Zebra Postgraduate Student Accommodation
Incorporates guidance from:
- • Together with tenants (NHF)
- • Code of Governance
- • Housing White Paper
Zebra is very different from social housing landlords for which the above were primarily written. Our residents are not permanent occupants and they have choice in terms of their landlord, type of accommodation and location. They are very focussed on their studying and are already empowered through their education. So we tailor our strategy and policy with that in mind.
From our Code of Governance
1.2 Resident focus: the needs and safety of the organisation’s current and future residents and other customers are placed at the heart of the board’s decision-making.
- (1 ) There are policies, frameworks and opportunities which enable, encourage and support residents and other customers to engage with, influence and contribute to strategic decision-making.
- (2 )The board has access to insight into the views and needs of the organisation’s residents and other customers (including insight into their concerns and complaints) and uses this to inform decisions where appropriate.1
- (3 ) There are policies in place which reflect that the safety of residents and other customers (as well as that of the workforce2 and the wider public) is an overriding priority, and the board regularly seeks assurance on their operation.
The organisation regularly reports to its residents on how its commitments to resident focus have been delivered.
Inclusion and Communication
- • Newsletter and Zebra news
- • House Meetings (at least twice, per residence, per year)
- • Residents’ soundboard – A facility to invite opinion and suggestions from residents electronically.
- • Warden meetings – Twice yearly warden meetings. An opportunity to share experience, look at procedures and feed back to the Association.
- • Regular surveys and feedback – consultation on major housing management issues, where appropriate.
- • Bi-annual opinion survey – The next survey will be carried out in Spring 2022.
- • Annual Garden Party – An opportunity for all residents, staff and Board members to social and network in a social setting.
- • Ex residents on the Board – Bringing to bear the experience of having lived in our residences.
Reporting
- • Annual report to Board – What residents have said to us, what they like, what improvements they feel we could make.
- • Annual Residents report on Website
REPAIRS
A “right to repair scheme” exists to allow housing association tenants to get certain repairs completed quickly and easily when their landlord fails to do so. The scheme has set time limits for certain types of repair, which associations must stick to. If the contractors the housing association uses don’t do the work in that time, you can ask them to hire someone else. If the repairs still aren’t done, you can claim compensation.
The scheme only covers certain repairs, known as ‘qualifying repairs’, which cost less than £250 to carry out.
If you believe we have failed to carry out a repair and you want to use the “right to repair” scheme let us know, and we will give you all the information you need. We will also try to resolve the matter to your satisfaction without the need for you to have to take these steps.
PRIVACY
We collect information from you, such as details you pass on to us when you make an application for housing, sign-up for your tenancy, complete your direct debit mandate, book a repair, join one of our forums or services or participate in our social programme.
The personal information we collect from you is used to provide annonymised information, to our board and regulator and for administration purposes. We also use this information to further our charitable aims, including campaigning and fundraising activities.
We may need to share your information with our service providers, associated organisations and agents for these purposes. We do not disclose personal information for direct marketing purposes. We may need to disclose your information if required to do so by law.end_of_the_skype_highlighting
We only collect the financial information that you knowingly supply when making a payment or setting up a mandate. This information is stored securely and never passed to any other individual or organisation.
Zebra works strenuously to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, which sets rules for processing personal information and applies to paper records, as well as those held on computers. In particular we ensure that information is:
- Fairly and lawfully processed
- Processed for limited purposes, and not for any manner incompatible with those purposes
- Adequate, relevant and not excessive
- Accurate
- Not kept for longer than is necessary
- Processed in line with the data subject’s rights
- Secure
- Not transferred to countries without adequate data protection
We retain some items of information for longer than others and some information about residents (name, date of birth, gender, and nationality) is to be kept indefinitely.
Our residents have the right to access personal data relating to them which is held by Zebra. This applies to data held electronically, and also manual records that are in a relevant filing system. If you want to exercise this right you should make the request in writing to our Financial Controller, who is our Data Protection Officer. Zebra will only release information upon receipt of a formal written request, along with proof of identity. The requested information will be provided within 10 days of receipt of the completed form, unless there is sufficient reason for delay.