Goodwill hunting

"It's a way of giving the message that we have improved, and giving them the chance to raise concerns," he explains. "We've been pleasantly surprised. There were a few repair problems, but most people are positive."

It's the 6280-home registered social landlord's first "meet the tenants" day and all its 200 London staff have hit the streets, in pairs, to visit 1200 properties. The idea is to show tenants that the RSL cares about their views, and to allow employees – even those not on the front line – to meet the customers.

Sarsfield's first appointment of the afternoon is with Mrs Singh, who has been a tenant for 24 years. He and Obasi Ezeilo, New Islington's head of development, sit in the living room of her three-bedroom maisonette and Ezeilo goes through a questionnaire.

"When did you last have contact with our staff?" he asks. "Last week," Singh answers. "They came within two days and made sure there was no water in the electrics," she says, gesturing towards water stains on the ceiling. Sarsfield looks concerned. He asks if she knows where the water came from. "I've no idea what she's done," Singh replies, nodding upstairs. Her main gripes, she says, are with her neighbour, not her landlord.

Sarsfield advises her to try to talk to the neighbour but promises to take up the matter if necessary. He gives Mrs Singh a fridge magnet with New Islington's freephone number on it and a leaflet on its community projects. Once outside, he and Ezeilo mark the flat on the questionnaire as an "excellent" place to live because of its large, light rooms and high ceilings: three-quarters of New Islington's homes, which are in some of London's highest demand areas, are converted Victorian terraces, although it also has several new-build projects.

Walking to his next appointment, Sarsfield says he wants to tell tenants how much New Islington has improved its focus on delivery since he joined in 2001. "The repairs service was poor," he says. He changed most of the senior management team and introduced performance targets for repairs and dealing with antisocial behaviour. Tenant satisfaction ratings have risen 5% in the past 18 months, but there is still work to do getting the good news across. Sarsfield says: "Not all the tenants engage with us on a regular basis. About 30% haven't had contact with us in the last12 months, so they won't know we've changed. By engaging them, we are helping to build their confidence in us."

The next stop is with Jennifer Fridye. She also has a dispute with a neighbour and praises her housing officer for organising a meeting the next day. "I wanted mediation but she was prepared to get involved earlier and speak to my neighbour," she says.

A case for transfer
The visit is going well until Fridye raises a more difficult problem. "My children have multiple allergies but I've found out that we're only 85th on the transfer list," she says. Sarsfield is apologetic and says: "Transfers are one thing we can't solve. We've got hundreds on the waiting list, but medical priorities go to the top." He gives her the name of two of his staff who will advise her on making a strong case.

There's another difficult issue in the next visit. The tenant, a mother of three, is moving to Camden. She says her neighbours are dealing drugs and intimidating her and complains that her housing officer has not done enough to help. Sarsfield apologises and promises to have a long chat with the housing officer. But when we get outside, he says the officers have received complaints from both sides. "Our officers tell us they used to be best friends. We'll sit down with the head of housing and make sure we are dealing with this properly. Where two neighbours are in dispute, it's hard to get a satisfied customer."

Out on the street, we bump into two more New Islington employees. Maintenance quality manager David Warden has been surprised by tenants' reactions. "We are getting all positive responses. Normally I get complaints," he says. Facilities receptionist Rhiannon Needham adds: "I'm enjoying it, it's different to taking phone calls."

Next stop: Yalcin Elbeyiogl's house. We sit with his wife and young son in the front room while Elbeyiogl explains that they have a draft from the bay window. He wants a new radiator or double glazing. Sarsfield tells him: "We can put secondary glazing in. If you want to move the radiator, we can ask a surveyor to have a look, but I can't promise anything."

A high proportion of local people are from black and minority ethnic communities (44% in Hackney and 30% in Islington), and representing Turkish people like Elbeyiogl is something Sarsfield is keen to get right. "Our Turkish tenants said they were getting a decent service but feeling second-rate because they couldn't talk in their main language," he says, adding that New Islington won a UK housing award for its work with a Turkish Women's Group last year.

The last two appointments are a breeze: a couple who are happy with their home but concerned about the safety of the area, and another Turkish family where the daughter translates for her father. "Do you know we have Turkish speakers at the offices?" asks Sarsfield. "We have translated the tenants' handbook into Turkish." They leave him with a leaflet of services, in English, and Sarsfield notes that they should translate this too.

They're happy, we're happy
The day over, the pair set off for a staff party in central London. Sarsfield is triumphant. "I've been really pleased with the quality of the properties and pleased that tenants look after their homes. It's a minority where we are getting it wrong," he says. He is keen to repeat the day next year and confident that staff as well as tenants have benefited. Staff feedback a week later backs this up: 88% enjoyed the day and 8% said it was OK.

The next step is to transfer requests from the questionnaires to the repairs database. Tenant satisfaction will be measured by monthly phone surveys of 100 tenants, and linked to a 5% pay bonus for staff next March.

Sarsfield is also considering a follow-up in three months, when staff will ring tenants to check that problems have been resolved. "By spreading the responsibility back to those who did the visits, we have more chance of doing the repairs they need," he says. "After going out to meet tenants like this, the one thing we must not do is drop them."