We are a co-op housing services agency, providing services to around 40 co-ops and 2,200 homes in the South East, owned by co-operative clients.
We are passionate about being an effective service provider, working in line with our values to ensure our clients value the services we provide for them. We are committed to providing services that are efficient and offer value for money to our client co-operatives.
Co-op tenant-members have a role as elected members on their co-op’s committee as well as on the committees of CDS Co-operatives. This involvement ensures that co-ops are run as an effective business, being financially viable, able to provide value for money and being responsive to the needs of its members and the community.
Our role as a managing agent is to support this by providing the full range of services that housing co-operatives need to enable members to run their co-operative’s business affairs without having to operate daily management services.
For more information or to discuss how we could manage services tailored to meet your co-op’s needs, contact our Director of Client Services & Business Growth, Dave Smith
Newsletter
We regularly produce a newsletter for clients, sharing any changes at CDS, news from around the Community-Led Housing sector and general updates which we think you will find helpful. This newsletter is circulated via email and is also available on our website (see below).
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter and make sure you never miss an issue.
Please find our most recent newsletter here.
Our Service Standards
Customer Service
We will:
- Strive to be reliable, fair and to act with integrity
- Communicate clearly and politely
- Respect your personal data and privacy
- Offer you the opportunity 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
We always want to know if you are unhappy about any aspect of our service. We can take your complaint by phone, email, letter, in person or through our website. We will:
- Acknowledge your complaint in writing within 3 working days
- Confirm who is responsible for responding to your complaint
- Respond to your complaint in writing within 10 working days
- Clarify when any issues arising from your complaint will be resolved
- Tell you how/whether you can escalate or appeal our decision at each stage
Response Times
We will:
- Answer the phone within 3 rings
- Reply to all enquiries by post, email or phone within 3 working days (including the day on which we receive the enquiry)
- Either respond in full to your request or query or let you know the date by which we will be able to do so
Repairs & Maintenance
If we provide repairs for your co-op we will:
- Provide a 24/7 service for reporting emergency repairs, 365 days a year
- Offer a facility to report non-emergency repairs through our website at any time
- Make safe any emergency repairs within 24 hours
- Aim to complete any urgent repair within 7 days
- Aim to complete all other repairs, including follow up repairs, within 28 days
- Make an appointment 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
