Your local area

Grounds maintenance

Our responsibilities

We are responsible for maintaining public housing land, including in communal gardens. This includes things like, grass, bushes, hedges and trees. We contract this work to Derby City Council to carry out on our behalf.

Find out more information including how often the grass is cut on Derby City Council's website.

If you have an issue with the service you have received or think you have been missed. Contact us.

Trees 

We carry out inspections of all tress on housing land every three years. Any work identified during these inspections will be scheduled for the in the autumn and winter months, to avoid bird nesting season. 

Tenant’s responsibilities

It’s your responsibility to keep your private garden areas tidy and maintained. This includes but is not limited to:

• grass
• trees
• plants
• bushes
• hedges

Trees, bushes and Hedges

• You must not let any hedge or shrub grow more than two metres high, overhang pavements, cause obstruction or interfere with your neighbour's garden.
• You must not remove trees or hedges without getting our permission first

If you’re struggling or unable to manage your garden, we may be able to help through our paid Garden Maintenance Scheme depending on your requirements and eligibility.

Find out if you’re eligible

Communal Gardens

You must keep any communal garden area outside the property clean, tidy and free from rubbish or furniture at all times.

No Mow May

The Council takes part in No Mow May, a campaign set up by Plantlife to encourage wildflowers to grow and provide food and habitat for wildlife.

This means they do not cut any grass throughout the month of May.

Find out more: Plantlife's No Mow May Movement.

Inspecting your local area 

Estate inspections

We carry out estate inspections around all our properties at least twice a year. They are a chance for us to look out for things like:

• Parking issues
• damage to garages
• damage to public spaces
• fly tipping
• clutter and litter in communal areas
• overgrown garden and hedges
• graffiti
• bonfires
• dog fouling
• other pet nuisance - other than pets causing noise nuisance

We visit more frequently when we find issues during our inspections, if we notice anything when we’re on visits, or if we get reports of issues from residents.

We may not always spot everything when we’re out and about - we’re only human after all. If you want to bring anything to our attention, get in touch with us, and we’ll make sure we check it out. 

Contact us

Taking action

If we find any issues on our visits we will take action to put things right including:

• Talking to residents
• Issue warnings and tenancy breaches
• Organising community events to help raise awareness of recurring issues
• Organising clean-up events 
• Issuing fines for fly tipping – we may also install temporary CCTV cameras in areas where fly tipping is a repeated issue 

Safety inspections

We carry out safety inspections on the public areas of housing land and around the properties we manage. These take place throughout the year according to well-managed highways guidance.

On inspections, we look at:

• paved surfaces
  • access roads
  • car parks
  • footpaths
  • drying areas
  • other paved areas
• utility covers
• reinstatements of openings to paved areas and grassed areas
• road markings
• streetlights and illuminated street furniture
• non-illuminated signs and posts
• drainage
• pedestrian guard rails
• fences, walls, and hedges

We carry out inspections to:

• keep the areas around properties in a safe condition
• identify defects that are hazardous or likely to create a danger
• prioritise any necessary repairs according to risk and urgency
• identify potential repairs early on to schedule into existing works programmes

We carry out routine inspections every 6 – 12 months. We visit more frequently where we get reports of damage or issues.

You can report any issues on our estates by contacting us. If you know the issue is not on housing land estates, you will need to contact Derby City Council.

Contact us

Improving your local area - Estates Pride

Funding is given to us annually from Derby City Council to improve our estates and give residents pride in the areas they live. The funding is used for things that:

• make areas safer
• make areas cleaner
• make areas greener
• reduce fly-tipping and graffiti
• make areas more desirable to live in

Allocating the funding

Residents decide what we spend the funding on. If you have any suggestions, contact us, and we will work with you to develop a proposal and consult with affected residents.

Approvals

• A bid will only be considered if:
• 50% of affected residents agree to the proposal
• There’s evidence the community will benefit from the plans
• The work will not be completed as part of routine maintenance work
• The proposal is value for money
• The proposal outlines how it will be maintained
• There is enough funding available

For more information about projects planned in your area or if you have any suggestions for future works contact us.

Garages

We manage a number of garage sites across the city that are available to rent. To be eligible to rent one of our garages you must either be a Derby Homes tenant or Leaseholder, or be a resident within the City of Derby. The cost to rent a garage (April 2025 to March 2026) is: 

• £12.38 per week for Council/Derby Homes tenants 
• £14.86  per week non Council/Derby Homes tenants 

Rent needs to be paid by Direct Debit monthly in advance. 

If you are interested in renting a garage, use the contact form, select 'I'd like to rent a garage' and let us know which area you are interested in. If no garages are available in your chosen area, we’ll add you to our waiting list 

What you can use a garage for