Repairs & Maintenance

THE LANDLORD’S RESPONSIBILITY – in terms of Repairs and Maintenance of your home.
(Please see your Tenancy Agreement)

Tenant’s Right to Occupy

The Association must allow you to live in your home without interference. However Petersfield Housing Association (PHA) is allowed to ask to enter your home when needed to inspect the condition of the property or to carry out repairs or other work. However we must first give you ‘reasonable’ notice that we do need to enter your home.

Repair of Structure and Exterior

The Association must keep the structure and outside of your home in good repair including:-

Drains, gutters and external pipes
The roof
Outside walls, outside doors, windowsills, window catches, sash cords and window frames including necessary external painting and decorating
Internal walls, floors and ceilings, doors and door frames, door hinges, and skirting boards of communal areas but not including internal painting and decoration of your home
Chimneys, chimney stacks and flues but not including sweeping
Pathways, steps or other means of access
Plasterwork
Boundary walls and fences

Repair of Installations

The Association must keep in good repair and proper working order any installations provided by the Association for space heating, water heating and sanitation and for the supply of water, gas and electricity to your home, including:-

Basins, sinks, baths, toilets, flushing systems and waste pipes
Electric wiring including sockets and switches, gas pipes and water pipes
Water heaters, fireplaces, fitted fires and central heating installations.

Repair of Common Parts

The Association must take reasonable care to keep the common entrances, halls, stairways, lifts, passageways, rubbish chutes and any other common parts, including their electric lighting, in reasonable repair and fit for use by residents, other occupiers and visitors to the Premises.

External Decorations

The Association must keep the exterior of the Premises and any common parts in a good state of decoration and normally to decorate these areas once every 5 years.

THE TENANT’S RESPONSIBILITY - in terms of Repairs and Maintenance of your home, you are responsible for carrying out minor repairs of the sort normally undertaken by an occupier of premises. This includes:-

Clearing blockages to pipes
Replacing tap washers
Replacing electrical bulbs and fuses
Replacing toilet seats
Replacing plugs on appliances
Replacing sink and bathtub plugs
Replacing fuses in your appliances
Replacing smoke alarm batteries (where battery operated).

This list is for example only and should not be treated as a complete list. (Please see your Tenancy Agreement for further information).

It is also important to highlight that if you fail to meet your responsibilities to carry out minor repairs, we may carry out these repairs and recharge you.

Internal Decoration

You must keep the interior of your property in good and clean condition and to decorate all internal parts of the property as often as is necessary to keep them in good decorative order.

Reporting Disrepair

You must report to the Association promptly any disrepair or defect for which the Association is responsible in the property or the common areas.

Access

You must allow the Association’s employees or contractors acting on behalf of the Association access at reasonable times and subject to reasonable notice to inspect the condition of the property or to carry out repairs or other works to the property or adjoining property. (The Association will normally give at least 24 hours’ notice but more immediate access may be required in an emergency.)

THE TENANT’S RIGHTS - in terms of Repairs and Maintenance of your home. (Please see your Tenancy Agreement)

Right to Make Improvements

The Tenant may make improvements, alterations and additions to the property, including the erection of a television aerial, external decoration and additions to, or alterations in, the Association’s installations, fixtures and fittings, provided that the Tenant has first obtained the written consent of the Association and all other necessary approvals (for example, planning permission or building regulations approval). The Association shall not unreasonably withhold its consent but may make it conditional upon the work being carried out to a certain standard. Failure to seek the Association’s consent or to comply with the Association’s conditions shall be a breach of the Tenant’s obligations under this Tenancy.

Compensation for Improvements

The Association has a scheme under which tenants may be compensated for the costs of specified improvements if they leave the property. The scheme shall operate in accordance with the requirements laid down from time to time by the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) The Association shall provide details of the scheme at the beginning of the Tenancy and inform the Tenant of any changes.

Right to Consultation

The Association shall consult the Tenant before making changes in matters of maintenance that are likely to have a substantial effect on the Tenant.

Contents Insurance

You are responsible for insuring the contents of your home and expected to take reasonable precautions to prevent damage to the property.

