Customer Care
Our purpose is to provide, support and promote co-op and community-led housing – so that more people can be involved in helping to meet their own housing needs and aspirations.
We are a regulated housing association providing affordable rented homes and leasehold properties in London and the South East. We also support co-ops as a managing agent to enable co-ops to thrive as independent businesses. Finally, we aim to invest and collaborate with partners to enable community-led housing to become mainstream.
Our Service Standards
Strive to build trust by being reliable, fair and acting with integrity
Communicate clearly and politely
Respect your personal data and privacy
Offer you the option to leave a message if we are not immediately available
Make it easy for you to complain about any aspect of our service
Act reasonably in trying to respond to any special requirements you may need
Complaints, Compliments, Comments or Suggestions
We strive to offer consistently brilliant services, and to help us to achieve this, we aim to put your views at the heart of everything we do. We welcome and value all comments, compliments and complaints you make and use them to improve our services to you.
We want to hear from you, whether you want to tell us about excellent customer service or that something has gone wrong. We always want to know if you are unhappy about any aspect of our service. We know that we can make mistakes, and we are always happy to review decisions or actions. Where we have made mistakes, we will try to put things right for you, and where we are unable to meet your expectations, we will explain why.
Complaints – We will:
Acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 working days
Confirm who is responsible for reviewing and responding to your complaint
Respond to your concerns in writing within 10 working days
Offer you the option to leave a message if we are not immediately available
Clarify when any issues arising from your complaint will be resolved
Tell you whether and how you can have our decision reviewed
Response Times – We will:
Answer the phone within 3 rings
Reply to all enquiries within 3 working days of receipt (in person, phone, email or letter)
Respond in full to your enquiry or let you know the date by which we will be able to do so
Repairs & Maintenance – We will:
If, for any reason we cannot complete a repair on time, we’ll be in touch with you to agree a timescale.
Provide a 24/7 service for reporting emergency repairs, 365 days a year
Make it easy to report all other repairs through our website at any time
Make safe any emergency repairs within 24 hours
Complete other repairs, including follow up repairs, within 28 days
Make an appointment with you for all non-emergency repairs
Carry out a gas safety check on your property each year (where applicable)
Make sure your home meets the decent homes standard
Complaints – Housing Ombudsman Service
The Housing Ombudsman Service have advisors who can support you during the life of your complaint, and at the end of our internal complaints process if you remain dissatisfied. You can contact them in these ways:
·Website: www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk
·Telephone: 0300 111 3000
·Address: Housing Ombudsman Service, PO Box 1484, Unit D, Preston PR2 0ET
Get involved
We are committed to involving our tenants in the decisions that affect the management and maintenance of their homes and the way we make decisions in providing services. Many of the estates operate as co-operatives and have representatives who influence how we provide services and make decisions. These co-operatives provide you with the chance to meet your neighbours and work with them to have a say in what we do for you. We will always listen to your co-op’s views. Where there is no co-operative, we will make every effort to involve you in decisions that affect your housing. There are many ways in which you can get involved in your local community and in the management of your estate.
If you would like more details about how to be involved, please contact us on 020 4551 0080.
Equality and Diversity
We embrace diversity and treat everyone we work alongside fairly and with respect.
We value the diverse nature of our tenants, clients, staff and other partners.We take great effort to eliminate discrimination, unfairness, inequality and disadvantage. We take practical action to develop initiatives and interventions to promote and value diversity at all levels of the organisation.
As all forms of discrimination and harassment are totally unacceptable to us in our role as housing provider and employer, we have adopted and developed policies to help us achieve our aims. These include; an equality and diversity policy, a black and minority ethnic (BME) strategy, a recruitment policy and a harassment policy. We would like you to understand that we value diversity by going beyond just fighting discrimination. If you feel you have been discriminated against by anyone from our organisation or someone working on our behalf, please talk to us, so that we can deal with the issue. Please phone us on 020 4551 0080 or email talktous@cds.coop.
Reach out to us anytime.
Get in touch
At CDS, we’re committed to championing co-operative and community-led housing. Whether you need to report a repair, enquire about your housing, or learn more about how we can support your co-op, our friendly team is ready to assist.
24/7 Emergency Repairs – We’re on hand around the clock for urgent issues.
Co-operative & Housing Guidance – From governance to day-to-day queries, we offer specialist expertise.
Annual Home Inspections – We help keep homes safe, comfortable, and compliant.