On this page you can find out about our estate services and what standards you can expect to see around your home.
You can also download this information from our estate services leaflet.
What are estate services?
Estate services look after the cleaning and grounds maintenance of all internal and external communal areas owned and managed by Mount Green. This does not include any sites which are looked after by a managing agency.
Inside, this includes all communal areas, amenities and shared rooms in your neighbourhood or scheme such as corridors, hallways, communal rooms, laundry rooms, communal toilets, kitchens and communal furniture.
Outside we will look after all external communal land owned by Mount Green such as communal grass areas, beds, borders, hedges, parking areas, roads and paths. Where these external areas are not owned by Mount Green, we will liaise with the owners, for example local authorities and management companies, if necessary.
Estate services are paid for by your service charge and delivered by our contractors. Just to let you know, on some schemes, services may be provided by an independent management company and therefore may not fall within our control.
We’re committed to delivering excellent estate services and working together with residents to provide neighbourhoods that we are all proud of.
What you can expect from us
Our responsibilities
- Delivering the standards outlined below
- Involving residents in decisions that affect local services
- Working with residents to monitor our standards and contractors’ performance
Your responsibilities
We ask that residents respect their neighbourhood, estate or scheme and do their bit to keep the community a clean, safe and happy place to live.
- Promptly reporting any issues or hotspots that need attention
- Keeping all communal areas clean, tidy and free from personal items
- Cleaning up after pets
- Disposing of rubbish correctly and considerately; using the correct refuse and recycling facilities
- Disposing of large unwanted items and furniture by using local recycling sites or local authority collections
- Parking responsibly and using the correct parking permit or car parking allocation if there are specific arrangements
- Following our No Smoking Policy in all internal communal areas and disposing of cigarette butts appropriately
Click the headings below to read our standards and how we go about meeting them.
Between contractor visits, we urge residents to be reasonable regarding the impact of everyday living and weather on the look and feel of the estate. However, if you any hotspots, please get in touch and we will deal with these accordingly.
Our standard:
Communal areas should be visibly clean with the absence of offensive odours
We will:
- Clean all communal areas in line with the locally agreed schedule
- Sweep, mop or vacuum floors and stairs (depending on the floor covering)
- Clean handles to communal doors, banisters, railings and handrails, with anti-bacterial solution
- Dust or wipe all windowsills, skirting boards and stair railings
- Remove all cobwebs
- Sweep communal entrance door mats and mat wells
- Clear any removeable marks on glass communal doors, windows and entry doors
- Clean all communal windows (regularity is dependent on contracts at individual estates and schemes)
- Dust or wipe light coverings where reachable
- Clean inside lifts
Our standard:
- All communal grass areas to be tidy and not too long
- All communal beds, borders, hedges and shrubs to be tidy, weed-free and not obstruct footpaths
- No diseased, dangerous or dying trees
- No low and/or dangerous overhanging tree branches
We will:
- Cut grass as required, ensuring all areas are included
- Trim grass around all obstacles
- Edge borders
- Sweep or blow any clippings from pathways
- Trim or cut back all hedges and shrubs as needed and remove clippings
- Maintain edges of all beds and borders
- Regularly inspect trees and implement a tree maintenance programme
- Cut back low and/or dangerous overhanging branches
- Weed hardstanding areas and flowerbeds
Our standard:
- All communal areas will be kept clean. Leaves, weeds and moss will be maintained
- All external communal areas to be free from dangerous items, litter, graffiti, dog mess and fly-tipping
- Bin areas to be tidy and clear of rubbish
We will:
- Remove any litter
- Remove dangerous items, animal faeces, graffiti and fly tipping in a timely manner and investigate who is responsible. If a resident is responsible, we will seek to recharge the resident or take action through tenancy management. If not, we will liaise with the council
- Clear leaves as quickly as is practical
- Clear weeds and moss regularly
- Clean and sweep bin areas regularly
- Notify the council of any damaged or missing bins
Our standard:
- Communal areas to be well lit
- Estate to be free from abandoned vehicles
- All internal and external communal areas to be free from personal items
- Branded signage to be present where appropriate
- All communal fences and railings to be in good repair
We will:
- Rectify any malfunctioning lighting in a timely manner to reflect safety and security risks
- Investigate who is responsible for abandoned vehicles or personal items in communal areas. If a resident is responsible, then we will look to recharge them or take action through tenancy management. If not, we will liaise with the council
- Repair any fencing or railings in line with our Repairs and Maintenance Policy
- Erect and maintain Mount Green signage where possible
We urge residents to be reasonable about any issues that might arise in the neighbourhood or scheme because of everyday living or weather (for example, muddy footprints following a rainy period). But if there are ‘hotspots’ that need to be acted on in between your usual estate service visits, we’d like you to let us know so that we can keep your neighbourhood or scheme safe and well-maintained.
The Mount Green team are also responsible for reporting hotspots when working in your neighbourhoods and schemes and our neighbourhood team will rectify the following issues as soon as possible, in addition to the normal cycle of Estate Services you receive:
- Reports of dangerous or unhygienic items
- Significant litter or overflow of bins
- Offensive graffiti
- Major spillage which if left, will cause additional treatment to remove
- Moss, leaves or overflowing guttering or grates which are hazardous to any user
- Flood risks
- Hazards caused by weather events
- Malfunction causing residents to report feeling unsafe, for example broken lights
- Lack of timely response to clusters of concerns, or issues from estate inspections, complaints not responded to, poor or irregular communication.
If you are aware of any hotspots in your local community, please get in touch as soon as possible.
Whilst these are our general service standards, different estates or schemes will require more or less frequent visits to achieve this standard of service. We will consult residents on the services needed to reach these standards.
If there are any significant changes to the schedule, we will notify residents as soon as possible. All residents who ask to be kept informed will receive a text setting out revised arrangements.
If any residents wish to enhance their estate services at a local level, a review or enhancement of services can be requested at any time. We will consult with all residents in the local area and provide costs for alternative services. However, we require at least a 60% response from the local community for any changes to be agreed and we will only act on the views of the majority as any changes are likely to affect the service charges of all local residents. Changes that affect service charges will be implemented annually in line with the service charge reviews.
We will not agree to a service being withdrawn or reduced if it means any area will not meet our core standard. Similarly, if residents wish to take on responsibility for any aspect of the service, this must be done to our standard and we reserve the right to end this arrangement at any time.
Estate inspections
We carry out regular estate inspections to check that our estate services are meeting standards. See the schedule.
Inspections are carried out by Neighbourhood Officers, sometimes with Mount Green’s Estate Services Officers and representatives from our contractors.
During the inspections, the standard of the estate will be assessed by staff and residents using the Estate Inspection Monitoring Tool, which scores key aspects of our estate services using a 4-1 scale.
Following each inspection, all issues raised will be logged, with the name and contact details of the team member responsible and a plan and timescale for resolving the issue (within 15 working days).
We will confirm completion of the work with the residents who attended the inspection. If the issue is outside our control, this will be made clear, and we will offer all practical support to help resolve the issue – for example, raising the issue with local authorities.
We publish the results of our estate inspections annually in our Residents Annual Report.
How you can help us
We can monitor our estates and services much more effectively with your help. If you are interested in becoming a local Neighbourhood Rep, you can find out more about the role and get in touch with us to express interest.