Housing news: information for our tenants and leaseholders

As the largest landlord in the borough, we remain committed to making improvements to our services and how we deliver them and ensuring your homes are safe and the best possible standard.

As tenants and leaseholders you will play a key role in helping us achieve this and last month we consulted on our new draft Landlord Strategy which sets out a four-year vision of improvement. We are now reviewing the consultation responses before the final version is published. 

Residents have also taken part in our 'developing housing service standards' sessions. Your feedback has been vital and there will be plenty more opportunities to get involved throughout the year. 

I recently visited our Harlington Road depot to meet the team responsible for carrying out the repairs and the maintenance of homes. Each week, the team receives more than 700 requests on average and completes upwards of 3,000 jobs a month. It was a fantastic opportunity to see how repairs are carried out and hear about residents experiences to explore where improvements can be made in the future. It’s also a reminder to familiarise yourself with what the council is responsible for and why detailed reports help the team to respond effectively.  

As part of our commitment to creating new homes to meet rapidly increasing demand and improving our current homes, the council's budget for 2025/26, set out a four-year programme of investment, which includes £514 million in stock improvements and extra housing stock. Improvements to homes will be supported by the information collected as part of the last boroughwide stock condition survey. We will write to you when improvement works are planned for your home to make the arrangements.   

Finally, please keep sharing this e-newsletter with your friends and family and encourage them to sign up.  

Cllr Steve Tuckwell  

Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing and Growth

Following a consultation with residents, our Social Housing Allocation Policy has changed to address the growing demand for housing and ensure the way we prioritise applications is clearer.  

The changes mean households with long-term links to the borough and our most vulnerable residents will be prioritised and more overcrowded households will be able to bid for properties below their assessed need. 

The updated policy implements several changes which could impact how we assess your housing register application.  

This includes priority bands changing from A to D to 1 to 14.  

New priority bands will be automatically applied, and you will need to continue to bid for properties on Locata.

Demand for housing support across London has outgrown the supply of social homes. 

In Hillingdon, we receive upwards of 100 new homelessness applications each week and already have more than 3,500 applicants on our housing register.  

Many who join the housing register could wait years to be allocated a property and, in some cases, they could wait more than 10 years. 

Last year, we launched a campaign to help residents take control of their own housing situation and explore alternative accommodation, including the private rented sector. 

Find an affordable private rented property or access a range of support. 

We are committed to keeping residents safe and tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and those who engage in it.  

ASB is any act that causes, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to one or more persons not of the same household and covers a range of issues, including intimidation, persistent noise and rowdy behaviour, vandalism and graffiti and using a property for criminal or immoral purposes. 

One of the actions we have taken to tackle ASB is through obtaining full or partial closure orders which prevent unauthorised persons entering a property or communal area.  

In December, we obtained partial closure orders of the communal areas at Sutcliffe House and Harding House in Hayes for the first time.     

Due to the success of those orders, a further three were obtained in February at Fairlie House and The Gouldings in Uxbridge and Skeffington Court in Hayes. 

Alongside this, in 2024/25 we evicted eight households for engaging in serious ASB and criminal activity.    

If you experience or witness ASB it’s important to report it to the council or police. To receive crime updates, prevention advice and local news join the Hillingdon Neighbourhood Watch network.   

The Safer Hillingdon Partnership is currently asking residents to share their experiences and concerns about crime, disorder, and ASB in the borough. Responses will be used to identify future priorities to tackle the issues and further improve resident safety. Complete the two-part survey before Sunday 6 April. 

There are simple steps you can take to keep yourself and your neighbours safe from fires:  

• Communal areas must be kept clear to allow for evacuation. This includes not leaving pushchairs, shoe racks, plant pots, bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters and rubbish outside your home. These can act as combustible material and fuel a fire.   
• E-bikes and e-scooters are a growing risk across London. It’s important to charge them correctly and spot the signs of a damaged or faulty battery. Read the London Fire Brigade (LFB) tips for correctly storing and charging e-bikes and e-scooters. 
• Test your smoke alarms every week. 
• Provide council staff and contractors access to your property to conduct vital fire door safety checks.
• If you live in one of our high rise blocks, you can sign up for one of our Stay Safe at Home sessions. We have a range of in-person and virtual sessions designed to help boost your safety at home. Book your place. 
• If you’re a landlord, LFB has a range of resources available on your responsibilities and how to support your tenants.

Managing household bills can be challenging, especially as some will increase at this time of year putting additional strain on finances.  

Rent must always be a priority, but if you are struggling there are things you can do before it’s too late and you risk going into arrears.   

You could be entitled to a range of support or guidance that will assist you financially.

If you're living in a property with more rooms than your household needs, the council can help you downsize to a smaller home.   

Whether you can no longer manage your home or afford unoccupied bedrooms, or just want to move to smaller accommodation, there are a variety of options available and financial incentive packages for eligible tenants, which can help with the costs of moving.

We are looking for more residents to get involved and help shape the services we deliver for tenants, including the information we provide in future emails. 

We realise that sometimes things can go wrong. If they do, we want to hear from you so that we can put them right and learn from what has happened. You will not be treated less favourably if you decide to complain, and your complaint will be dealt with in confidence.