Housing Matters – February 2026
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
News and updates from our housing team.
Working together to improve your housing service
First meeting of the Landlord Assurance Board
The Landlord Assurance Board held its first formal meeting in January, bringing Councillor and tenant board members together to look closely at how your housing services are performing.
The Board looked at how well the Council is completing important health and safety checks, including annual gas boiler servicing, five‑year electrical checks and fire risk assessments. The Board highlighted how important it is to keep tenants updated about this work, to share the positive steps the council is taking to keep homes safe, and to explain why access to homes is needed to meet these safety requirements.
The Board reviewed last year’s Tenant Satisfaction Measure survey results, which showed that overall satisfaction improved to 61% in 2024/25. The results also showed that, while the Council still scores lower than many similar landlords, the upward trend is encouraging. The Board were advised that the results of the satisfaction survey had been used to develop an improvement plan focussing on issues such as complaint handling, repairs and maintenance services and how the council communicates with tenants.
After the meeting tenant board members said that they felt very welcomed by the other board members and had a better understanding of the rules and regulations that housing officers have to work to.
Read the papers and minutes from the meeting.
If you are interested in becoming a Landlord Assurance Board member or want to find out more, please email: housingregualtion@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.
Important reminder: protect yourself from housing-related scams
This guidance could help keep yourself and your neighbours safe
We want to make you aware of reports that some organisations and individuals are contacting residents while claiming to work on behalf of our housing team. Your safety and security are extremely important to us, and we would like to remind you how to recognise legitimate contact and what to do if you are unsure.
Our housing staff will never ask for sensitive information
Please remember that genuine housing officers and authorised contractors will never ask you to provide sensitive financial or personal information. This includes:
- your full bank account details
- your PIN or passwords
- cash payments at your door
We will not request this information over the phone, by text message, or in person.
Always check identification
All legitimate Council staff and contractors carry official identification that includes their name and organisation. If someone visits your home and claims to be working on our behalf, you have the right to ask to see their ID. Genuine staff will always be happy for you to do this.
If you are contacted unexpectedly and feel unsure, do not share any personal information. Instead, you can end the call or close the door and contact us directly to verify the person’s identity. Anyone working legitimately on our behalf will fully understand and support your decision to check.
Report any concerns
If you feel suspicious about someone who has contacted you or visited your home claiming to be from the housing team, please report it to us immediately by calling 0800 074 0263. Reporting concerns helps us to protect all residents and take action where necessary.
Coming soon: have your say on two policies
Consultations launching soon on proposed changes to our tenancy agreement, and our pet policy
We want to let you know about two important housing consultations that will be launching soon. As a Council tenant, your home and your tenancy matter to us, and it’s important that you have the opportunity to shape decisions that affect you.
Tenancy agreement
Firstly, we will be consulting on some proposed updates to our tenancy agreement; the legal document that explains what you can expect from us as your landlord, and what we expect from you as a tenant.
From time to time, we need to review this agreement to make sure it remains clear, up to date and reflects how we provide housing services today. The changes we’re proposing are small and intended to improve clarity and ensure the agreement continues to work well for everyone.
Pet policy
We will also be consulting on a new pet policy for council tenants, leaseholders, and residents in sheltered and supported housing.
We know that pets can bring companionship, enjoyment and real wellbeing benefits, but we also have a responsibility to make sure that keeping pets does not cause nuisance, safety concerns or damage to homes.
The proposed policy is designed to support responsible pet ownership while protecting neighbours, residents, staff and visitors. It will set out clear and consistent expectations to support tenants who wish to keep pets, while ensuring that other residents, staff, and visitors are not negatively affected.
Your voice matters
Before any decisions are made, we want you to be able to read the proposed updates and tell us what you think. We'll be in touch when the consultations are live.
New bird boxes helping make your estate even better
Our way of celebrating Nest Box Week!
You may start to notice new bird boxes appearing around your estate – and they’re there to help make your neighbourhood an even nicer place to live.
The boxes have been installed by our Neighbourhood Operations team as part of Nest Box Week, helping create safe spaces for birds to nest while making your estate greener and more enjoyable for everyone.
Each bird box has been specially made and decorated before being put up near your home. They were carefully built by people attending Silsoe Horticulture Centre - one of our day centres for adults with learning disabilities - and then painted by local children from Kingfishers Day Nursery alongside residents at Housing 21, adding lots of colour and creativity.
