At A2, we believe that the quality of the area where you live is just as important as the home you live in. For this reason we are committed to making our schemes and estates places where you are proud and happy to live.

Our grounds maintenance and estate service covers the following areas:

Cleaning

Including:

• Litter picking
• Sweeping & mopping shared areas
• Changing light bulbs in shared areas
• Communal areas (both internal and external) within the boundaries of each of A2's housing estates / schemes - click HERE for specification covering all cleaning and housekeeping tasks.

Gardening

Including:

• Grass cutting and edging grassed areas
• Shrub maintenance
• Weed control
• Hedge and tree maintenance

Car removal

• If a car has been abandoned

Tree surgery

Including:

• Regular safety surveys
• Trimming and pruning tress

Bulk rubbish removal

You are responsible for the following:

• The disposal of furniture or white goods - the local authority will collect these items by arrangement but will not clear them if they are left in bin area
• If you have your own self contained garden you are responsible for the maintenance of this including responsibility for any trees in the garden.

Best Value Review

The service is currently undergoing a best value review. A best value review is a way of examining a particular service to see how it can be improved in the most cost effective way. Different methods are used and these can include:

• Asking you questions to get your opinions; and
• Comparing the service to other companies to see what we can learn from them

Work is well underway and new contracts for caretaking and grounds maintenance are due to be negotiated, intended to cover all areas of our business.

Watch this space for news.

Managing agents

Some of our estates and schemes are managed for us by managing agents. These managing agents are responsibile for arranging and running the services described above. If you live in one of these schemes, we will tell you when you move in and give you contact details and information on the level of service you can expect.

You must contact the managing agent if you have any questions or concerns that you want to report. Sometimes, you will pay your service charges direct to your managing agents and sometimes directly to us. (This varies between different residents and schemes). We will let you know about this when you move in.

For more information please see our grounds maintenance leaflet.