How to Report a Repair

We rely on you to report any faults promptly and to provide access to our contractors to ensure that the repair may be undertaken within the agreed timescales.

We aim to repair reported faults as swiftly and cost effectively as possible. To assist us in this please be precise as to the nature and location of the problem.

You should report any repair needed during office hours of 0900hrs to 1700 hrs Monday to Friday on 01295 724222

If you experience a fault requiring Emergency Action Out of Hours you should call 01295 724222. This will connect you to an emergency service where the problem will be assessed and appropriate action taken.

In the event of a suspected Gas Leak you should call National Grid on 0800 111 999 who will make safe the fault inside your home.

Categories of Repairs

There are 3 main categories or repair and each category has a time target for that repair to be completed.

1. Emergency Repair
An emergency repair is defined as one which is unforeseen and poses a direct threat to the health or safety of persons or serious damage to the property.

Emergency Repairs will be done within 24 hours to make safe the situation and allow full repair to be carried out in normal working hours.

Examples of emergency repair works are

Severe roof leaks
Total loss of electrical power
Unsafe electrical work
Burst pipes
Blocked foul drains
Dangerous structures
Flooding
Loss of heating and hot water involving health risk, for example -
- elderly persons
- people with special need
- families with small babies

If a contractor is called out to deal with a repair as an emergency when an emergency repair is not justified, then you are liable to be charged for costs involved.

2. Urgent Repair
An urgent repair is one which significantly affects the comfort or convenience of the resident and would normally be completed within seven calendar days.

Examples of urgent repair works are

Partial loss of electrical power or light
Unsafe power socket or light fitting
Partial loss of heating or hot water
Blocked or leaking drains
Toilet blocked or not flushing
Blocked bath, sink or basin
Leaks from taps, pipes or tanks
Leaking roof
Insecure external door, window or lock

3. Routine Repairs
All other internal or external repairs of a non-urgent manner are categorized as routine repairs and would normally be completed within three weeks.

Contractors to Petersfield Housing Association will contact tenants to make appointments to carry out the repair. This would normally be by telephone, so it is important you ensure the Association has your current telephone number.

It is important you respond to any voicemail or carded messages to make an appointment since the repair order may be cancelled if the contractor is unable to make contact with you. It is also important that any confirmed appointment is kept since a missed appointment wastes the contractor’s time and missed appointments may result in a charge to the tenant.

We require our contractors to ensure that works are carried out with the minimum of disruption to tenants. Contractors are expected to be courteous to tenants and we would, similarly, expect tenants to be courteous in return.

Annual Gas Servicing

Petersfield Housing Association has contracted Liberty Group to carry out annual servicing of the gas boilers in properties. This is a legal requirement, carried out for your safety. You must make every effort to co-operate with the contractor to allow access for the work - which will take less than an hour. This will ensure the safe operation and efficient function of your boiler.

If you should feel drowsy in the vicinity of the boiler and suspect a problem with the boiler, you should immediately open windows to air the room and report the problem immediately.

Condensation

Higher levels of insulation double glazing and improved sealing of properties has increased the incidence of condensation in properties. This is often perceived by tenants as damp.

Condensation occurs when the moisture present in the air comes into contact with a cool surface and appears as drops of water.

In order to combat the likelihood of condensation it is recommended to keep the heating running continuously at a low temperature to allow the building structure to absorb heat. Intermittent bursts of heating will create cold areas in the property which will encourage condensation.

Condensation may be minimised if you to ensure good ventilation and air circulation o use extractor fans where fitted o fit an external vent kit to a tumble drier o do not dry washing in doors.

Cyclical Maintenance Works

Cyclical works are those which are carried out on a regular programme and would, principally, be external redecoration. Repainting, re-staining, window maintenance, etc. are carried out at 3, 4 or 5 year cycles, depending of the materials used and the location.

Renovation Work

Petersfield Housing Association strives to maintain a high standard of components within the property. In order to achieve this, properties are regularly inspected with regard to component condition, particularly in kitchens and bathrooms, so that a planned programme of renovation may be implemented.

Where renovation is deemed necessary it will be incorporated into a budgeted programme.