As stated in your tenancy agreement, you are responsible for reporting any repairs that are necessary, either in your home or in any shared area that we are responsible for. You can find out which repairs we are responsible for by checking our Repairs Handbook.
You can report a repair to us in the following ways:
Please note that on-line requests and emails will only be dealt with during working hours.
However you notify us, please tell us:
If you prefer, when you report a repair, you can tell us that you would like the contractor to arrange an appointment with you. We will then tell our contractor and they will contact you direct to arrange a specific time.
If you smell gas at any time, you should immediately contact National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Please think about whether it is really necessary for our contractor to be called to your home outside of normal working hours before you use our emergency service. If we find that our contractor has been called out to a repair that is not a genuine emergency, we may charge you the extra costs of us doing the work outside of normal hours.
We give all reported repairs a priority rating that sets out when the work should be completed. Some repairs are covered by the Right to Repair regulations. These ensure that certain small, urgent repairs are completed within a specified time. These 'qualifying repairs' are normally those that are likely to affect your health, safety or security. For more information on right to repair, visit www.gov.uk or contact us as above.
When you report a repair, we will be able to tell you whether it is a 'qualifying repair' and, if so, when it should be completed by. If you are out when either our maintenance surveyor or the contractor visits your home, they will leave a card telling you when they called and how you can contact them to make a new appointment. After the repair is completed, you may get a visit from one of our maintenance surveyors to check that it has been done properly. Our contractors will also leave a satisfaction survey for you to complete, as well as a pre paid envelope. Your comments are important to us as they help us to monitor the service provided.
If your repair is covered by the Right to Repair regulations, we will send you a copy of the repair notice that we send to the contractor. This will tell you the name and address of our contractor; what the repair is; and when it should be completed by. If the repair is not completed by this time, please contact us and we will arrange for another contractor to do the work. When we have done this, we will send you a copy of the repair notice that we send to the second contractor. This contractor will have the same time to complete the work as the first. If this second contractor does not do the repair in the time given, you may be entitled to compensation.
We do not pay the cost of all repairs to your home. If you or your visitors have caused damage (for example, broken a window) or been negligent (for example, lost your keys), we will do the work but will charge you for it. We will tell you when we are going to charge you for a repair and then send you an invoice. You may be able to pay the invoice in instalments or claim back the cost of getting a repair done through your personal contents insurance. Each year, we also spend large amounts on repairing empty properties and getting them ready for occupation. While some of this work is due to normal wear and tear, a lot is for repairing items that have been damaged - either deliberately or through neglect - and on removing belongings and rubbish left by the former tenant. If we have to remove any items or rubbish from your home after you leave or repair any damage, we will charge you what it cost us to have this work.
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