Property, caretaking and estate services

Our in-house team, Westward Property Services (WPS), works alongside our main repairs contractor, MD Group, to ensure your home is safe, well maintained and comfortable.

Repairs and maintenance

  • 24/7 Repairs : You can request repairs anytime through your MyAccount or contact our out-of-hours service if it's the weekend.

  • Our team: WPS includes around 60 local tradespeople, such as masons, carpenters and heating engineers.

  • Our partner: MD Group provides additional repairs services in parts of Devon and Cornwall.

NICEIC   OFTEC   Positive about Disabled People   Chas   Gas Safe

Caretaking and estate services

Our community estates team ensures that communal areas are clean, safe, and well maintained. Their duties include:

  • Litter picking

  • Removing graffiti and fly tipped items

  • Sweeping and weeding paths

  • Replacing bulbs

  • Conducting health and safety checks

We aim to:

  • Visit estates at least once every 3 months and apartment blocks at least once a month.

  • Take timely action to keep estates clean and tidy.

  • Recycle any waste we can from work on your estates.

 

Image of our community estates team working on an estate

Grounds maintenance and communal cleaning

We have contractors who carry out gardening, cleaning and window cleaning. For details of which contractor will carry out work in your area, please ask.

Reporting a maintenance or caretaking issue

If you notice something that needs fixing or a caretaking issue on your estate, here’s how you can get in touch:

1. Online

  • Use MyAccount to report repairs 24/7

  • Fill in this form to report issues directly to our team.

2. By phone

  • Call 0300 100 1010 to speak to our Hub team during office hours.

  • Out of hours (evenings, weekends, holidays), emergency repairs are still available via this number.

3. By email

4. Text

  • You can also send a text to 07990 536536 with the same details.

What happens next?

  • We will acknowledge your report and let you know the target timescale for completing the work.

  • If your issue is urgent (like a health and safety hazard), it will be prioritised according to our service targets (see service targets below)

Service targets

We aim to address issues promptly:

  • Within 24 hours: Removal of needles and syringes, offensive graffiti or broken glass.

  • Within 7 days: Removal of non-offensive graffiti or fly tipped items, cutting back overhanging branches, removal of moss when it's a safety issue or replenishing grit bins (if applicable).

  • Within 20 days: Weeding, putting up signs, removing moss or litter picking.

  • Within 30 days: Sweeping car parks and pathways, jet-washing, installing and re-staining benches and non-urgent moss removal.

Your feedback matters

We value your feedback as it helps us improve our services. If you're not satisfied with any caretaking work, please let us know.

Making a complaint

If you're unhappy with a service you've received from us, we need to know so we can put things right as soon as possible. You can make a complaint by filling out the form at the bottom of our Feedback and Complaints page.

We will respond to any complaint as fully as possible within 10 days.

What happens after you complain

We aim to learn from your feedback to improve our services. For example:

  • Damp and mould: You told us you wanted us to make sure that any health conditions are logged at first point of contact when a damp and mould referral is made. As soon as a damp and mould referral is made, colleagues are instructed to capture any health concerns.

  • Leaflets for customers without internet access: You wanted a physical leaflet to advise on condensation, damp and mould. We talked to customers who had previously reported damp and mould and asked them for feedback on a newly designed leaflet. Westward colleagues can give these leaflets out to customers who might find them useful when out on visits. A digital version of this leaflet can be found here.

For more information, please visit our You Said, We Did page.

How we’re doing

We track our performance to ensure we're meeting your needs. For example:

  • Repairs: We aim to complete emergency repairs within 24 hours and non-emergency repairs within 60 working days.

  • Complaints: We aim to resolve complaints promptly and learn from your feedback to improve our services.

You can view our performance data in our Tenant Satisfaction Measures Annual Report.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us:

  • Phone: 0300 100 1010 (including 24-hour automated payments and emergency repairs out of normal office hours)

  • Email: info@westwardhousing.org.uk

  • Text: 07990 536536 (include your name, address, and message)