How to report a repair

DAY TO DAY REPAIRS –
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MY REPAIRS?

Repairs

The rent you pay includes a contribution towards the cost of repairs and maintenance, and your tenancy agreement details exactly what items we undertake to maintain.

The Association’s Responsibilities

We will paint the outside of your home but you are responsible for internal decoration.  Elim Housing has a legal obligation to keep in good repair the structure and exterior of your property including:-

• walls, floors, ceilings, roofs and chimneys
• doors, window frames and plaster work
• paths, stores, boundary walls and fences
• drains, gutters and external pipes
• all external decoration

We shall keep in good repair and working order installations provided for space heating, water heating and sanitation and for the supply of water, gas and electricity.

Communal areas of blocks of flats such as corridors, stairways and entrances, as well as communally provided services such as TV aerial systems, stairway lighting, lifts and alarm systems, are also our responsibility.

Elim Housing will NOT be responsible for the cost of any repairs which are due to damage, accidental or wilful, misuse or neglect by you, your household or visitors to your home, but you are obliged to notify us of any such damage.

Your Responsibilities

• the cost of gaining access to your home if door keys are lost.  You will also be responsible for the cost of repairing damage suffered should your property be broken into, including window and door glass.  You are advised to take out a tenant’s contents insurance policy which will cover damage to contents as a result of theft or attempted theft and accidental damage with provision for breakage of fixed glass and sanitary fittings.  Contact your housing officer for further information
• damage to pipes or internal pipes freezing.  Remedial work will be carried out by us and recharged to you.  Please contact your housing officer if you are not sure how to avoid this happening, especially if you are going to be away from home during cold weather
• toilet seats and lids.  Plugs and chains to sinks, baths and wash hand basins.  Blocked internal pipes and taps.  Tap washers
• all fuses, light bulbs / tubes
• all fittings and appliances provided by you (ie. cookers)
• external and internal glazing
• internal locks and door handles to internal doors, cupboard catches, where provided, and all internal decorations.

Gas Safety

Elim Housing Association has a legal responsibility to carry out an annual gas safety check on the gas supply in your property. It is important that you allow access to the engineers in order for them to carry out this work.

Our gas engineers, will contact you direct when this is due.  It is important that you confirm the appointment, so that they know that you are available when they are due to call.  Failure to do this may result in a no access call being registered against you and a recharge of any costs incurred.

If our engineers are unable to gain access to your property, then they will contact us, and we will send you a reminder.  If you still fail to allow access, we will issue you with a further reminder which if ignored may lead to us taking court action against you.

Gas safety is an important issue, which should not be ignored.  As a tenant you are responsible for allowing access to our engineers.
Annual gas safety checks could save your life.

Alterations and Improvements

These should NOT be carried out without the prior written permission of the Housing Association which may impose conditions particularly in regard to future maintenance implications. 

An alteration includes installing a satellite dish and if you are thinking of installing one you will need the written permission of the Housing Association.

Reporting Repairs

If a repair is required, you should report it to the office by telephone or in writing.  Please give as much information as you can about the repair needed.  The office will also need to know when you will be in and an up to date telephone number, so that the contractor can call and do the work.  We will normally give at least 24 hours notice but immediate access may be required in an emergency.

Detailed below are different categories of repairs, and the time period within which we aim to attend:-

(i) Emergency repairs:

Where there is a danger to either yourself or the public, work will be carried out within 24 hours, (eg. burst pipes).

(ii) Urgent repairs:

Where the fault will affect the comfort and safety of yourself or the public, work will be carried out within 5 days.

(iii) Routine repairs: 

Where the problem does not cause serious inconvenience to the tenant, eg. replacing broken roof tiles.  These will normally be carried out within 3  weeks unless the work has been included in a contract for planned repairs to be carried out within a year.

(iv) Programmed Maintenance:

This will include any repair work, maintenance or refurbishment which can safely be held for inclusion in a programme or be put out to tender at a later date.

As previously mentioned, if you damage your home in any way, it is your responsibility to repair the damage.  You should report the problem to the maintenance department where we will arrange for one of our contractors to carry out the repair.

EMERGENCY REPAIRS (OUT OF OFFICE HOURS)

• You must be sure that the fault is an emergency and cannot wait until the next working day.
  
  
• Contact the Emergency Control Centre on the telephone number below, who will contact the appropriate contractor in your area.  They will attend, only if they consider that the problem is a genuine emergency and cannot wait until the next working day.
  
  
• You will be asked for the following information:-
  
• your name
• your address
• a telephone number where you can be contacted
• what the problem is
• what you have tried to do to solve the problem (ie. turned stop tap off)
• how the contractor can arrange access
  
  
• We reserve the right to charge tenants for call outs and repairs where it is felt that the work was either non-essential or non-emergency and the contractor has been called out unnecessarily.

  EMERGENCY CONTROL CENTRE

TEL: 01633 381111