MHO believes all our customers deserve to receive excellent service. We are committed to providing a helpful, friendly and efficient service and making it easy for you to get in touch with us.

We promise to:

• Be polite, helpful and respectful to all our customers

• Treat all customers fairly

• Give our names to customers

• Do our best  to get it right first time

• Listen to and involve customers in continually improving our services

• Aim to make our services accessible to all our customers

• Make sure staff have the training they need to provide a first class service

What you can expect from us

 Availability

• Our main office at the Grange is open to visitors from 8.30 am to 5.45 pm, Monday to Friday.  Our address is: 

• The Grange, 100 High Street, Southgate, London, N14 6PW

• We are pleased to help with telephone enquiries between 9.00am to 5.15 pm, Monday to Friday, and to deal with postal enquiries during these times.  You can contact us on 020 8920 7777.

• You can visit us online any time at www.mho.co.uk or log on to www.housingoptions.co.uk  to visit and view available properties.  We maintain a web based enquiry service 7 days a week with replies delivered between 9 am to 5.15 pm, Monday to Friday.

Telephone calls

We will:

• Answer the telephone promptly and give our name when we speak to you.  We aim to answer 95% of calls within 5 rings.

• Greet you in a polite and friendly way

•  Take responsibility to follow up and deal with your enquiry if it cannot be answered straight away and keep you informed of progress

• Return phone calls and respond to voicemail messages within one working day and give you a direct number, if possible.

• Keep our promises about contacting you and get back to you within an agreed timescale.

• Aim for 95% resolution of enquiries at the first stage – this includes transfers to another team.

Reception service 

We will:

• Ensure reception points are adequately staffed and attended during our office hours of 8.30 am to 5.45 pm

• Have welcoming public access reception areas with clear signs

• See you on time if you have an appointment or within 15 minutes if you do not have one

• Wear name badges and give our names

• Have a comfortable waiting area with up to date information about our products and services

• Aim to provide buildings with disabled access.  Our office at the Grange is wheelchair accessible and we have a hearing loop and a lingua phone with a simultaneous translation service available.

• Provide our literature in large print, braille, audio disc or translation, on request

Correspondence

We will:

• Use plain English and avoid jargon when dealing with your enquiries.

• Aim to respond to 95% of letters and emails within 5 working days and include name, direct phone number and email address of the sender.

• If we cannot provide a full reply to your letter or email within 5 working days we will send an acknowledgement within 3 working days and advise when you will receive a full reply.

• Acknowledge complaints within 3 days and respond within the timescales set out in our complaint procedure.   The timescale for responding to stage 1 and 2 complaints is within 15 working days of receiving your complaint.  For stage 3 - the final stage of our complaint procedure - we will arrange for an independent appeals panel to review your complaint within 20 working days of receiving it.  Any member of staff will be happy to go through our complaint procedure and/ or send you a copy of our “Compliments, Complaints, Suggestions” leaflet.  You can also download a copy of the leaflet on our website - Compliments, Complaints, Suggestions

• Only share your personal information with care and only when it is appropriate. 

Visits

We will:

• Arrange visits by appointment at a mutually convenient time and be on time for appointments.

• Let you know as soon as possible if we are unable to make an appointment.

• Show you identification before we come into your home.

• Leave a card with our contact details if you are out when we visit.

• Respect you and your home.

• Contact you within 5 working days of receiving your request to arrange an appointment for you to view any information we hold about you.

Additional Team Specific Standards

Applications and Enquiries Team

We promise to:

• Send customers information/ documents within 4 working days of receiving a request.

• Provide accurate information relating to enquiries about schemes, eligibility criteria, property availability (where appropriate and possible) and application status.

• Make an appointment to see a member of the applications team to provide face-to-face assistance with the application process.

• Process applications within 8 working days of receiving completed application information.

• Actively assist applicants using the housing schemes to find a housing solution as quickly as possible in association with other Registered Social Landlords.

• Undertake bi-annual data base cleansing to ensure information held is accurate and meets data protection procedures requirements.
  

Equity Loans

Deed of Postponements/ Repayments

We promise to:

• Send price schedules within 4 working days of receiving your request for information.

• Send you instruction leaflets within 4 working days of receiving a request.

• We will confirm if we approve or refuse the transaction within 4 working days of receiving the required documents from your solicitor.

• Ensure that the fee and second charge information is updated within a 4 working days of the staircasing.

New Equity Loan Sales

We promise to:

• Arrange an Independent Financial Assessment (IFA) interview within 5  days

• Undertake cash management with cash allocated electronically within  1 working day of receiving the necessary paperwork and details entered onto the database.

• Approve exchange of contracts within 2 working days of receiving all necessary documents.

We ask customers to:

• Provide the information we request promptly
• Complete the transaction within the specified timescales

Sales

We promise to:

• Load all new build opportunities onto relevant websites 9 to 6 months in advance of handover.

• Arrange an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) to interview all customers that wish to purchase a property within 5 working days of an offer being agreed.

