We can’t guarantee that things won’t go wrong in your house, it’s a fact of life that things break or stop working.
What we can promise is that we will deal with any problems as effectively as possible; this doesn’t always mean that we will be able to fix things straight away however; imagine if you owned your own house, it may take a couple of days to book an engineer to come out (we can often do this quicker than you would yourself as we have a large team of contractors) and sometimes a part will need to be ordered which can take time. So bear with us but rest assured we’ll work hard for you to make sure it doesn’t take longer than necessary.
When dealing with maintenance in your house you should treat it like it were your own home; you should be able to deal with some basic things like light bulbs etc. We’ve written a guide to help you work out if something is your responsibility or the landlords. If in doubt, give us a call and we’ll talk you through it.
Landlord and tenant responsibilities
In general, tenants are expected to look after the property as if it were there own home, so there are somethings you are expected to be able to look after around your house.
Landlord responsibilities
Smoke alarm batteries
Should your battery run out (it will start to beep), you may be required to change it. If it is a specialised battery, please let us know.
Appliances that break down
If you’ve followed instructions under ‘tenants responsibilities’ and your appliances still aren’t working, the landlord can then get someone to go out and visit.
Guttering/roof issues
If you discover a leak in your property, please notify us and we can arrange for a roofer to visit your house.
What you may be charged for
Locking yourself out
You will need to pay for a replacement key. We will not be able to release our managed set of keys so would advise you copy a key from one of your housemates.
Looking after your keys
If you lock yourself out, please contact a housemate first. We can try and get someone out but there may be a charge for this if it’s out of hours. There may be occasions where no one can attend and you may have to wait until the morning, or call a locksmith at your own cost if it’s an emergency.
Appliances
If you don’t follow the guides under ‘tenants responsibilities’ and an engineer is called out to fix something you should have, you may be charged a call out fee.
Misusage of appliances
If an engineer visits your property and the appliance isn’t working because of misusage, you might be charged the call out. Don’t forget, if you email us make and model numbers we will do our best to dig out the instruction manual first to avoid this.
Tenant responsibilities
Light bulbs
If a light bulb goes during your tenancy (and it was working when you moved in), it is your responsibility to replace this. You can buy bulbs in DIY shops or supermarkets.
Topping up your boiler/relighting your pilot light
Commonly boilers can stop working because there isn’t enough pressure in your boiler or your pilot light has gone out.
Checking your washing machine filter
If your washer starts to fill with water and spins a little then stops, or just won’t open and is full of water, it is very likely that your filter is blocked. On the bottom right of the washing machine, you should see a flap and behind this, a screw cap. If you unscrew this, it should drain your machine and you will be able to pull the filter out. Chances are you will find a 5p coin or a hair clip. If you pull anything out and pop it back in, it should start going again. BE CAREFUL: if there is water in the machine it will drain out when you unscrew the cap so make sure you have trays and towels handy.
Looking after your keys
If you lose your keys during office hours, you can borrow our set and get a copy cut at your expense. If you lock yourself out when we’re closed, we will try and get someone out but there is a charge for this as it’s out of hours. There may be occasions where no one can attend and you may have to wait until the morning, or call a locksmith at your costs if it’s an emergency.
Programming your heating
Your heating often has a timer whether it be on the boiler itself or a separate programmer. We can’t come out to show you how to work this but if you email us with your boiler/time make and model number, we will send over an instruction manual if there isn’t already one at your property.
Gardens
If you don’t have stipulated in your contract that garden maintenance is included, then it is your responsibility to keep the garden in a good state. If you’re not sure whether your garden is maintained or not, feel free to call and we can advise you.
Post
You are responsible for forwarding on any post that is addressed to the landlord and for dealing with previous tenants post.
