Home maintenance and responsibilities

There are some types of repair that are your responsibility. These include:

• Decorating the inside of the property (including minor plaster repairs)
• Replacing broken glass
• Accessing the property, and arranging a new set, if you have lost your keys
• Replacing door catches and door handles inside the property (including cupboard handles)
• Replacing or repairing coat hooks
• Replacing loose or broken toilet seats
• Replacing sink and bath plugs and unblocking sinks, baths and toilets
• Replacing damaged or missing tiles to walls, cills, hearths or surrounds
• Repairing or replacing domestic appliances including gas/electric appliances that belong to you and the safe connection to services using appropriately qualified contractors
• Ensuring that any boiler range is supplied with water before firing and an adequate supply maintained
• Dealing with gas leaks on appliances that belong to you
• Resetting electrical trips
• Replacing fuses to appliances
• Replacing light bulbs
• Replacing smoke detector batteries
• Chimney sweeping
• Dealing with phones and phone connections, TV aerial points and any other equipment which need connection points in your home excluding communal areas
• Dealing with digital TV cables, internet connections and other technology connections points in your home excluding communal areas
• Replacing dividing fences between properties
• Maintenance of metal or Concrete washing line posts (except those in communal areas)
• Any criminal or malicious damage caused to the property by visitors or guests of the tenant or by persons known to the tenant
• Treating mould growth due to your failure to ventilate and heat
• Maintaining garden areas; including mowing the lawn and keeping hedges and trees cut to a maintainable level and not encroaching onto a public footpath or neighbouring property.

You are also responsible for:

Managing condensation levels inside your property by properly ventilating and heating it. You should not dry wet clothes and possessions inside the property on or by radiators or heaters.

Where fitted you must use extractor fans and the trickle vents in your windows. They must not be blocked or covered. You should let us know immediately if any extractor fan fitted at the property is not working.

You must keep all grates, grids, drains and gullies clean and clear except gutters that catch water from the roof, which are our responsibility.

You must not do anything to block toilets and sinks. This includes flushing nappies, sanitary products and wet wipes of any sort down the toilet or pouring fat or food down the sink or toilet.

You are responsible for all pest control issues related to your property.

You, or anyone in your household must not do anything which may reduce the effectiveness of the fire doors in your home or in communal areas. This means that you must not drill or cut into the fire door or fit cat flaps, door chains, peepholes or new letterboxes into fire doors or use anything to wedge or prop open any fire doors in your home or in the communal areas.

If you, or anyone in your household damages any items, you are responsible for repairing, renewing or replacing these items at your own cost even if they are normally our responsibility. If we have to carry out the work, we will charge you the cost of the work.

Costs incurred when a repair is requested but access not provided or the work rejected.
Any works which must be carried out by a Council contractor which the tenant agreed to undertake during the termination visit prior to the end of the tenancy.

Rechargeable Repairs

All repairs caused by damage whether intentional, accidental or as a result of negligence by you or others, will be recharged to you in accordance with the Recharge Policy.

We will inform you if a repair is rechargeable either at the time you report it or when an operative has assessed the repair. We will advise you of the cost and may request that you pay in advance if the repair has not been undertaken already. All costs associated with the repair will be recharged, this includes a £20.00 administration fee and VAT if applicable.

A Recharge can arise in many situations. The following are examples and do not form an exhaustive list:

• Repairing any damage to the property, garden or communal area
• Cost incurred by us as a result of a breach by you of conditions in relation to the tenancy agreement
• Costs incurred as a result of the tenant not maintaining their garden
• Repairs undertaken in an emergency on behalf of the tenant e.g. lock replacement due to lost or misplaced keys
• Repairs for which the tenant is responsible, that the Council agrees to carry out. This will apply where there are health and safety concerns and to prevent further damage e.g. to carry out corrective work
• Rectifying any alterations a tenant has made without the Council’s permission, or which were not completed to an acceptable standard
• Recharging for items that are missing once a tenancy has ended
• Cost of cleaning and clearing the property, garden, sheds or outbuildings if left in an unsatisfactory condition at the end of the tenancy
• Cost of cleaning and clearing the communal areas if requests to remove are not complied with
• Repairs and/or improvements requested by the tenant that are not normally the responsibility of the landlord
• There is insufficient credit on your gas or electricity pre-payment meter when we attend your property
• Where the repair call out relates to a tenants fixtures, fittings or appliances
• You deliberately overstate the severity of your repair in order to secure a quicker response time

If there are outstanding charges or other breaches related to the Tenancy Agreement; we reserve the right to not attend to non-emergency repairs. We also reserve the right to have you undertake these repairs within a reasonable time to an acceptable standard. Failure to do this would be classed as a tenancy breach and action may be taken against you. If you have concerns about payments, please speak to your housing officer or contact customer services.

Prepayment and Payment of Tenancy Recharges

Pre-payments need to be paid in full as one payment.

You will be notified of the cost via email or letter which details the payment process and are able to pay via our website or by phoning customer services on 01664 502502.

Works will then be completed within a 6-week period. You can also order extra communal keys and fobs on the pre-payment form.

Make a prepayment

Payments for recharges can be paid for via our website once you have received the invoice, or by phoning customer services on 01664 502502.

Depending on the value you may be able to have a payment plan if you are unable to pay for the recharge in full. You can discuss this with your housing officer.

Pay for a recharge

If you are the victim of criminal damage to any part of your home, you must report the matter to the Police and get a crime reference number to give to us. If we are satisfied that it was someone else, we will carry out the repair at no charge to you. If we are not satisfied, we will charge you the cost of the repairs.

If you would like to make improvements and alterations to your home you must request permission from us. You can do this by contacting customer services on 01664 502502.

If you live in one of our properties and would like to install an electric vehicle charging point for your vehicle, you will need to ask permission from us first. You can do this through a permission request (see the "making improvement and alterations to your home section" above). 

If you are successful in gaining permission, we will provide you with information on the requirements needed to have a electrical charging point installed at your home. Please note that any alterations you choose to make, you will need to pay for yourself.

Before requesting permission to install an EV charging point, please read our guidance in the download panel at the bottom of this page.