Our statement of intent
The property services team aims to provide a quality repairs and maintenance service thereby ensuring your home is kept in good condition and remains a comfortable and safe place for you to live. As we undertake necessary repairs and improvements to your home, we will seek to work closely with you to minimise, as far as practicable, disruption to your household’s day to day activities.
How we aim to do this
Responsive repairs
- All repairs reported to us will be prioritised according to good practice, identified urgency and the council’s right to repair qualifying repair list.
- Tenants will receive confirmation of the repair which has been reported and the target date by which we aim to complete the work.
- The council will seek to complete repairs within their priority time allowance and keep you informed of any unavoidable changes to anticipated completion dates or disruptions to the work.
- The council will complete repairs to a good standard and work at all times in a safe and health-conscious manner.
Planned improvement works
The council will undertake a programme of planned improvement works ensuring that, at all times, your home meets the Government’s Decent Home Standard.
Planned improvement works include:
- replacement kitchens
- replacement heating boilers and systems
- replacement bathrooms
- replacement windows and doors
- replacement roof coverings
- repointing or re-rendering external walls
- external decoration work
Routine maintenance
If your home has a gas supply, the council has a legal duty to complete an annual landlord’s gas safety check on the supply and any gas appliances, we will also service your gas boiler at this time. The council, or our contractors, will write to you in good time with details of the appointment for us to access your home. Failure to provide access may result in your gas supply being capped and / or us seeking a warrant.
The council will also undertake annual servicing of the following heating systems and alarms where these have been installed by the council / these were in the home when you moved in:
- air or ground source heat pumps
- oil fired boilers
- solid fuel room heaters
- solid fuel open fires
- smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms
Empty homes / void properties
When a home becomes empty we will undertake a range of work to ensure the property is in a good condition to let to the next tenant.
Occasionally it may be necessary to delay larger repairs or improvement work until after the new tenancy starts. This will be approved with the prospective tenant in advance.
How the council will treat you and your home
The council will treat you and your home with respect at all times, taking time to understand your needs and ensuring we keep you informed of progress on work.
What we ask from you
We ask that you:
- treat all our staff and contractors with respect at all times
- keep appointments wherever possible and notify us at the earliest opportunity if these need to change
- provide access to your property when we need this
- provide constructive feedback about our services and suggest opportunities for further improvement
How performance is monitored
Performance of the property services team is reported at quarterly meetings of the housing and property services (tenant involvement) panel. Performance data is included which relates to repair response times, customer satisfaction levels, time taken to get empty homes ready for a new tenant and gas servicing.
Contact us
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this standard, please contact us.