BROWSE
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Repairs Council Tenants are Responsible for
What Repairs are Council Tenants Responsible for
You are responsible for some repairs within your home and for those where you have caused damage. You must also allow us to carry out repairs and servicing in your home. This is set out in your tenancy agreement.
You are responsible for carrying out these repairs:
Security
- Replacing lost keys to your home and gaining access to your home if you lose your keys, along with any lock changes and repairs to the door after forced entry.
Window glazing
- Reglazing any windows in your home resulting from accidental damage, misuse or negligence by you or any of your household, guests or pets.
Water supply
- The maintenance of any water pipe work and fittings installed by you, for example washing machine fittings or showers.
Sanitary ware
- Clearing blockages to baths, basins and sinks. Any any damage caused by you to any fixture, fitting, wall etc within the property, for example holes in internal doors, broken wash hand basins, toilet cistern lids or baths.
Other internal and external fittings
- Minor repairs such as bath plugs and chains, pull cords, changing light bulbs and fluorescent tubes, and replacing toilet seats.
- Repairing any fixtures and fittings installed by you or a previous tenant.
- Internal decorations, including any minor cracks to plasterwork, adjusting doors to fit over newly installed floor coverings and the fitting of curtain rails.
- Fencing, other than where there is a health and safety risk, gates and gate latches, washing lines and clothes posts in your garden.
- The sweeping of chimneys and flues.
- Keep gardens tidy making sure that trees and shrubs do not grow to a size that may affect your neighbours or have an impact on the structure of your home or neighbouring homes, communal housing land or highways.
What you must do:
- Allow the Council and its contractors access to your home when required so that we can carry out repairs, including (where required), access to carry out a repair to a neighbouring property. In cases where we need to gain access in an emergency we may need to force access to your home to carry out the repair.
- Allow the Council and its contractors access to your home to carry out annual gas safety checks and any tests to electrical wiring and installations. Where we are not given access to carry out the annual gas service we will, where necessary, take legal action to enforce access or force entry and charge you the costs of doing so.
- Take steps to ensure that any pipe work in your property does not freeze and make sure any appliances, for example washing machines, are properly connected.
- Notify us when a repair is needed.
- Get our written permission before carrying out any improvements to your home, for example fitting a new kitchen or bathroom.
Important:
- You must not carry out works to the electricity supply, wiring or fittings - this must be done by a qualified contractor.
- You must not carry out works to your home’s gas supply - this must be done by a qualified contractor.