Neighbourhood Caretakers

If you live in a property with an area you share with other residents, you will receive a regular Neighbourhood Caretaking Team visit. You can check when your next scheduled visit is here (link to schedule)

The Neighbourhood Caretaker Team’s responsibilities include:

• cleaning communal areas in and around flats and maisonettes
• checking and reporting issues, such as issues with rubbish and recycling
• carrying out health and safety inspections inline with relevant legislation, such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
• removing hazardous items from stairwells and landing, such as bicycles, prams, and furniture inline with our Keeping Communal Areas Safe Policy and Procedures
• testing communal lighting (block communal lighting and where applicable emergency lighting) and fire alarms
• removing rubbish and reporting health hazards, such as syringes
• reporting abandoned or untaxed vehicles
• reporting communal repairs and following up until completion
• working with our Housing Officers and residents to reduce and tackle anti-social behaviour
• arranging the removal of graffiti: if graffiti is deemed offensive, it will be removed within 24 hours of being reported
• developing the service to make sure we are meeting the needs of all our tenants - we welcome views and suggestions on how we can improve.

Find out more information on our communal area policy and procedures or report an issue in your communal area.

To contact us regarding this service, please email Caretaker.Team@eastsuffolk.gov.uk or contact our Customer Service team.

Your Neighbourhood Caretaking service survey

As a landlord, East Suffolk Council has a responsibility to ensure that all its properties are clean, safe, and well-maintained places to live. This is in line with the Consumer Standards outlined in the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2024. This is particularly important for blocks of flats or estates where there are communal areas.

Some of our properties have benefited from a caretaker service for several years and this has proved popular with tenants and has helped to maintain safe, clean places for people to live.

In April 2025 we expanded the Neighbourhood Caretaker Service to all housing blocks with a communal area.

Our Neighbourhood Caretaking survey will ask for your feedback on the service you receive. This will help to shape the service going forwards.

If you are unable to complete the survey online, please contact our Customer Contact team on 0333 016 2000 who will complete the survey for you.