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Repairs

    The Repairs Service
    Report a repair
    Compensation
    Responsibilities

Handbooks

THE REPAIRS SERVICE

Asking us for a repair

Please report your repair as soon as you notice it needs doing.

T:   0121 362 8952 or 0121 362 8953
      (Mon -Thursday 8.30am to 5.00pm, Fri)
T:    Emergencies: 0845 0577089
      (Outside normal office hours)
T:   Gas repairs & servicing: 0800 043 3668
      (Mon -Thursday 8.30am to 5.00pm, Fri)
A:   Click here for postal address.
E:   Click here to use our online reporting form.

Help us to help you

When you report a repair please give us the following information:

• Your name
• Your address
• A contact phone number
• Full details of the repair
• The times when it is convenient for our maintenance staff or a work person to call.

Keep that appointment!

Please make sure you're around to let our contractor in when they're due.

Contractors will normally contact you direct to find out more about the repair and arrange an appointment.

By keeping to your appointment, your repair will be done promptly.

If something urgent comes up and you won't be in, please let us or the contractor know as soon as possible, so a wasted visit is avoided.

Broken appointments disrupt our contractors' working day, cost time and money. Your repair is delayed because a new appointment has to be made.

Repair Priorities

We try to deal with repairs quickly. Sometimes there are circumstances that prevent an early response such as extremely bad weather when maintenance contractors are exceptionally busy. We aim to do the work within the time scales set out below.

Emergency Priority - 24-hour response

These are repairs where a delay is likely to result in danger or injury to people and/or serious damage to property. Emergency call out contractors will normally make your home safe and arrange for full and proper repairs to be undertaken during normal working hours. The types of work they attend include:

Urgent Priority - 5 day response

These are repairs which significantly affect your home, or your comfort or convenience:

The list includes:

Routine Priority - 30 day response

You can report repairs online - just click here.

These include less urgent repairs that can wait a short time before being dealt with

The list includes:

Right to Repair

You are entitled to compensation if you report a repair or maintenance problem which affects your health, safety or security and we fail twice to make the repair within the set timescale.

In the event that the repair is still not done by the due date you will be entitled to compensation at the rate of £10.00 plus £2.00 per day up to a maximum of £50.00.

This applies only to repairs under £250.00 value and there are some exceptions.

A leaflet explaining the Right to Repair in more detail can be obtained from the Housing Management Department.

Repairs Under Guarantee

Where major work has been done to properties, or you have moved into a brand new property, the work on the property will be guaranteed. This is called a defects period and may be 6 or 12 months long. This work does not come under our general repairs policy as we have to get the original builders back to carry out repairs. If there is a general repair problem that affects a number of properties the builder may wait to do the work to all of the properties together.

Planned Maintenance

Where maintenance can be planned we try to arrange for it to be done on a group of homes at the same time, to keep costs down. This will include external painting, repairs to doors and windows in preparation for painting, annual servicing of gas appliances and central heating, inspection and testing of appliances that we supply, re-roofing, re-wiring and other major works.

You will be contacted in advance by the contractor or us to carry out any surveys which may be needed before work starts.

It is also very important that we have access to your property to carry out yearly gas services to ensure safety of your appliances.

Improvements & Alterations

You may carry out improvements to your home (by providing extra facilities or making additions or alterations). However, you must obtain written permission from Waterloo before starting work.

Examples of the most common alterations are:

• Moving or removing fitted units or doors.
• Changes to central heating or the fitting of a gas fire.
• Adding or moving electric points
• Plumbing in washing machines or other appliances
• Building patios
• Knocking down or building walls
• Putting in double-glazing.
• Installing showers
• Putting up fencing

If you wish to carry out improvements to your home, you should write or e-mail to Waterloo giving details of the improvements you would like to make and enclosing drawings and specification details where possible.

You may find if helpful to discuss your proposals with us in advance. In some cases you will also have to obtain Planning Permission or Building Regulation Approval from the Local Council.

We try to be reasonable in considering your requests for improvements. But we may apply certain conditions before approving your plans. For example:

• Asking you to return the property to its original condition when you leave.
• Getting appropriate safety certificates from installers
• Asking you to pay for any work that we have to carry out if your improvement is unsafe or breaks any other regulations.

An improvement means anything which is an addition or change to the property or its gas, electricity or water services.