• Instruct our solicitors to send out legal packs to purchaser’s solicitors within 3 days of receiving instruction from us.

• Approve exchange of contracts once all necessary paperwork has been received and approved within 2 working days.

• Meet customers on the day of completion to handover keys, take final metre readings and go through boiler heating instructions.

• Keep customers updated verbally and in writing in the event of any unforeseen circumstances that affect the sale/handover.

We ask customers to:

• Return the acceptance of offer letter to MHO within 5 working days with a cheque for £400.

• Exchange contracts within a 28 day deadline where possible.

Resales:

We promise to:

• Obtain referrals from relevant HomeBuy Agents within 2 working days.

• Update current availability lists, spreadsheet and websites within 2 working days.

• Arrange an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) to interview all customers within 5 working days of an offer being agreed.

• Inform customers within 5 working days of the outcome of their offer.

• Instruct our solicitors to start the selling process within 48 hours of receiving offer acceptance.

• Discuss progress with buyers/sellers on a weekly basis.

We ask customers to:

• Return the acceptance of offer letter to MHO within 5 working days with a cheque for £400.

• Exchange contracts within a 28 day deadline.

Residential Sales Team

If you contact us to sell your property or increase the share you own of your home, we promise to:

• Send you the relevant application pack within 3 working days of your request.

• Instruct your chosen valuer within 5 working days of receiving your completed request form and cheque.

• Send a copy of the valuation report to you within 3 working days of receiving it from the valuer.

• Instruct our solicitors and contact your solicitors within 5 working days of receiving your letter requesting to proceed.

• Review your case weekly and actively liaise with all parties throughout the process to ensure speedy and smooth completion of the staircasing.

• Adjust your account and refund any monies due to you within 15 working days of completion of staircasing.

Tenants Purchase Incentives Team

For Right to Buy (RTB), Right to Acquire (RTA) and Social HomeBuy (SHB) customers, we promise to:

• Send you the relevant application pack within 3 working days of your request.

• Acknowledgment receipt of your application within 3 working days of receiving it.

• If Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT) is the only qualifying landlord, we will send you a RTB2/ RTA2/ SHB notice advising whether you have the right to buy your home within 4 weeks of receiving your application, or within 8 weeks if we need to contact another landlord.

• Send you a section 125 notice/ RTA3/ SHB offer within 8 weeks of advising you that you have the right to buy your home if your home is a house and within 12 weeks if your home is a flat.

• Review all cases weekly and keep you updated throughout the process.

Database Team

We promise to:

• Maintain an up to date list of home ownership opportunities on MHO and local HomeBuy Agents websites.

• Send you information/ instruction letters within 4 working days of receiving your request.

• Produce lists of eligible referrals within 4 working days of receiving complete written requests on the formal request form.

• Produce HomeBuy agent reports within 4 working days. 

Finance Team

We promise to:

• Claim equity loan cash on the Housing Corporation IMS system within 1 working day.

• Produce weekly cash progress sheets for internal cash meetings.

• Process all approved invoices within 5 working days.

Relationship Management 

We promise to:

RSLs

• Meet with the RSLs on an annual basis unless otherwise requested.

• Provide monthly Housing Options updates via email by the 10^th of each month.

• Facilitate the Housing Options quarterly marketing meeting with the Marketing Manager.

LAs

• Schedule quarterly meetings unless otherwise requested.

• Put the RSL feedback report on the B2B pages by the 30^th of each month.

• Upload quarterly Housing Options newsletter (B2B pages) by 2^nd week of the following month.

• Upload monthly reports (B2B pages) by the 20^th of each month.

• Upload quarterly reports onto B2B pages by the 3^rd week of the following month.

• Ensure urgent information is uploaded as soon as possible

We want our service standards to be led by our customers and we will monitor our service standards by:

• Tracking performance against targets

• Asking customers what they think of our service

• Analysing complaints and compliments

• Reviewing staff performance and asking for their views on the service

• Reviewing our policies and procedures on a regular basis

• Benchmarking with similar service providers

And in return, we ask our customers to:

• Be considerate to staff, other customers and neighbours

• Treat others with courtesy and don’t discriminate against anyone

• Let us know if you are unable to make an appointment

• Tell us how we can improve our services

What to do if you are dissatisfied with the service you receive from us

We recognise things do go wrong from time to time and welcome the opportunity to put them right.  We have an easy to follow complaints procedure if you need to make a complaint.  You can find details of it on our website (Compliments, Complaints, Suggestions) or any member of staff will be pleased to send you a copy of our “Compliments, Complaints, Suggestions” leaflet.  If you are not satisfied with the way your complaint has been handled, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman who will review your complaint.   The Housing Ombudsman will only review your complaint if it has been through our complaints procedure.  (Our “Compliments, Complaints, Suggestions” leaflet has contact details for the Housing Ombudsman.)

 

Our MHP and MHO Business Annual Reports are available to customers via our website or in hard copy form on request