your tenancy agreement via our upcoming consultation launching later this year.
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Avon Fire & Rescue Service response emergency calls
When Avon Fire & Rescue Service receives an emergency call, whether it’s about a fire, a smell of smoke, or alarms sounding, the amount of fire engines sent depends on the potential rather than actual risk identified.
This ensures the right number of firefighters and equipment are on scene if there is an actual fire, even if the incident turns out to be small or a false alarm.
If you discover a fire, always call 999 immediately. Never try to tackle a fire yourself. If you want fire safety advice specific to your home, you can take the free Online Home Fire Safety Checker.
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New form to report damp and mould in your home
The health and safety of you and your home is our priority. We’ve listened to your feedback and have updated our report damp and mould online form to help us to understand and respond more effectively to these issues in your home. Getting in touch with us directly is the best way to ensure any damp and mould issues affecting your home are dealt with quickly and effectively. Contacting a third-party contractor to carry out the work, could lead to delays or the issue not being permanently resolved. There’s also a lot of information on our website about what you can do to help prevent damp and mould. |
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Planning to use a paddling pool this summer?
When the weather heats up, you may want to cool down in a paddling pool in your garden or communal outdoor space.
While this can provide some entertainment for you and your family, it’s important that after every use you remove it and safely store it away until the next time the sun comes out. If you do use a paddling pool in a communal garden, please be aware that we will be removing any left unattended because they present a risk of drowning to residents.
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BBQ safety advice
While warmer and longer days often means more time to enjoy cooking outdoors with friends and family, staying safe is always a priority.
Please remember you must not have BBQs indoors or on your balcony because this poses a fire risk to your flat and the wider building.
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Custom Close area undergoes a transformation
Our neighbourhood and environment improvement funds can help transform where you live into a brighter and happier place to be.
Following residents' feedback, and a successful bid by one of our housing officers, the outdoor area at Custom Close in Hengrove has had a makeover. Housing Officer, Jayne Burston, and colleagues in our Planned Programmes Team to get the wheels (or rather diggers!) in motion.
The four garages were replaced with a retarmacked area and four new, much-needed parking spaces. All works were completed in just 11 days.
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Enjoy a fun-filled school holiday this summer
Children and young people in Bristol who receive benefits-related free school meals can join in with a host of fun activity sessions taking place during the summer school holidays.
Your Holiday Hub sessions are fully funded and include a healthy meal as part of the day. Activities range from sports to crafts, and from drama to baking plus so much more.
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Universal Credit payments to replace existing benefits
If you are aged 16 and over, on a low income, and receive ‘legacy’ benefits, keep a look out for a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions explaining what you need to do to move to Universal Credit benefits.
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Do you receive Universal Credit? Update your rent charges today
If you receive Universal Credit, make sure to login to your account and update your details with your new rent amount for the 2025/2026 financial year.
It’s important that you update your account whenever your rent amount changes, otherwise there will be a shortfall in your payment.
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Make a complaint or provide feedback
We aim to deliver a good service to all our tenants and leaseholders, but we know that sometimes things go wrong and that you might not always be satisfied with our services.
We want to get things right and we welcome citizen feedback and complaints. Your complaint will be treated fairly, impartially and in line with our corporate complaints policy and procedures as well as the standards set by the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code.
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We want to hear from you!
We hope you've found this edition of Housing News useful. If there’s anything more you'd like us to include in future updates, please email housing.news@bristol.gov.uk |
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