Caretakers - as promised!

The provision of a caretaking service was one of the promises that Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP) made to tenants during the stock transfer of 8,500 properties from Richmond upon Thames Council.

 

The Estate Services Team was created specifically to meet this promise and has gone on to surpass it. As part of the Estate Services Team, Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP) employ estate Caretakers who are responsible for looking after and cleaning up communal areas, undertaking minor repairs and the removal of bulk refuse, abandoned vehicles and graffiti.

 

The Caretaker Team have a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction and in response to customer research a range of new initiatives were launched to meet specific customer needs. A caretaker hotline was introduced to take calls outside of normal office hours and a resident inspector scheme, which invites residents to inspect their own estates and recommend solutions.

 

The highest profile scheme was named Paintbrush. Its objective was to help solve the problems of anti-social behaviour through involving young people in improving their environment by carrying out tasks such as painting, gardening and graffiti removal alongside the caretakers. In some cases it has been responsible for a 70% reduction in the number of reported ASB incidences.