Supporting Sustainable Tenancies

We aim to offer services and support so that our tenants are happy, empowered and living in comfortable and manageable homes in sustainable places and we are committed to helping tenants sustain their tenancy.

Here’s how we are doing…

Performance

Key stats

The year in review

During the year we completed over 4,500 tenancy visits to homes. Our tenancy visit programme helps us to ensure homes are safe and in good condition, and helps us understand whether you or those living in your home need any support. Our Housing Advisors have updated over 3,500 records helping us to understand and better respond to your needs, vulnerabilities and contact preferences.

We are committed to supporting you when you need it most and, in a year when our communities continued to face real hardship, we have set up a hub on our website so you know what support is available to help you save and manage your money. Our team of advisors have also been on hand to offer practical guidance and support. In the last year they have helped over 400 tenants and generated £1.43m in financial gains, including welfare benefits, grant funding, and affordable credit. Our Livin Futures advisors have also supported 352 customers into work and training reaching a total of 3,000 customers in the lifetime of our Livin Futures programme.

As the housing crisis continues, we are always looking for new ways to provide the homes you need in the areas you are proud to call home. We are very pleased to have developed over 260 homes this year despite the challenges the construction industry is experiencing. We are working with local authorities, partners and developers to create more homes in the local area to reduce the number of people on housing waiting lists. In addition to this we are adapting our homes and looking at home swap arrangements, to ensure you can live in a home suitable for your needs.

We listened  (Complaints)

You told us that we did not keep you up to date while you were waiting for aids and adaptations to your homes.

We acted 

We created a monitoring process for better oversight of outstanding cases to keep you updated. We worked with our partners at Durham County Council to receive monthly progress reports to allow our cases to be updated and so updates can be given at first point of contact. As a result of actions we have implemented, satisfaction levels have increased by 15% from 83.3% to 98.2% within the year.

A lady standing at her front door smiling

We listened (Customer Voice – Cost of Living survey)

You told us that you would like more information to be available about the support we offer for financial hardship.

We acted 

We created a new webpage, a financial wellbeing toolkit and a social media campaign to promote our support offer. We revised our rent arrears procedure to strengthen our approach to arrears prevention and the support we provide.

As a result of our campaign, we have helped 958 tenants to access £1.43m in grant funding, welfare benefits and affordable credit.

An example of this is that we have been able to assist one of our tenants to increase housing benefit entitlement and drastically reduce care costs. This resulted in her improving her financial situation by £23K in 12 months.

How to contact

contactus@livin.co.uk

www.durhamkeyoptions.co.uk

0800 587 4538

Have you read our summarised policies?

We have summarised our customer policies to make them accessible and easy to read.

Summarised Customer Policies

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Transforming Customer Experience and Digital Services

Planet A

Supporting sustainable places

Supporting sustainable tenancies

Providing quality sustainable homes

Building and acquiring sustainable homes

Finance

How do I apply for a Livin home or bungalow?

We advertise all of our available homes on our Find A Home page, simply visit this page for more information.

Before you can place a bid on one of our homes, you must first have an active account with the relevant Choice Based Lettings Scheme. Almost all our homes are located in County Durham and therefore are allocated through the Durham Key Options scheme. Durham Key Options (DKO) is a partnership between Durham County Council and landlords across County Durham.

We have a small number of homes which are located outside Durham, these are all advertised through Tees Valley HomeFinder, Hartlepool HomeSearch and Darlington HomeSearch; They are similar to Durham Key Options but we do not process applications registered for these schemes. If you wish to register an application for homes advertised in this area, please apply directly.

Once your application is approved, you will then be able to bid on homes that meet your needs. You can access the application form directly by visiting the relevant Choice Based Lettings system.

How long will it take for my application to be processed?

We aim to start processing your application within 10 working days. If we require any further information after this point, we will contact you to ask for this. Once we have received all the required information we will notify you of our decision within 20 days, and if accepted we will activate your account. You can also check your application status online by logging into the DKO portal.

How can I get involved with Livin and help to shape services?

To find out more about the different ways you can get involved, please visit our getting involved section.

Can I apply to buy my home under Right to Buy?

Tenants who have been with Livin since before the transfer from Sedgefield Council in 2009 may have the “Preserved Right to Buy” their property. Full details of the scheme are available on the Government Right to Buy website. If you are thinking of applying, please contact us.

Can I apply to buy my home under Right to Acquire?

If you have been a tenant for 3 or more years you may have the right to buy your property under the Right to Acquire scheme. Full details of the scheme are available on the Government Right to Acquire website. If you are thinking of applying, please contact us.