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Hello. I hope everyone has had a great summer.
The Housing Team has been very busy over the last few months and it was good to see them at the Council's Big Day Out in July. I do hope you saw them as well, claimed your tea towel and joined our new WhatsApp community to stay up to date with the latest goings on.
I would also like to thank to everyone who took the time to complete the Tenant Satisfaction Measures Survey. This is an essential exercise and helps shape what we do in the future to make our services even more effective. We will be feeding back what those improvements are as soon as possible.
One issue we have been made aware of is the difficulty some are having accessing information or receiving message from the Housing Service Portal. We are speaking with the portal provider and this issue should be resolved soon. However, the Engagement Team is now also planning to run some informal sessions to help anyone who is not sure how use the portal.
Please remember that the Housing Service team are here to support you, and they are continually trying to find ways to make what they do to help you more effective. You can always contact your Housing Officer if you ever need any advice or support.
Lastly, following the successful launch of the Good Neighbour Award Scheme, created to recognise those who help others in their community, nominations are now being accepted for next set of awards.
Please look after yourselves and keep in touch.
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Dartford Larder - here to help with food, debt and more
Dartford Larder, a new social supermarket designed to provide an alternative to Foodbanks, has officially opened in Dartford.
 Based in Copperfields Walk, Dartford Larder aims to:
- Provide an affordable shopping experience,
- Tackle food insecurity;
- and resolve food waste to create a stronger, connected community.
Supported by Dartford Borough Council with additional funding from Big Local, the UK Government Household Support Fund, with donations of equipment and services from Dartford’s Business Community, Dartford Larder is a partnership between Dartford Borough Council, Crossways Community Church, and Healthy Living Centre.
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As shoppers enter the Larder, they are greeted by a friendly member of the Dartford Larder team on reception, who will either help them sign in or create a new membership if it’s their first time. There is a selection of groceries and cupboard essentials to choose from, and all for the low cost of £4.50.
In addition to grocery shopping, the Dartford Larder will host external agencies to provide advice and support, such as budgeting, debt, benefits, health and wellbeing, and housing to name a few. The Healthy Living Centre will also assist in running a Dartford Kitchen, Dartford Allotment, along with cooking and nutrition classes.
A Dartford Borough Council spokesperson said: “Our mission is to provide a sustainable and affordable source of nutritious food that supports individuals and families to move beyond emergency food aid. By offering choice and wraparound support in a welcoming community setting, we hope that the Dartford Larder will help to reduce reliance on food banks and create a pathway toward long-term food security and wellbeing.”
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Bringing your kitchens and bathrooms up to date
Many of our properties are now 20 to 30 years old, and rather than the sticking plaster of repairing issues as they come up, we think it’s best to carry out a full renewal where a kitchen or bathroom is beyond repair.
So far, we’ve worked on kitchens and bathrooms in 30 properties, turning them into modern, energy efficient and practical designs that meet today’s standards and improve quality of life for tenants.
If you haven’t yet been scheduled or have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Housing Team.
So what's next?
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The resident liaison officer is available for you to contact with any questions you may have. they can also provide aid and support with scheduling or any access requirements.
Only the best quality
Each installation undergoes a final inspection to ensure high standards of workmanship and your satisfaction.
We want to thank all of the residents involved for their continued support and cooperation throughout this work.
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Improved cash incentive to downsize your home
Is your current home too big for you? You could get money to move to a smaller home.
The Downsize for Cash Scheme helps Dartford Borough Council tenants who are under-occupying their property, to move to a smaller home if they wish to, and in turn, help families find a home with all the space that they need.
We’ve increased the payments available to downsizers. You may now be eligible to receive up to £5,700 for moving to a smaller home.
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New policy helps us support you living independently
We’re pleased to announce the introduction of our new Aids and Adaptations (A&A) Policy. You can view this policy online at dartford.gov.uk. This policy represents our ongoing commitment to ensuring council tenants can live safely, comfortably, and independently in their homes - regardless of their age, disability, or long-term health conditions.
The A&A Policy sets out how we assess and deliver requests to help tenants manage living at home. This includes both minor and major adaptations, such as grab rails, stairlifts, or accessible bathroom facilities.
If You’re Struggling, We’re Here to Help
If you’re finding it hard to cope at home, or know someone who is, tell us.
How to Apply or Make a Referral
Applications for adaptations can be made by tenants or their representatives. If needed, we can refer you directly to an Occupational Therapist, who will assess your needs and make recommendations for changes to your home.
To begin the process or find out more:
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Speak to your Housing Officer
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By telephone: 01322 343800
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Get Housing updates straight to your phone
We've launched a WhatsApp channel to keep you up to date with important documents, news and events.
