Tuntum warns tenants to be wary of ‘claims farmers’ operating in the area. Their calls may be from unknown numbers or even local lines. These companies operate by cold calling, leaflets and social media to encourage tenants to pursue claims against their landlord for disrepair. These companies will claim to be calling from ‘The Housing Maintenance Department’, ‘Repairs Team’ or even ‘working on behalf of the Tuntum’. When asked, they will refuse to provide an authentic company name, and any call back number provided will be a false number. Tenants’ details are often sold to ‘no win, no fee’ solicitors. This personal information is likely to be sold at a

The Spring issue features information on our schemes, new developments, complaints, money-saving tips, how to get involved, win prizes and much more. You can read the Spring edition of our tenant’s newsletter here on our website.

ActionFraud, the national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, has reported that more than £50 million was lost last year to scams where victims are tricked into handing over control of their computer or smartphone to criminals. Information from ActionFraud’s website: What are remote access tool scams? Remote access tool scams will often begin with a browser pop-up saying that your computer is infected with a virus, or with a call from someone claiming to be from your bank saying that they need to connect to your computer in order to cancel a fraudulent transaction on your account. Criminals will try to persuade the victim to download and connect via

We’re sorry that a system error means that some tenants have received a text message over the weekend saying that their rent payment has not been made. We are rectifying the issue and we will contact any tenants by phone if there are issues, you don’t need to call the office.

In March, clients and staff held a birthday party at the Old Vicarage as it celebrated its first year of operating as a residential scheme for adults with mental health difficulties. The scheme provides supported accommodation, access to a range of education, training and employment opportunities and community health services to enable clients to take the next steps towards independent living. There are seven self-contained flats with a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living room. Each resident is allocated a support worker to offer emotional support, help with applying for benefits, and encourage service users to maximise their independence and achieve a better quality of life. They also receive support to

Ofcom, the regulator for the communications service that we use and rely on every day, recently published a news article that could see Tuntum’s tenants save thousands of pounds each year.  Extracts from Ofcom’s news article: Millions of families under pressure from the rising cost of living could each save £144 on their annual broadband bills. Special discounted broadband packages – sometimes known as social tariffs – are available to an estimated 4.2 million households in receipt of Univeral Credit. But only 55,000 homes have taken advantage of these discounted rates so far – just 1.2% of those eligible. That means that millions of benefits recipients are missing out on

Information from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities: If you are unhappy with the service you are receiving from your social housing provider, you can make a complaint. Your complaint could be about: ·         repairs and maintenance ·         issues with communal areas ·         health and safety issues ·         anti-social behaviour ·         customer service You should make your complaint to your social housing provider in the first instance. You shouldn’t be penalised for doing so and it will not affect your tenancy. Your social housing provider normally has at least two stages to their complaints procedure, and each stage takes around 10-20 working days for them to respond. Information

Are you a resident in Nottingham who claims Council Tax Support? If so, did you know that you can apply for a free £50 e-voucher? All you need to do is sign up and complete the application here, and the council will confirm if you qualify and send you the voucher. Once approved, the e-vouchers are sent straight to you by text message within three working days. The City Council has secured the e-vouchers through the Government’s Household Support Grant. In these difficult financial times of rising household costs, they want to make sure help is given to those who need it most.

We advise all tenants to have home content insurance in place and we recommend My Home Contents Insurance, as the National Housing Federation’s preferred supplier. They’ve put together this handout of guidance and advice on what to do if your home is affected by a storm, flood or winter weather. You can watch a video on the importance of having home content insurance by clicking here.

From the 1st of April the UK energy price cap to rise 54% to £1,971, which means that it will cost more to run your home. The energy regulator says that this will affect default tariff customers who haven’t switched to a fixed deal and those who remain with their new supplier after their previous supplier exited the market. The price cap increase was calculated by, the energy regulator, Ofgem based on the costs faced by suppliers. There is support out there to help you with the cost of energy in your home. We recognise that the past few years have been tough, and want to ensure that you have

The bumper Autumn/Winter issue features information on our Christmas opening hours, our annual reports to tenants, how we can support you through these difficult times, how to win prizes and get involved and much more. You can read the Autumn/Winter edition of our tenants newsletter here on our website.

