
Caretaking Services & Standards
Our Caretakers clean all the walls, floors, windows, stairs and landings as well as litter picking based on the condition of the block and service charge paid by residents.
They also remove fly tipping (which we will charge residents for when identified or deliberate).
Our cleaning services and standards
Our customer promise to you is that we will deliver the following service in your communal areas. These are the shared spaces immediately around your block of flats including stairways, drying areas and walkways.
Once you report it, we will investigate and:
- Remove graffiti (48 hours for offensive, 5 working days for other)
- Remove abandoned items, subject to investigation as to who has dumped or left the items
- Unblock bin chutes.
Internal cleaning
We will on each visit:
- Remove loose litter/rubbish
- Clean skirting boards, stairs, door glass, handrails, wall lighting, windowsills and wipe walls
- Sweep hard floors clear of rubbish, mop and dry in summer, sweep and spot mop in winter
- Vacuum carpeted floor areas
- Clean, dry and polish all interior window surfaces, including glass, framework and panelling
- Sweep and mop lift floors and wipe all stainless-steel surfaces, internal and external, including call panels.
External cleaning
We will on each visit:
- Collect and dispose of all litter and rubbish including drying areas and car parks owned by FCHO
- Sweep all bin stores clear of rubbish and debris and leave tidy
- Dust all FCHO-owned external lights, signage and door entry systems leaving them dust and smudge free attached to our communal blocks and stairways.
Window Cleaning
- Clean external windows to our two-, three- and four storey communal flats on a programmed eight week cycle using an external contractor
Flytipping
If you've got unwanted bulky or large items, please get rid of them carefully. You cannot leave them in the communal areas or bin stores – it is our residents' responsibility to dispose of their rubbish correctly.
If you pay someone to take away your waste, check they have a waste carriers’ licence. If they don’t and the rubbish is later found dumped, then you could be the one in trouble.
Visiting your block
We are scheduled to visit each block up to 25 times a year subject to bank holidays and other events which may impact on accessing the block such as weather, anti-social behaviour against colleagues and other contractors being on site.
We display wet floor signage as guidance to customers, this is removed after cleaning however you must assess yourself that the floor is safe to walk on.
Caretaking service frequently asked questions
We have listened to the questions that customers commonly ask us about their caretaking service and produced this set of ‘frequently asked questions’, to give you information that matters to you.
Your block will never be missed, it will be picked up during the course of the week.
Please report this to our Service Centre on 0161 393 7117 and we will get a team there when they are next in the area to spot mop and clean up any spillages.
Oldham Council is responsible for emptying the bins. Sometimes they are unable to do this when there is excess waste blocking the entry or vehicles are parked in the way. Please dispose of all your waste carefully to avoid this happening.
We rotate our teams of Caretakers every three months to help all the teams get to know all our neighbourhoods. They can be familiar with all the different block types and the needs of different areas.


Your views matter
To report an issue or give us feedback call 0161 393 7117 and servicecentre@fcho.co.uk.