Planned maintenance

We will notify you in advance if we are planning to carry out improvements to your home. We may contact you to arrange a visit to inspect your home before confirming any work that may be required. If we identify that work is needed, we will explain what is proposed and the level of disruption you can expect and provide you with a start date.

Every year, we carry out a programme of planned maintenance and improvements to replace or repair the parts of your home that need to be updated, i.e. kitchens, bathrooms, boilers and roofs. Last year, we again increased the work our in-house team will deliver; this has saved money and has meant that we can invest these savings and carry out more improvements than ever before.

This year, we will carry out the following works to your homes, with most of the work delivered by our in-house team.

Every year, we carry out a package of necessary major internal works, including the following:

• Kitchen replacements
• Bathroom refurbishments
• Heating system renewals
• Electrical rewiring.

The major planned programmes run throughout the year (starting 1 April and ending on 31 March).

We only carry out those works that are required in each property. For example, one house may have had a new kitchen installed more recently than neighbouring properties and may not need a replacement. Before any significant internal works and external painting work, we will need to carry out an asbestos survey at your property. You will be notified if your home is part of the planned works programme, and an asbestos surveyor will contact you before the works to conduct the survey. If you refuse to have an asbestos survey carried out, we cannot continue with the planned works.

External painting will often involve minor repairs to rotten or damaged timber before the painting is carried out. All tenants will be notified over the next few months if their property is part of this year’s programme.

Some of our flats and independent living schemes have internal communal areas, such as corridors and stairwells, that need work occasionally. 

Every year, we must check the safety of all the gas appliances we have provided in your home. This service is for your safety, to ensure everything works safely and efficiently.

We must carry out these checks every year, so please try to keep to the appointment we have made with you.

If you are unavailable on the day of your appointment, please get in touch with us immediately to rearrange. This helps reduce the number of ‘no access’ visits we carry out and means we can rearrange an appointment to suit you.

If a gas engineer calls at your property and has been unable to gain access, a card will be posted through your door to tell you that someone has called to do your inspection. The card will have our phone number on it. You must contact us to make a suitable appointment for your safety and compliance with the law.

If you fail to allow us access on three occasions, we may have no option but to take legal action, as this will breach your tenancy. Read more about gas safety checks here.

We have increased the number of electrical tests we undertake by reducing the frequency of these tests from every 10 years to every five years. The electrical test is for your safety to ensure that everything is working safely. This year, we will inspect electrical systems at more than 2,000 properties.

We must carry out these checks every five years (and sometimes more frequently), so please try to keep to the appointment we have made with you. If you are unavailable on the day of your appointment, please get in touch with us immediately to rearrange. This helps reduce the number of ‘no access’ visits we carry out and means we can rearrange an appointment to suit you.

If an electrician visits your property and cannot gain access, a card will be posted through your letterbox to tell you that someone has called to do your inspection. The card will have a phone number on it. For your safety, you must contact us to make a suitable appointment.

You must allow us access to your home to carry out these checks. Gas servicing and electrical testing are carried out to keep you safe in your home. We will do our best to schedule an appointment that is convenient for you. You must allow us access to your home before the date of your last certificate.

If you fail to allow us access on three occasions, we may have no option but to take legal action, as this will breach your tenancy. Read more about gas safety checks here.

In 2023/24, we will start work on our hardest-to-insulate properties, supported by government grants, to deliver external wall insulation to properties that don't have a cavity.

Over recent years, we have been carrying out a significant loft and cavity wall insulation programme. These improvements aim to make your homes more comfortable, helping to reduce your energy bills by reducing energy consumption and thereby helping to protect the environment. Our ongoing programme of inspections identifies those properties that require insulation improvements.

Please help us to help you by giving us access to your property.

We have many other cyclical maintenance programmes running all the time. These include servicing lifts and fire alarms, testing electrical appliances in communal areas of independent living schemes, and disinfecting water storage tanks. We always try to minimise disruption to tenants, and, in most cases, you will not know that they are happening - but where you need to know, we will contact you in advance. We must carry out regular health and safety checks, and this year we have increased our investment to ensure the safety of our tenants.

Every year, we carry out over 40,000 repairs at the request of our tenants. We also repair and make improvements to around 600 properties for new tenants to move into once the previous tenant has moved out. We spend, on average, £2,000-£3,000 per property.

Unfortunately, some tenants leave their property damaged. This means we must invest more money before a new tenant moves in. We continue to focus on challenging tenants who leave their properties badly damaged. We will recharge for any property damage, including clearing out properties and environmental cleaning.

We received some fantastic feedback from our tenants over the last year. We are always delighted to hear from our customers, and we use all your feedback, good and bad, to influence our services and improve when we get things wrong. Please let us know if we get it right, as we’ll keep on doing the things that you appreciate and let us know if we get it wrong so we can look at ways of improving our services to you. If you have any feedback on any part of our repairs and maintenance service, please get in touch.