As well as supporting local wildlife, projects like this help make your estate somewhere you can feel proud of. They also bring people together and improve the look and feel of the outdoor spaces you use every day.
We’ve also previously installed bee hotels in some areas, helping even more wildlife to thrive where you live.
So, if you see one of the new bird boxes nearby, keep an eye on it; you might soon have some new feathered neighbours making themselves at home.
New benches create a welcoming space for Mayfield Road residents
"It makes it so much more of a communal area."
There’s now somewhere to stop and take a seat on the green at Mayfield Road, after our Neighbourhood Operations team recently installed benches there.
Before installing them, the team carried out door-knocking to gather feedback from residents living around the green, helping them feel involved in decisions and ensuring their support. Many people said they wanted somewhere to sit, meet neighbours and enjoy their surroundings, and the new benches help make that possible.
One tenant said: “I was impressed because the team came out and spoke to us. That was important because people are actually listening to us, what we actually wanted.”
The benches have also been carefully positioned within view of existing CCTV, helping residents feel confident that the area remains safe and welcoming for everyone.
Another tenant said: “From my bungalow I can look over, and it’s just wonderful to see. I think it’s going to make people stop on their way and sit down and appreciate the area. Residents have a place to come out and meet with each other. I said it was a great idea, it makes it so much more of a communal area.”
These improvements are part of the Council’s ongoing work to make neighbourhoods places residents can feel proud of, supporting stronger communities, encouraging people to spend time outdoors and helping neighbours connect with each other.
The project was championed by Dunstable Town Council and delivered in partnership with tenants, the Safer Communities Team and Members of the Dunstable Joint Committee, who part-funded the initiative alongside Housing.
Opportunities to talk to us!
Upcoming events for our tenants - get involved!
We really value opportunities to keep in touch with our tenants, and our drop-in sessions are a simple way to do just that. They’re informal, welcoming sessions where you can speak directly with members of the housing team about anything on your mind.
If you’ve got a query about your home, would like some guidance, or simply want to check in with us, please feel free to come along. There’s no need to book - just drop by at a time that suits you and we’ll be happy to help.
We hope to see you at one of the upcoming sessions and look forward to catching up with you. Find a full list of dates and events on our website.
Tuesday 24 February at 11am
Coffee morning at Tactic Chatty Cafe at 17 Hockliffe Street, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 1EZ
Thursday 26 February from 11am to 1pm
Housing Information Hub, Ground Floor Library Building, Lake Street, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 1RX
Friday 20 March from midday to 2pm
Housing Information Hub, Houghton Regis Library, Bedford Square, Houghton Regis, LU5 5ES
Friday 27 March from 10am to midday
Housing Information Hub, Ground Floor Library Building, Lake Street, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 1RX
Thursday 10 March from 3pm to 5pm
Housing Information Hub, The Dunstable Centre, Dunstable, LU5 4JD
Share your views with us
Help us continue to improve our housing service.
Contacting us
We want to make sure you can contact us in the way that works best for you, and your views are essential to this process.
Take our short survey and tell us how you prefer to communicate. Whether you are happy with how things are now, or you think we could do better, we want to hear from you.
We are always looking for ways to improve, but we cannot fix what we do not know about. Your feedback helps us make things better for everyone.
Comments, compliments, complaints and service requests
Having your voice heard and providing your feedback is valuable to us. There are lots of ways that you can have your say about our housing service.
Comments
Often people want to suggest improvements to services. If you make a suggestion, we will record this as a comment.
Compliments
If you tell us about a service that has been good or a member of staff who has been helpful, we will record this as a compliment and share your praise with those involved.
Service requests
A service request is a request by you for us to take action to put something right. Service requests are not complaints, but we record them, monitor them and review them for learning and improvements.
If we consider the issue raised to be a service request, we will ask the relevant team to reply to you directly.
Complaints
You can complain if you are affected by the way we provide services. Common examples of complaints include delay, poor record keeping, failure to act, failure to follow procedure or the law, poor communication, behaviour of our staff (also called officers), or giving out misleading information.
You can provide any of the above feedback by emailing housing.feedback@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or by completing our online form.