Privacy Notice: All messages in this group are closed to maintain privacy.
Personal information is accessible to admins only.
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Join this Facebook group that's just for you
We've introduced a new Facebook group for tenants and leaseholders across Dartford to join so they can receive updates direct to their news feeds.
The group is designed for you to raise issues, hear the latest from Dartford Borough Council and improve our service.
You can join it via the link below.
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Update on emergency repairs
Earlier this year, we let you know that our contractor, Breyer Group, had entered financial administration. This meant they could no longer carry out day-to-day repairs, work on empty properties (voids), or planned maintenance.
To make sure urgent repairs continued without disruption, TSG Building Services Plc stepped in as a temporary contractor to handle emergency and urgent repairs.
In June 2025, TSG was officially appointed to deliver all reactive repairs, voids, and planned works on an interim basis until June 2026.
We’re now working on selecting a long-term contractor through a formal procurement process. Representatives from the Tenant and Leaseholder Forum, along with Council staff, will review the bids and recommend a preferred contractor to Cabinet. Leaseholders are already being consulted as part of this process.
We’ll keep you updated as things progress and remain committed to ensuring your homes are well maintained.
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 December 2024
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 July 2025
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Making a difference on Wilmington High Road
Last year we hired Les Cadwallader as the Grounds Maintenance Operative for the Tenancy Services team. Since then, he has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience of all things green to the team.
Les works independently of, and in addition to, the existing scheduled grounds maintenance contractor, and is responsible for improving the standard of communal areas within estates.
This includes weed removal, shrub pruning, leaf clearance, cutting back overgrown vegetation, removal of invasive vegetation and generally making communal areas a nicer place to be. Take a look at his work on Wilmington High Road last year for instance!
Over 65? We'll cover the labour costs of decorating
If you’re over 65 or physically disabled and living alone, we have a decoration scheme that can help you get one room in your home redecorated every five years.
You provide the materials for decorating, and we cover the labour costs. This applies for the main bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and hallway.
You can apply by contacting the Council’s Repairs Team. Please bear in mind that we have limited spaces each year so there may be a waiting period.
You said, we did
Tony Quilter, our Customer Engagement Officer, conducts weekly inspections every Wednesday alongside the management team at Atlas, our cleaning contractors, to inspect the communal cleaning and grounds maintenance of our properties.
Following further feedback on our inspections, we understand that you would like us to ensure we are visible when we conduct our inspections, and following on from your feedback, our Customer Engagement Officer, will now be wearing a high vis jacket on all future inspections.
Estate inspection schedules will be sent out every Tuesday via our WhatsApp channel, so please join our WhatsApp group and look out for this if you would like to join us.
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Want to carry out improvements yourself?
You'll need to seek permission from us before making alterations to your property.
Tenants and leaseholders are required to complete an ‘Alteration Request Form’ and submit it to Dartford Borough Council for approval prior to commencing structural and/or cosmetic works. This includes:
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Installation of camera or a ring doorbell
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Electric vehicle charging point installations
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Alterations to bathroom or kitchen
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Hardstanding for a driveway
Failure to obtain permission could result in you being required to rectify the changes or return the property to its original condition.
Not sure if you need to complete a form? Your Housing Officer can help.
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Special guest appearance at Dartford's Big Day Out
Dartford’s Big Day Out provided two days of incredible entertainment in July. With something for everyone, the event featured a variety of performances and activities, bringing live music, vintage steam engines and more to Central Park.
For the first time since the event launched, Housing Services had our own stand. This was a chance to introduce ourselves, give you the opportunity to ask us any questions and learn more about the services we provide.
It was great to hear from you. Your feedback and the experience we gained will help us build on its success, offering even more and encouraging greater resident engagement next year.
Recognise your local unsung heroes
Even a small act of kindness can have a huge impact.
We like to recognise the people who go the extra mile to help their neighbours. So throughout the year, we present tenants who've made a positive difference to their community with a Good Neighbour Thank You card.
Some examples of previous winners are:
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Helping a neighbour with daily tasks like carrying their shopping, collecting prescriptions, walking a dog, gardening, putting out the bins, filling in forms.
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Checking in on a neighbour who may be experiencing loneliness and isolation.
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Being a friendly face around the neighbourhood who brightens up people's day.
- Organising community events to bring people together.
- Charity work that has directly benefited the community.
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Generally being a 'good tenant', such as keeping their home and garden to exceptional standard, maintaining communal areas, and working with us on developing policies and procedures.
If you know a DBC tenant who deserves recognition email housing engagement below.
Tell us who you are, who you’re nominating and why - up to a maximum of 100 words.
