AWhat kind of thing a unit is, and why the kind changes the work
The units this office operates are ordinary residential homes held by a housing association. What differs between them is not their size but how much of them is shared, because everything shared has to be reported on by somebody and that somebody is this office.
A street property has a front door onto the street and a boundary of its own. A flat in a converted house shares a hall, a stair and often a meter cupboard. A flat in a purpose-built block shares those and adds a door-entry panel, a bin store and lighting on the landings. The same tap drips in all three; the difference is how many of the records a dripping tap touches.
- Street property
- Own front door, own boundary, own meters. Access is a single appointment with one household, and the condition record covers the whole of what is let.
- Flat in a converted house
- A shared hall and stair, frequently a shared meter cupboard and a shared bin point. A fault in the hall belongs to no single tenancy, so it is recorded against the building.
- Flat in a purpose-built block
- Shared entrance with a door-entry panel, landing lighting, a bin store, drying area or bike store where provided, and a stair that is somebody’s route out.
BThe communal parts, which nobody reports and everybody uses
A fault inside a home gets reported by the household that lives with it. A failed light on a half-landing is seen by eight people who each assume somebody else has mentioned it, which is why communal parts are inspected on their own and written up against the building rather than a tenancy.
A communal report also changes who the office talks to. There is no single household to arrange access with, so the appointment is with the block: a notice on the entrance door with the date, and the officer present to let the operative in.
- Entrance and door entry
- The door closing and latching, the panel answering, the lock working from the inside without a key. Recorded against the building, with the block as the reference.
- Stairs and landings
- Lighting working, handrail firm, treads and nosings sound, nothing stored on the route out. Items left in a stair are recorded with the date they were seen.
- Bin store and bulk waste
- Bins present, store lockable, and anything left that the collection will not take. Bulk items are listed so the clearance order can name them.
- Paths, steps and grounds
- Surfaces, drainage at the door, boundary fencing and gates. Walked rather than viewed, because a trip hazard does not photograph.
CWhat the week actually consists of
Little of this work is dramatic. Most of a week is reports taken and written up, appointments arranged around when people are in, orders raised and chased, letters sent to confirm what was agreed on the phone, and a Monday morning spent turning the week’s log into one sheet. The tasks below recur, and each leaves a record.
- Keys
- Counted in and out, signed for both ways, held under the unit reference. A key not signed back is an open line until it is found.
- Meter readings
- Read at handback and at sign-up, written on the note at the cupboard rather than remembered to the office.
- Appointments
- Offered in writing with a date and a part of the day, confirmed in writing, and recorded whether or not they were kept.
- Chasing orders
- Open orders are read down the list every week, and an order with no movement gets a reason written against it rather than a second phone call nobody logged.
- Units out of use
- A void is visited while it is empty: secure, dry, water off where it should be, and the stage it has reached written down for the month end.
What each of these produces, and where it goes, is set out on Returns to the association.