Our homes (stock) condition survey has provided significant information about your homes, so that we know that we’re making investments in the right homes at the right time, and can even spot possible issues in advance and prevent them from happening.

• We're investing in new technology to deliver improved quality and to make your homes more energy efficient. In addition, our new property management system is providing us with accurate information about where maintenance and improvements need to be carried out, and in what priority order. 

• Over the next five years, we’re investing even more into your homes. This will ensure they are modern, maintained to a good standard, and are as energy efficient as possible
• We’re making detailed 30-year plans for our buildings, which will help inform you about any future major work that is needed and when it will take place. This means we’ll be able to let you know about how much it’s likely to cost and why, in order for you to plan well in advance

• More than 85% of our homes now have an energy performance certificate (EPC) C or above. We're on track
  for meeting and exceeding our goal to ensure the energy efficiency in all our homes meets EPC C+ standard by 2030 and net carbon zero by 2050
• By investing in making our homes more energy efficient, we’re actively reducing your home running costs, for example reducing the cost of heating your home to make home comfort more affordable and more environmentally sound

• 99.7% of the new homes we built this year achieved an EPC B or higher and the remainder all met EPC C. All our new build homes achieved an environmental impact rating (EIR) of B or more
• Meanwhile, we're working in partnership to deliver our first all net zero carbon housing in mid-Sussex. 

We’re committed to providing as many safe, affordable homes as possible through various types of homes that
are also sustainable. 

Supporting customers to avoid condensation
and mould at home

Some of our customers have continued to experience cases of condensation and mould in their homes over the winter. We look into every case of condensation and mould to determine the best course of action to repair it. We carry
out any work that needs to be done and recommend
the necessary steps to prevent issues returning. 

In response to our customer’s needs, we’ve employed more skilled surveyors to join our specialist team and we assess every home where this problem is found. We remain in contact with each customer affected by condensation and mould for a period to check the issue has gone away due to the work we do with customers to get rid of it. If it hasn’t completely cleared, we take further steps to repair the issue until it has. 

Over the winter, we contacted over 2,000 customers
who had reported issues during the previous year, to find
out whether they continued to have a problem in their home. Around 20% did, and we supported every customer by conducting surveys, offering advice, and taking preventative action. We’ve also provided advice on how to stop mould occurring through a variety of customer communications. This issue is a priority for us to resolve and repair, working with our customers to achieve this, and we’ll aim to put this right for our customers swiftly.  

• Specific damp, mould and condensation policies and procedures in place  
• If condensation and mould issues are found, we aim to survey the home within 10 working days to assess the situation and find the root cause of the problem. The survey results are expected within five working days. We plan to complete the work usually within 20 working days, keeping customers informed 
• 531 free hygrometers sent to customers (to 31 March 2024) after a proactive campaign to support clearer understanding of how to manage humidity levels in the home to prevent damp, mould and condensation. A hygrometer is a simple, small device that lives in your home and tells you how much humidity is in the air. It’ll show when air moisture levels are high so you can take practical, simple steps to reduce it. We put these in all new builds to use  
• Our skilled, in-house maintenance and surveying teams are increasing our capacity to address this repair as a priority in our customers’ homes.  
• Our new home health check pilots also helped customers avoid condensation and mould issues returning, as well as repairing any issues that have occurred
• We produced a series of “how to” videos for customers which you can find below:

• We visited thousands of customers’ homes in 2023/24 for a large variety of reasons. This include carrying out routine checks and checking in on some customers during the winter months; but can also include visits around the condition of the home. We also completed 292 tenancy checks across our regions 
• As part of our neighbourhood management, we visited all 2,695 streets and 1,813 housing schemes to complete neighbourhood inspections. We visit all areas at least annually and as frequently as monthly 
• We completed 9,259 separate neighbourhood inspections to identify and report where there may be any issues. From these inspections we have proactively logged identified communal repairs, including 362 of the most urgent repair jobs directly to our contact centre, working to keep our estates safe and well managed  
• We help our estate teams with the monitoring of grounds maintenance contracts on our estates by feeding back any concerns or observations we have  
• The teams have been very busy dealing with queries and processes to help you, with an average of 6,000 jobs
  being created and progressed every month

• Your Neighbourhood Officers have supported hundreds of customers to find a well-suited home, through the mutual exchange process this year and 373 home exchange moves were completed successfully
• The independent living services that we provide help customers remain independent and improve overall wellbeing. Over 3,500 customers have been supported by our independent living team, who provide a range of additional housing management services, in the Group’s own independent living schemes 
• Nearly 40 of our independent living scheme refurbishments have been finished and all schemes are due to be completed by 2030.  This year, refurbishments were completed in another ten schemes. This included upgrades to flooring and furniture, brightening environments and making them more spacious and accessible. Working with our customer voice team, 128 customers living in these schemes responded to a survey, resulting in a 98% customer satisfaction rating
• These refurbishment works have revitalised the communal spaces in our customers’ homes, encouraging social interaction, easing accessibility and greater inclusivity.