Repairs for council tenants
The council is now able to start offering appointments for non-emergency/non-urgent housing repairs. These may be carried out by our own employees or by contractors.
In order to be fair to residents who have waited the longest for non-urgent repairs, those with postponed appointments will be contacted first, followed by those who reported repairs during lockdown. Priority will be given to vulnerable residents (where circumstances are known). Therefore, residents reporting a new non-urgent repair may not immediately be given an appointment.
The safety of our residents and employees remains our priority, ensuring we deliver an effective service which also meets the government's latest guidelines. Employees and contractors will wear PPE at all times and they will also ask you about any possible current COVID-19 symptoms in your household prior to their visit or upon arrival. Please provide full and correct information, while maintaining social distancing during the repair.
Normal booking procedures for all new non-emergency/non-urgent repairs will be reintroduced when feasible. Please refer to this page for the lastest updates.
In this section:
For your safety, please report emergencies to the Contact Centre or our out-of-hours emergency service on 01895 556600. This number is available 24-hours a day, every day.
Do not report emergencies by email or through this website.
You must notify us if you have symptoms or are self isolating prior to reporting the repair.
Emergency repairs
Definition for emergencies cover E1 (out of hours) and E4 (4 hours attendance) priorities:
An emergency is defined as a sudden and unforeseen damage that immediately:
- exposes you to a risk to your safety or health
- creates a risk of loss of or damage to your home and any of your belongings forming part of or normally contained within the property, or
- makes the home uninhabitable
An uncontrollable emergency may occur where you are unable to temporarily stop the incident from causing further immediate damage within your home (for example, by turning the water off, containing the leak or not using the affected facilities).
Emergency call out operatives will normally repair so it is safe and full and proper repairs can be done later.
The types of work they attend include:
- severe roof leaks
- insecure external window, front or back door
- burst pipes
- blockage of your only toilet
- blocked or leaking, drains or soil stack
- complete loss of electrical power or light
- loss of heating in cold weather where there is no other form of heating available
Urgent repairs
Definition for urgent repairs and cover E3 (24-hour attendance) priority:
These are repairs that seriously affect your comfort or convenience. In certain circumstances these repairs could be treated as emergencies. The list includes:
- partial loss of electrical power or light
- unsafe power, lighting socket or electrical fitting
- partial loss of water or gas supply
- loss or partial loss of space or water heating
- toilet blocked or not flushing
- tap which cannot be turned
- leak from water or heating pipe, tank or cistern
- leaking roof (after we have made it safe)
- loose or detached banister or hand rail
- rotten timber floor, or stair tread
- door entry phone not working
- extractor fan not working in a kitchen or bathroom with no other venting
Access to your home during the coronavirus pandemic
During the current public health crisis, our repairing obligations have not changed. Tenants have the right to a decent, warm and safe place to live. It is in the best interests of both tenants and the council to ensure that properties are kept in good repair and free from hazards.
Where reasonable, safe for you and in line with government guidance, we ask that you continue to provide access to our repairs service operatives and contractors if they need access to your home. Access will only be required at this time where we need to inspect or remedy any urgent health and safety issues or undertake any planned works which are needed to ensure that you and all members of your household can continue to safely occupy your home.
Urgent health and safety issues could include:
- Undertaking your annual gas safety inspection
- Responding to a boiler breakdown
- Dealing with a plumbing issue where you have no washing or toilet facilities and
- Responding to security critical issues such as a broken window or external door
Urgent health and safety related planned works include:
- Fire safety works including replacing flat entrance doors with fully compliant fire doors
- Electrical testing and upgrade work to ensure all electrical wiring and installations are safe
- Installation of smoke and fire alarms
If you need to arrange a visit to your home by one of our repairs operatives or contractors for an urgent health and safety reason, you should inform them if anyone in your household has coronavirus symptoms and agree to take sensible precautions.
Repairs operatives and contractors may wear personal protective equipment and will practice social distancing at all times. We ask that all tenants also ensure they are following government guidance on social distancing when operatives and contractors are in their homes undertaking urgent health and safety related work.