Tenants' Charter

The Islington Council Tenants' Charter is focused on strengthening the relationship between council tenants and Islington Council and embodies all the great work happening across Islington to create positive relationships with tenants.

• It will give tenants a stronger role in holding Islington Council to account
• It challenges Islington Council to go further – presenting an opportunity for us to take the lead in accountability and customer oversight.

By adopting this Charter, Islington Council commits to:

Deliver good quality homes

Tenants can expect their homes to be good quality, well maintained, safe and well-managed. We are building new affordable rented homes to be proud of and will keep your local area, clean, green, and safe.

Develop stronger relationships

Islington Council will treat all tenants with respect in all our interactions. Relationships between tenants and Islington Council will be based on openness, honesty, and transparency. We will build a stronger two-way relationship with you to build a fairer and more tenant focused housing service.

Deliver excellent customer services and experiences

We will be easy to deal with and resolve your enquiries and keep to our promises. We will strive to continuously improve our services and will be fair, inclusive and value diversity.

Provide support

We will provide support to improve the wellbeing and independence of our tenants.

Communicate effectively

Tenants will receive clear, accessible, and timely information from Islington Council on the issues that matter to them, including important information about their homes and local community, how Islington Council is working to address problems in their area, and information about performance on key issues and Tenant Satisfaction Measures.

We will also tell you what we have done with your feedback and suggestions for improving services and how we learn from complaints.

Listen to and truly understand tenants’ priorities

We will be prepared to change our services to meet the specific needs of our tenants and take their feedback and suggestions for improvement seriously.

Tenant voices will influence us

Views from tenants will be sought and valued and this information will be used to inform decisions and working practices. Every individual tenant will feel listened to by Islington Council on the issues that matter to them and can speak without fear. We will involve you in decision making about your home and neighbourhood.

We will offer you a “menu” of engagement to allow you to engage with us in a way that suits you. It is essential that tenants can dip in an out of engaging with us and that they are able to participate in a variety of ways that suit their individual circumstance and lifestyles, and their varying degrees of time and personal commitment.

Enable a stronger collective voice

Issues that are uncovered from tenants’ feedback can be referred to the Housing Scrutiny Committee for closer examination, so that action is taken where appropriate to protect tenants’ rights and interests. This will be enhanced with three tenant representatives attending the Housing Scrutiny Committee.

Be accountable

Collectively, tenants will work in partnership with Islington Council to independently scrutinise and hold Islington Council to account for the decisions that affect the quality of their homes and services. We will publish clear services standards that will allow tenants to hold us to account.

Make it simple to tell us when things go wrong

Tenants will have simple and accessible routes for raising issues, making complaints, and seeking redress. Tenants will receive timely advice and support when things go wrong.