Tenants' responsibilities
Important Information
All our tenants are expected to make sure that their home, garden and balcony are kept safe, clean, free from rubbish and are not neglected.
Tenants have the following responsibilities when reporting a repair:
- To report all repairs in a timely manner
- To be at home for the appointment
- To make sure our Operatives can access the repair easily
- To treat staff with respect
- To take part in our feedback requests
Before you report a repair, you should always check to see if the repair is our responsibility.
Although some repairs are your responsibility, we may still carry out the repairs in some situations to prevent any damage to your home. If this happens you will be charged for the repair. Certain repairs to your home are your responsibility. Some examples of repairs that are your responsibility are listed below.
Security
- Keys and gaining access to your home*
- External locks and latches*
- Handles and letterboxes*
- Window catches and stays*
*UPVC windows and doors: Repairs to UPVC doors and windows can be very expensive and cause more damage if not done properly. To prevent this happening, the Council will carry out the repair at a reduced cost to the tenant - arrangement for payment must always be made before the repair is carried out.
Water services
- Burst water pipes due to neglect (freezing conditions with no measures taken by the tenant)
- Putting new washers on taps
- Toilet seat, cover and pull chain
- Plugs and chains on bath sink and basin
- Blocked: toilets, internal waste pipes and traps (except for communal soil and waste pipes in flats)
- Repair and replacement of washing machine taps, washing machine waste pipes, washing machine pipework etc. unless fitted by the Council.
Electrical installations
- Plug tops and fuses
- Bulbs and fluorescent tubes (and starters)
- Elements to electrical fires including any illuminating bulbs
- All electrical fittings/appliances provided by the tenant (these will be checked for health and safety but any repairs are the responsibility of the tenant)
Gas installations
- Illuminating bulbs to fires
- Ignition batteries to gas fires
- Maintaining removable gas fires and fittings provided by the tenant (as heating will be serviced and checked annually for health and safety and will be disconnected if they fail the health and safety checks)
Solid fuel heating
- Firegrate bottoms and ashpans
- Fireplace tiles
- Sweeping of flues at any time other than the annual service
Miscellaneous internal items
- Kitchen worktops
- All internal decorations
- Internal doors including hinges, locks, latches, handles and easing of kitchen, cupboard and wardrobe doors and drawers including catches, handles hinges
- Curtain rails and clothes airer
- Hat and coat rails and hooks
- Internal glazing
- Floor tiling (unless fair wear and tear)
- Repair small plaster cracks
Miscellaneous external items
- Cracked or broken glazing (except in communal parts of flats). However, we will always make safe by boarding up
- Garden paths other than those leading directly to front and rear doors of dwellings
- Flagged areas (except in communal areas)
- Gates, fencing and hedges (unless they are on the boundary between Council land and a public right of way). However, if any damaged fences have a health and safety risk, then the Council will carry out work to remove the risk
- Clothes posts (unless in communal areas)
Where tenants are OAPs or severely disabled and do not have the support of friends or relatives, the Council may agree to carry out repairs that are tenant responsibility, on a case by case basis, and may charge the tenant for the repair. Agreement to pay will always be obtained before the repair is completed.
For more information on repairs if you are a tenant please take a look at our tenants’ repairs handbook which can be found here (PDF 2MB)