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Funding available to help bring communities together
The Community Grant offers up to £250 to fund activities that will encourage residents to get involved in local initiatives. This can include training, improvements to land and buildings, purchase equipment for community groups and organise trips and events to help bring families and communities closer.
The grant cannot be used for religious or political activity, or to fund ongoing projects.
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Check for ID before letting someone into your home
Cold callers are pretending to be council officers to gain access to people’s homes.
We haven't had reports of these people operating in Dartford, but other councils have informed us that these individuals. They claim to be carrying out property inspections or check for repairs. However, once inside, they may attempt to persuade residents to sign up for “no win, no fee” legal claims against their landlord.
While the callers may present themselves as helpful, in reality, these legal claims rarely go to court. Instead, tenants can be left facing unexpected costs hidden in the small print, despite being reassured that the claims are risk-free.
Other cold callers can knock on your door offering to do work on your house, only to charge huge fees further down the line.
If you’re concerned about cold caller, please contact us. You can always get in touch to a report a problem.
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Always check ID: Genuine housing officers or contractors will carry identification. If you’re unsure, do not let them in.
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Do not feel pressured: You are under no obligation to sign paperwork or agree to anything on the spot.
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Report suspicious activity: If someone claims to be an official but you have doubts, contact your landlord or housing provider directly.
Remember: It’s your home and your choice who you let in. Staying cautious could protect you from unwanted stress and financial risk.
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New bin area posters
We're putting out new signage in communal bin areas to let everyone know what items they can leave out.
We do not offer a free collection service and unsuitable waste will not be tolerated within bin areas on estates.
Hopefully the poster to the right will help get the message across to the majority of residents, but we will follow up on incidents where the rules are ignored. Read on to see how we work with other Council colleagues to ensure that we protect communal spaces and prosecute fly-tippers.
We'll also put the poster on notice boards.
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Our bin stores are for household waste only
One of our tenants in Craylands Square, Swanscombe has been hit with a £500 fixed penalty notice for dumping unsightly bulky waste items within the local bin store.
The Housing Management team worked closely with colleagues in the Waste & Enforcement Services department to gather evidence of the fly-tipping and identify the tenant responsible. The same individual was also served with a Community Protection Warning (Antisocial Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act) which is the first stage of legal action that could result in prosecution and loss of tenancy.
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Help us protect our community
It’s in your interest to report antisocial behaviour, nuisance, tenancy breaches, subletting and fraud to us. We’ll always investigate and find a suitable solution.
Most of the reports we deal with aren’t serious crime, but day-to-day issues that affect how our neighbourhoods look and feel. The good news is that we sort most of them quickly, without ever needing to go to court, but we still need your support.
Consenting to share evidence helps reduce the risk of malicious or false allegations, it helps us with our investigations, and in the unlikely event that a case does go to court, your evidence will help proceedings.
It’s important to know that over 95% of cases are resolved at an early stage without any court action being needed. The majority of reports we receive are about everyday issues such as the misuse of communal spaces, rubbish, and overgrown gardens. These are usually dealt with quickly and informally, with the aim of stopping problems before they escalate.
If you’re unsure about what giving consent means, or how your information will be used, please speak to our Housing team – we’re here to explain the process and support you every step of the way.
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Cracking down on nuisance vehicles
Have you spotted one of these bright yellow warning notices on a vehicle in Dartford?
There are rules in place to keep our streets and estates safe, accessible and pleasant for everyone who either lives there or visits.
In 2022 we introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order that banned street racing, car meet ups and similar activities right across the borough. We also installed AI cameras to identify offenders and issue them with fixed penalty notices.
But it isn’t just so-called ‘boy racers’ that cause issues.
Parking Rules to Remember
We’d like to remind residents that:
• Parking on amenity land or Dartford Borough Council land is not allowed.
• Parking on estates without permission breaks your tenancy or lease agreement.
Everyone has a part to play in making Dartford safer. If you see vehicles causing problems, parked where they shouldn’t be, or involved in antisocial behaviour, please let us know. The more we know, the more we can do.
By working together, we can reduce vehicle crime and nuisance, and make our communities cleaner, safer, and stronger.
Ignoring these rules could lead to enforcement action, including fines or even removal of the vehicle.
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We want to hear from you
Your views matter to us. They help shape the way we deliver housing services and ensure the decisions we make create the service you deserve.
At the moment, our Dartford Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum plays a key role in holding us to account and being a collective voice for residents. However, we know not everyone can get involved in this way, and we want to make sure every resident has the chance to have their say.
That’s why we’re exploring new ways for residents to get involved and share their views. To do this properly, it’s important that we also understand the different needs and experiences of our residents.
As part of the short survey (just a couple of minutes to complete), there are some equality and diversity questions. By answering these, you’ll be helping us identify and remove barriers to engagement, tailor our communications, and make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to be heard.
