The starting point for enabling your residents to scrutinise your repairs and maintenance service is to adapt the Together with Tenants charter. Together with Tenants is a sector-wide initiative focused on strengthening the relationship between residents and landlords. Adoptees of the charter are expected to:

• Establish meaningful resident engagement in decision making
• Work collaboratively with residents to design mechanisms for oversight
• Support residents to hold your organisation to account
• Be open to the challenges that all of this brings.

They are also expected to adhere to the following commitments in their work with residents:

1. Relationships: Housing associations will treat all residents with respect in all of their interactions. Relationships between residents and housing associations will be based on openness, honesty and transparency.
2. Communication: Residents will receive clear, accessible and timely information from their housing association on the issues that matter to them, including important information about their homes and local community, how the organisation is working to address problems, how the organisation is run, and information about performance on key issues.
3. Voice and influence: Housing associations will seek and value the views of residents and will use this information to inform decisions. Every individual resident will feel listened to by their housing association on the issues that matter to them and can speak without fear.
4. Accountability: Collectively, residents will work in partnership with their housing association to independently scrutinise and hold their housing association to account for the decisions that affect the quality of their homes and services.
5. Quality: Residents can expect their homes to be good quality, well maintained, safe and well managed.
6. When things go wrong: Residents will have simple and accessible routes for raising issues, making complaints and seeking redress. Residents will receive timely advice and support when things go wrong.
7. Equality, diversity and inclusion: Housing associations will be inclusive organisations which seek views from all groups. Approaches to resident involvement will be inclusive by engaging with residents from a range of backgrounds and experiences. Consultations with residents will include outreach to underrepresented communities, including through targeted communications.

In our research on repairs and maintenance, all these commitments have emerged as critically important. They are the backbone of how you should work in partnership with your residents.

Consequently, as you are looking to implement the 12 guiding principles developed by the Rethinking Repairs and Maintenance project, the commitments outlined in the Together with Tenants charter must be the thread that undergirds all of your engagement with residents on repairs and maintenance services.