MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS SERVICE

In general, our tenants are responsible for repairing or replacing items such as: light bulbs, fuses, WC seats, chains and pulls, internal door handles, bolts and catches, being locked out or lost keys, reglazing broken windows, unblocking toilets, internal decoration of their home, garden areas, sink, wash hand basins and bath.

In order for the Association to provide an efficient and responsive service to tenants, repairs will be categorised in order of priority, allowing the Association and its contractors to plan and organise work.

The Association provides the following range of maintenance services:

REACTIVE REPAIRS
Repairs carried out on an ad hoc responsive basis as the need arises and which cannot be deferred for inclusion in Planned Maintenance programmes. Reactive maintenance is the prompt repair or replacement of an existing element of an individual property or scheme on a like for like basis, following the sudden or unforeseen failure of that element.

Reactive maintenance is usually a one-off job to ensure the health and safety of the occupants or the proper functioning of the building. This does not include any improvement work, the provision of additional fittings, pest control*, “rubbish removal*, cleaning*, disabled adaptations, service charge items, PAT testing of appliances, planned or cyclical maintenance. (*These items are normally part of work to voids.)

Reactive Maintenance can be split into:

• Minor faults e.g. Ball Valve failure, leaking pipes, broken window catches, etc.
• Major faults that cannot be left e.g. roof repairs, replacing leaking hot water cylinders, etc
• Unexpected major works e.g. storm damage, subsidence, fire damage, theft and criminal damage covered by insurance

“OUT OF HOURS” EMERGENCY REPAIRS
Emergency Repairs carried out, out of normal office hours (9.00am-5.30pm, except Fridays: 9am-5pm), and at weekends and bank holidays.

PLANNED MAINTENANCE (REINVESTMENT PROGRAMME)
Replacement of components beyond their economic life, together with improvements to existing building standards and the requirements of the Decent Home Standard, to include:

Upgrading electrical installations, window, and kitchen and bathroom replacement. Major repairs to roofs, boundary walls and heating renewal. These are capital projects and non-repetitive and are undertaken on a planned basis.

CYCLICAL MAINTENANCE
Essentially this is work, which revolves around the internal (communal areas) and external redecoration of the Association’s properties, together with associated repairs. Work is programmed on a 5-year repetitive cycle but inspections to determine precise dates work should be undertaken are carried out by the Association’s surveyors in advance of the programmed date.

PROGRAMMED MAINTENANCE
Programmed maintenance are those jobs which involves servicing, inspection and repair of installations and services, such as:

• Boiler plants
• Gas Servicing*
• Lifts
• Fire Alarms
• Warden Call Systems
• Grounds Maintenance

These are revenue projects and would involve repetitive visits weekly, monthly or annually depending on the type of contract.

*Statutory annual obligation.

SCHEME IMPROVEMENTS (Including scheme security)
Minor improvements carried out to schemes to improve facilities and living standards, e.g. provision of additional fencing. Improvements carried out to schemes to improve residents’ safety and security, e.g. provision of security locks/doors, extra lighting, etc. A budget for capital projects will be set within the Planned Maintenance Budget.

ADAPTATIONS
Alterations or improvements carried out to residents’ homes to enable them to cope better with their disability or infirmity. A budget for these demand – led capital projects is set within the Planned Maintenance Budget.

SERVICE DELIVERY
Only approved contractors will be employed to carry out repairs and maintenance work and the quality of workmanship and service provided will be monitored closely to ensure that the highest service standards will be achieved.

COST - EFFECTIVENESS
To achieve cost savings, work will be organised in the most effective way to achieve the best value for money. Maintenance work will be planned in advance, where possible, to maximise efficiency and cost-effectiveness, whilst at the same time delivering quality. The following mechanisms will be used to obtain the most competitive prices.

• Schedule of Rates
• Fixed price quotations
• Tenders

CUSTOMER CARE
Customer Care is central to the Association’s aim to deliver a quality service to residents.

Trained staff will be employed on the ‘Repairs Help Desk’ to handle customer enquiries with professional back-up support from Technical staff.

Approved contractors will be employed to carry out repairs and maintenance work and will be required to demonstrate a high level of customer care.

Customer Service Standards will be monitored closely to ensure that high standards are achieved.

RESIDENT INVOLVEMENT
Residents will be consulted to ensure that, as customers, they are happy with the quality of contractors’ work and service provided. Residents will also be consulted on any significant changes to the repairs and maintenance service, or where improvements are planned by the Association, which might affect them.

COMPLAINTS
The Association is committed to providing a quality service for its residents. However, the Association recognises that on occasions things can go wrong and that residents may not receive the quality of service that they deserve. For this reason, the Association has put in place a complaints procedure to ensure that any problem is dealt with properly and fairly and to compensate residents in certain circumstances where they have not received the level of services to which they are entitled.

REPAIRS PRIORITIES & TARGETS
The Association has a  set of targets for completion of work, which reflects good practice, deals efficiently with a variety of repair problems and includes a 24-hour emergency repair service. 

The Housing Corporation has issued the following targets that Registered Social Landlords should not exceed:

• Priority 1 Emergency works 24 Hours
• Priority 2 Urgent works 5 Working Days  
• Priority 3 Routine22 Working Days

Tenants are requested to report repairs as soon as they are needed and must allow reasonable access to inspect and carry out the repair work. Failure to give access will entitle the Association to serve a Notice Of Seeking Possession. All repair requests will be recorded.

Typical Emergency Repairs

• Total loss of electrical power
• Unsafe power, lighting socket or electrical fitting
• Total loss of water supply
• Total or partial loss of gas supply
• Blocked flue to open fire or boiler
• Total or partial loss of space heating between 30/9 – 1/5 where there is not other form of heating or hot water supply.
• Blocked or leaking foul drain, soil stack or (where there is no other working toilet in the dwelling house) toilet pan
• Tap which cannot be turned off
• Leaking water from water or heating pipe, tank or cistern
• Leaking roof
• Insecure external window, door or lock
• Loose or detached banister or handrail

Typical Urgent Repairs 

• Partial Loss of electrical power
• Partial Loss of water supply
• Total or partial loss of space or water heating between 30/4 –1/10
• Toilet not flushing (where there is another toilet in the house)
• Blocked sink, bath, basin
• Rotten timber flooring or stair tread
• Door entry phone not working
• Mechanical Extractor fan in internal kitchen or bathroom not working

Whilst this guidance will aid consistency within the Association, it must be acknowledged that some cases will need to be reconsidered to take account of tenants who have special needs and perhaps may be at greater risk. This would include tenants with mental or physical disabilities, the elderly or those with very young children.

If you would like to have more information, please click here.

If you would like to visit a linked website to deal with any query you have about maintaining your home, please click here.

Manningham Housing Association, a specialist housing association providing accomodation for large families and diverse minority communities in Bradford and Keighley, West Yorkshire, promotes tenant involvement and regeneration of local communities in addition to providing development of new homes and services to meet the housing and support needs for the community.
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