Your feedback is vital. Please take a moment to fill in the survey and let us know how you would like to be involved in the future.
Keep telling us how we’re doing
In our 2024-2025 TSM survey, 55.7% of respondents with communal areas reported that they are satisfied that Dartford Borough Council keeps communal areas clean and well maintained. Whilst this score was up 3.2%, we recognise that this falls short of the service standards we strive to achieve.
Your feedback is invaluable and helps us to ensure that we continue to improve and provide the level of service you expect from us, and following on from these results, we introduced weekly estate inspections.
Performance Measures
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September 2025/2026
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Rent collected by the local authority as a proportion of rents owned
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96.19%
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Average time taken to re-let local authority housing (days
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41.25 days
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Percentage of emergency repairs completed on time
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100% (Q1 2025/26)
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New policies and strategies
We published three policies in May following a round of consultations that invited your views on them. The policies are:
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A revised Anti-Social Behaviour and Hate Incident Policy, which sets out our approach towards tackling anti-social behaviour and hate incidents.
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A revised Running a Business from Home Policy, which sets out our approach to allowing businesses to be run in Council tenanted and leasehold properties.
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A new Housing Policy on the Maintenance of Trees, Hedges and Shrubs, which sets out our approach to managing trees, hedges and shrubs within our housing grounds.
More recently, we’ve carried out consultations on the following policies and strategy:
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Housing Allocations Policy, which sets out how we prioritise housing applications for housing owned by us and our housing association partners.
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Water Safety Management Plan and Policy, which sets out the measures we take to manage the risks of Legionella bacteria.
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Housing Strategy 2025-2028, which sets out how we intend to deliver our service to you over the next three years.
Thank you for your comments and feeback on these consultations, we’ve considered all of them and made changes where appropriate. These will be presented to our Cabinet for approval, and will be published by the end of September.
Tenancy Agreement consultation
In the last edition of The Link, we let you know about the Tenancy Agreement consultation, which took place in April and May. We wanted to hear from you about changes to the terms and conditions of your Tenancy Agreement. During the consultation we also asked for views on a new tenancy support pack which contains further information to support you in your tenancy.
A second consultation took place after this as part of the Preliminary Notice of Variation stage and ended in July. This also informed all tenants via a letter that we are varying the conditions of all tenancies.
Once formal approval of the new Tenancy Agreement has been received by our Cabinet in September, all tenants will be served with a formal Notice of Variation (under Section 103 of the Housing Act 1985) later this year. This will include a copy of the new Tenancy Agreement and will notify all tenants of the date on which the changes will become effective.
Please contact your Housing Officer if you have any questions about these changes.
Have your say on future consultations
Thank you to everyone who took the time to contact us on any of our recent consultations. We really do value your views as your feedback can really help shape and influence what we do.
We’ll always invite you to have your say on our housing policies and strategies when we review them, or when we develop new ones. Consultations usually run for four to six weeks and all details will be available on our website. We may also send you a text or email to let you know about any policy or strategy consultations which are happening.
We can also produce hard copies of any consultation information on request.
 Got a complaint about our service?
If we get things wrong, we want to make them right and learn from our mistakes.
How to complain
If you’re not satisfied with the service you’ve received from us, we want you to tell us what happened so we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Visit our complaints page to make a complaint and understand the process. This page also explains how to seek advice from the Housing Ombudsman.
Every year we carry out a self-assessment against the Ombudsman's Complaints Handling Code to see how we’re performing as a landlord. View the self-assessment.
View the latest Housing complaints figures.
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The Dartford Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Forum exists to ensure that the services delivered by Dartford Borough Council are accessible to all.
They work as a group to make sure tenants' views and needs are placed at the centre of DBC's housing services delivery. They work in partnership with other forums and groups within the Dartford to address
You can contact the forum, or come along to a forum meeting. There are a couple of spaces on the Committee so if you are looking for a new role within your community please get in touch.
Upcoming public meetings:
- Wednesday, October 15 - Temple Hill Community Centre, Temple Hill Square, Dartford, DA1 5HY
Doors are at 6.30pm for light refreshments. The meeting starts at 7pm and ends at 9pm.
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Digital Inclusion Sessions
We’re planning to host a range of sessions across various locations in Dartford to help tenants and leaseholders get online and feel confident using our digital services. These sessions aim to ensure no one is excluded from engaging with us due to a lack of digital knowledge or experience.
Community Champions
Our Community Champions are the go-to people for all things related to their community. They provide us with regular feedback on things like cleaning, grounds maintenance and communal repairs.
They also help us spread the word about surveys, local events and update our noticeboards. Community Champions decide the area they cover, from a block to a street, to a whole estate.
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