Welcome to your July newsletter!

The Scores from behind your Doors

Well you have spoken, and we have the results of our Tenants’ Satisfaction Survey. and we hear you – and thank you for your candour, and above all your time. We are quietly pleased, but not complacent that you have endorsed our new approach, and we will carry on working as hard to improve your satisfaction and trust with us.

Measure	2025/26	2024/25	Change
Method	100% telephone	84 phone 10 online
TP01: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with the overall service from Chisel	57.10%	47%	10.1%
TP02: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with the overall repairs service from Chisel over the last 12 months	73.20%	53%	20.2%
TP03: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with the time taken to complete their most recent repair after they reported it	64.80%	65%	-0.2%
TP04: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied that Chisel provides a home that is well maintained	54.30%	48%	6.3%
TP05: Proportion of respondents who, when thinking about the condition of their property or the building they live in, report that they are satisfied that Chisel provides a home that is safe	71.60%	67%	4.6%
TP06: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with Chisel listening to their views and acting upon them	53.40%	40%	13.4%
TP07: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with Chisel keeping them informed about things that matter to them	66.70%	57%	9.7%
TP08: Proportion of respondents who report that they agree with the statement: “Chisel treats me fairly and with respect”	83.30%	68%	15.3%
TP09: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with Chisel’s approach to complaints handling	34.20%	17%	17.2%
TP10: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied Chisel keeps communal areas clean and well maintained	46.30%	38%	8.3%
TP11: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied Chisel make a positive contribution to their neighbourhood	50.80%	38%	12.8%
TP12: Proportion of respondents who report that they are satisfied with Chisel’s approach to handling anti-social behaviour	62.20%	15%	47.2%

Also, over half of residents surveyed said that they thought that our service was improving. We’ll be announcing the randomly drawn winners of the vouchers shortly as well.

CHISEL goes international

It was a great honour to be invited to present at the International Social Housing Festival last month, when it was held in Dublin. CHISEL Chair Louise Owen and CEO Miles Lanham presented a PowerPoint alongside CHISEL royalty, Jose Ospina, who started the whole self-build for social rent movement in Lewisham.

You can read the presentation on our website in the Self-Build Archive section. Both Jose and Louise found some great photographs to share

Asbestos

We’re inspecting properties across the year for asbestos, which as a housing association we are responsible for managing if it should be in our homes.

We’ll contact you by letter to carry out your inspection, if it’s needed, and please don’t worry if we do come an inspect – it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are at risk, or your home has asbestos, but just that we are double-checking. If you have any queries, please call Chanise.

020 8692 5258 (our main switchboard)

My tenancy

We’re excited that not only does My Tenancy have a whizzy new look, but the blockage that was stopping your rents updating has been addressed – so there will be no confusion about when you need to make your next rent payment.

Our Vision

The CHISEL Board approved our new and expanded vision, mission and values in February, and you’ll be learning more about them here each month.

A collaboration between the Board, the CHISEL Team of Colleagues and Stakeholders, we road-tested the document with Residents Associations, Contractors and even Jose Ospina the founder of CHISEL in 1986.

We also outline our commitments to growth, partnerships and supporting co-ops, with residents who are empowered and satisfied

Happy Pride Month!

We had a great time marching with HouseProud at London Pride, and as signatories to the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge and providing supported housing for LGBTQ+ people at risk of homelessness in Brighton, if you identify as L, G, B, T, Q we have your back and you have our support.

Next stop? Brighton Pride!

We want you to join the CHISEL Board!

The CHISEL Chair, Louise Owen (also a long-standing resident) says:

“We are looking for residents to join the CHISEL Board. it’s a great place to start if you would like training in how boards and committees work, but better still, it’s a chance to get involved and help support and steer CHISEL into the future” The Board meets 4-5 times a year, or you may like to join one of our committees.

Please email [email protected] and we’ll arrange for you to come in and have a chat with Louise

Your Fire Safety in Wood-Framed Housing

As the proud custodian of our unique self-build schemes, which are wooden framed homes built by residents themselves, we take fire safety very seriously.

We have commissioned ex-military Fireman Darren Young to undertake additional inspections of all our schemes (which housing associations usually don’t need to do if there are no enclosed communal areas) to make sure that we are carrying out best practice with their management. We’ll share these reports with each group of residents when they are finalised

In addition our Neighbourhood Managers carry out enhanced Estate Inspections every month, and I’m afraid that we’ve seen an increase in combustible items being stored adjacent to, or in one case underneath, the homes. Please can all residents ensure that these areas are kept completely free of combustible debris or personal items – if we have to remove items we will recharge individual households.

Chanise Steps up!

We said a fond farewell to Dean Salter earlier in July, who has gone to be a surveyor with our friends at Penge Churches Housing in Bromley.

This was a great opportunity to give Chanise a promotion and she will be training as a Surveyor whilst learning on the job, with the full support of our portfolio of specialist partners.

We’ve also welcomed a new contractor – based in South London (hooray) OPTIMAL who work for smaller Housing Associations across the area.

and finally – why not take a trip to our Archive?

Our webmaster Neil is still unpacking our Archive, and there’s been a fresh delivery of treasure including some unseen photos, plans, fliers, and all sorts. CHISEL is 40 years young next year, so we’ll be uploading as much as we can until then!

The CHISEL self-build archive – CHISEL Housing

See you all soon,

Miles