A SURVEY carried out for White Horse Housing Association has found that 96 per cent of its tenants are satisfied with its service.
The housing association, which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary, is based at Lowbourne House in Melksham and has more than 400 homes in rural areas across Wiltshire and in Somerset.
Chief Executive Steve Warran praised his staff after findings showed nine out of ten tenants (91 per cent) feel they are provided with a well-maintained home and almost all tenants (97 per cent) are satisfied they have a safe home. The same number said the housing association is easy to deal with.
The bi-annual survey, part of which is a requirement of the Social Housing Regulator, was carried out between October and December last year by research company Acuity.
More than 230 tenants responded. It reported that nine out of ten tenants who have had repairs carried out are satisfied with the repairs service and 93 per cent said they are satisfied with the time taken to complete their most recent repair after they reported it. More than three-quarters of tenants (78 per cent) believe the association makes a positive contribution to their neighbourhood and 85 per cent say it listens to their views and acts upon them.
The Acuity report said: “Eight out of ten tenants are promoters, very loyal and happy to promote WHHA to other people (80 per cent), with 71 per cent giving a score of 10 out of 10, which is exceptional.”
With just five per cent of tenants said to have negative views about the association, it posted a Net Promoter Score of 75 – higher than Amazon and Netflix.
Mr Warran said: “I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve seen an increase in our overall satisfaction over the last survey in 2021, and in eight of the ten categories where the same questions were asked in 2021, our score increased. It shows that our brilliant staff are not only maintaining our excellent service to tenants they are improving it.
“We are a relatively small association but whatever size you are is no excuse for poor service and part of the reason why we perform so well is that we work really hard at making our whole se-up gel together. From the person that answers the phone or responds to an email in the beginning to the person that deals with the issue, we're a team.”
Acuity director Denise Raine said the results earmark White Horse House as “an exceptionally high performing landlord in the very top of the sector”.
“You're not going to get scores like this unless you've got a really good, responsive repair service and you've got phenomenal staff in the office,” she said.
“The fact the ‘easy to deal with’ question came in at 97 per cent, which is pretty unheard of being that high, suggests their relationship and the way they handle queries must be exceptional.”
The survey showed that some tenants are unhappy about the upkeep of communal outdoor areas and gardens but Mr Warran said this has already been countered with the appointment of two new grounds maintenance contractors. He said the association’s Tenant Scrutiny Panel, made up of residents, is going through any negative comments in the survey to identify ways to improve its service.
“These are exceptional scores but we are by no means complacent,” he said.
“We’ll look at every aspect of the responses we’ve had to satisfy ourselves we are doing all we can to maintain our standards.
“I’d like to thank our tenants for putting their trust in us and for their appreciation and for all the hard work our staff, board and contractors put in to continue meeting our tenants’ needs.”
Pictured: Members of White Horse Housing Association’s Tenant Scrutiny Panel with Operations Director Belinda Eastland showing off some of the scores in the recent tenant satisfaction survey
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