Strategic engagement 

In April, your Homeownership Panel met to discuss key issues for homeowners, including estate services, service charges, communication and how Peabody measures resident satisfaction.    

The meeting was chaired by residents and attended by senior colleagues, so residents could raise concerns directly and hear what’s being done.    

Here’s what we discussed and what happens next:  

Estate services    

Panel members spoke up about their experiences on estates. This included concerns about:  

• Missed cleaning and gardening standards  
• Ongoing fly‑tipping  
• Contractors turning up without letting residents know or clear information  
• Repeat repairs for the same issues, especially where this increases service charges  

Residents also asked how inspections are carried out, why scores for estate cleaning can appear positive when there are still obvious issues and why information on some noticeboards (such as cleaning schedules or contacts) is often missing or out of date.    

We discussed that inspection data and satisfaction scores don’t always reflect residents’ day‑to‑day experience and that accountability can be lost between teams. Senior colleagues explained that work is underway through the Better Neighbourhoods programme to improve consistency, clarity and follow‑through.  

Residents also shared examples where raising issues persistently has led to improvements, showing the importance of resident involvement in driving change.  

Service charges    

The panel discussed service charges in detail. Residents discussed concerns about:  

• Final service charge accounts not being issued in the past two years 
• Difficulty understanding specific charges, such as fire safety, lifts and caretaking 
• The impact on costs of contractors being called out multiple times for repairs 
• The financial impact on residents receiving two years of service charges at once 

Colleagues confirmed that final accounts are currently planned for September. We’re working on clearer explanations of high‑cost items and we’re exploring payment options to support residents when final figures are shared.      

Measuring satisfaction    

The panel discussed how homeowner satisfaction is currently measured. While some improvements have been seen, residents questioned whether surveys alone reflect what’s happening on specific estates, especially where response rates are low or issues are ongoing.  

Satisfaction data should be looked at alongside complaints, service requests, inspection results and resident feedback, so issues are identified earlier and more accurately. Panel members will be sharing suggestions on what else should be measured in future.  

Website information  

Residents welcomed improvements to the service charge section of the website, including making it easier to use and removal of hard‑to‑use PDFs. However, some information can still be difficult to find or understand. We’re planning more improvements to make information clearer and easier to use, especially ahead of final billing.  

What happens next  

The Homeownership Panel will meet again in July to focus on communication about communal repairs.    

If you’d like to know more about the panel or get involved in future opportunities, please sign up to Peabody Voice. 

The newly recruited Scrutiny Bank recently met to review a range of information, including resident feedback, Tenant Satisfaction Measures, short surveys sent after services, such as repairs or cleaning and complaint trends. After discussing what matters most to residents, the group agreed that repairs should be their first priority.  

Over the coming months, Scrutiny Bank members will work alongside our Resident Engagement, Resident Experience and Repairs teams to understand the full repairs journey, from reporting a repair to completion. The aim is to pinpoint the key issues residents experience and use this to improve the service.