Estate services
Accent tenants pay a regular service charge on top of their rent, which helps us maintain the home or estate with communal cleaning, grounds maintenance and other services.
This includes cutting grass, hedges, and more - but in some cases, you’re responsible.
For more information, you can read our cleaning schedule or our grounds maintenance schedule.
Our grounds maintenance teams typically cut grass 16 times a year between March and October. That’s roughly once every two weeks depending on the weather. The day of the week and time we come to cut your grass might be different each time.
We do our best to collect any grass cuttings after they have been mown.
Read more about our grounds maintenance schedule.
We’ll cut boundary hedges and hedges with overhead branches at least three times a year, always avoiding bird nesting season.
Individual shrubs will be maintained throughout the year.
Read more about our grounds maintenance schedule.
Trees in communal areas
We’ll have the trees in your communal areas surveyed by a professional, and have them maintained regularly.
As a rule, we generally don’t prune or fell trees in communal areas, mainly due to issues with shade, falling leaves or fruit, pollen, bird droppings or obstruction of views. However, if there’s a health and safety issue with the tree, let us know and we’ll investigate.
Tree leaves will be collected when the grounds maintenance contractors attend, who will do their best to collect as many as possible each visit. We don’t send our contractors out to collect leaves that have fallen between visits.
Any problems with trees not on Accent land should be reported to your local authority.
Trees in your garden
Unlike hedges and shrubs, you’re responsible for any trees in your garden, even if you didn’t plant them.
However, in exceptional circumstances, we will support residents where trees are dead, dangerous, or causing property damage, but we might need to charge you for this.
We are often responsible for looking after the roads and footpaths around your estate, but in some cases it could be your local authority. We’re happy to work with them if needed.
If you have any concerns about the safety of your roads or paths, please let us know via our Contact us page.
It’s up to you to dispose of your rubbish and waste safely and correctly – so don’t dump it in communal areas. If you’ve got an unwanted item, your local council’s website will have advice on how to have it removed properly.
Our grounds maintenance contractors will collect any litter which has blown into the estate, but they won’t remove large or bulky items.
Read more about our grounds maintenance schedule.
If you spot someone flytipping or dumping rubbish and unwanted items on Accent land or property, please let us know as soon as possible so we can intervene. Contact us here to report it.
Cleaning teams periodically clean underneath furniture in communal areas, but they will not move customers’ possessions to clean underneath them. Communal corridors should be always kept clear for fire safety reasons.
Read more about our cleaning schedule.
Unless it’s specifically mentioned in your service charge, we don’t grit our estates.
However, there are a few areas around our independent living schemes where we have arrangements in place to grit paved areas when the temperature is expected to drop below freezing.
Our window cleaning contractors clean communal windows once each quarter, or every three months. but they won’t clean windows on individual homes.
If you’d like your home’s windows cleaned and can’t do it yourself, we’d recommend hiring a local window cleaner.
You could also check if your neighbours would like to get their windows cleaned at the same time!
Read more about our cleaning schedule.
If you see a contractor spending time in their van, it’s nothing to worry about.
Our contractors are busy, and usually visit a few estates in a single day, taking their breaks in their van, or staying in their van to complete admin and paperwork. This is normal, and won’t stop them from carrying out the work they’ve been hired to do.
Questions about your service charge?
If you’re not sure about the information on this page, or you have questions about your service, check your agreement with us in your documents, or log in to MyAccount to learn more information.
You can also contact us by emailing customerservice@accent.org, via the form on our Contact us page or speak to your housing partner, leasehold and homeownership partner or service manager.