We’ve been looking at our records, and we can see that we only have email addresses for 60% of our tenants, and less than 6% of tenants have signed up to the MyTenancy online portal. Once you have registered with the portal, you will have secure 24/7 access to pay your rent quickly, view your rent account, report a repair, track a reported repair and update your personal information.  Using email addresses to communicate means we can contact you quickly, we save money on print and postage and, it’s better for the environment. Therefore we’re offering an incentive to update your contact details by signing up to My Tenancy.  We

We have two free places available on an upcoming conference that we’d love for you to take part in. Live virtual event: The Residents’ Network annual conference 2021 – Repairing trust with residents Date: 02 December Time: 10:30 – 13:30 This will be an honest conversation about the state of the housing sector and what we can do to put things right. Combining positive case studies, practical advice and out of sector learning, conference sessions include: The role of regulation in raising standards and improving tenant satisfaction How to rebuild customer trust – what the experts say Learning lessons from beyond housing – how have other sectors repaired relationships with

Having launched in the spring, the Resident Voice Index is set to be the social housing sector’s most comprehensive and independent survey of resident satisfaction. It runs year-round, capturing and measuring working data about the lives of social housing residents and satisfaction with their housing. Regular results will be published with a series of indices, and rich data-led insight that will investigate the underlying social, emotional and economic factors that impact a resident’s experience of social housing and their housing provider. In time, this will create the most definitive, relevant and real-time snapshot of UK social housing residents. The second survey for the Resident Voice Index has now been launched.

Do you know a Tuntum tenant who’s struggling with their smartphone or computer? Or, are you resident who’s frustrated by technology? Get one-to-one support to build your digital skills. We now have a partnership with  Clicksilver Connections. If you, or someone you know, needs help with technology and is feeling isolated from connecting with others the ClickSilver Connections team are here to help. About the programme ClickSilver Connections provides trained business mentors to give you one to one support with your device to get, and make the most of being, online. ClickSilver Connections mentors provide support virtually so you will need a phone line. Weekly support is provided over 4

Last week we took part in the TPAS Net Zero Week hearing from experts in the sector about what they’re plans are to reduce carbon emissions. We’re working on our plans but are always interested to learn from others around the sector. It was great to see some residents asking questions about the technology available and learning what it’s like to live without a central heating boiler. It was interesting to learn about Air Source Heat Pumps and how they work, residents asked questions at the end of the session and you can see the FAQs here. We’d love to hear from you if you have an interest in green

The Housing Ombudsman Service has launched a consultation on their proposed corporate plan for 2022-25 and they are looking for the views of residents to make sure that their plan is set up to best serve you. The plan is set within the context of an unprecedented increase in the volume of casework and major change in the social housing sector. The Ombudsman have experienced significant increases in demand with a 139% increase in enquiries and complaints in the year to date compared with 2020-21, plus a 65% increase in cases for formal investigation. Externally, the implementation of the Social Housing White Paper and future policy changes to improve access

Next week is National Hate Crime Awareness Week.  Nottingham City Council’s Community Cohesion team have got lots of activities going on which anyone with an interest in the subject to join, details below. Launch session for Nottingham Hate Crime Awareness Week – Understanding and reporting hate crime -11th October 2021,  9.30am – 11.30am We will begin with portfolio holder Cllr Neghat Khan introducing the weeks activity. This will be followed by a hate crime awareness training session, hosted by police hate crime officer. In response to requests, the training will cover understating what a hate crime is, the reporting processes and why it’s important to report hate crimes and incidents.

Tuntum is a member of Tpas, the Tenant Participation Advisory Service. They are hosting a series of events next week that are open to both staff and residents for their #netzeroweek. Here’s what TPAS say about the week: Decarbonising our homes is one of the biggest challenges facing our sector. Following Tpas and PlaceShapers, Residents’ Voices In The UK’s Net Zero Carbon Journey report, it was clear we need to work in partnership with tenants on this journey. Our Net Zero Week moves us forward in this. The week will bring together some of the best and most innovative thinking along with organisations and people ready to share their experiences