Repairs, Maintenance & Emergencies

Day to Day Repairs, Maintenance & Emergencies

Right to Repair

Some emergency and urgent repairs are covered by the Right to Repair regulations for Scottish Secure Tenants. When you advise us of a problem, we will tell you whether the repair falls under this scheme.

Please refer the Right to Repair Leaflet (pdf 219.8Kb)

Right to Repair means that:

If qualifying repairs are not attended to within the agreed timescale you have the right to appoint another contractor from the Associations approved list to carry out the work. You are also eligible for compensation for the inconvenience if the repair is not carried out

Reporting a Repair

During office hours:   

Monday to Thursday          9.00am - 1.00pm,  2.00pm - 5.00pm

Friday                                  9.00am - 1.00pm, 1.30pm - 4.30pm.

Telephone to our repairs freephone service on 0800 068 1466

We will also be happy to accept repairs reported personally at our offices in Ardrossan and Kilmarnock.

When reporting a repair you should give as much detail as possible in order that the work required can be properly assessed. You will be informed of the length of time in which your repairs should be completed and whether a member of staff will require to inspect the repair before issuing instructions to our contractor. You will also receive a copy of the repair line. Please note that the contractor will ask you to sign his copy of the repair line once the job has been completed.

You should also give a contact telephone number where possible, and give details of when you are able to give access.

Reporting an Emergency at Night, Weekends and Holidays

All emergency repairs required outside normal office hours should be reported by telephoning:

General Trades  

MITIE Property Services (Including joinery, electrical and plumbing repairs)          

0845 600 8624

Gas Central Heating                       

J. Frew

01294 468113

Please use these numbers only if you have a genuine emergency. Using these numbers for other enquiries could prevent someone with a genuine emergency repair from contacting us. Should the service be used for a fault classified as a non-emergency repair, the full costs of the repair will be recharged to the tenant.

Emergency Items

The list below details the repairs which are classed emergency items. 

1.    Gas Escapes

2.    Burst pipes causing flooding

3.    Blocked drain or soil pipe causing a serious leak of sewage into dwelling

4.    Choked W.C.

5.    No hot or cold water supply in the property

6.    No gas central heating if no other form of heating is available in the property

7.    Broken/damaged door lock or door locks

8.    Broken/damaged windows which are situated on the ground floor and
       open       

9.    Broken handrail to stairs

10.  Serious roof leak/water penetration

11.  No electrical power to the house

12.  No electrical power to lights

Items 7 and 8 will only be repaired by the Association if the fault is due to vandalism and has been reported to the police.

Repairs Priorities

The Associations response times for repairs are as follows:

       Emergency:         Made safe in 4 hours, 24 hours to restore

       Urgent:                  Carried out within 2 working days

       Routine:                Carried out within 7 working days

       Non-Routine:        Carried out within 28 working days

Looking After Your Home

The Association takes responsibility for carrying out repairs to your property which come about due to fair wear and tear. As a tenant you are responsible for the following:

Internal decoration.

Repairing minor cracks and holes in walls that can be reasonably filled before decoration.

Replacing plugs and chains on baths sinks and wash hand basins.

Resetting tripped circuit breakers and replacing light bulbs.

Testing smoke detectors.

Gas Servicing

Gas servicing is necessary to ensure that boilers and fires in your home are safe to use. Faulty appliances produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide which can prove fatal. The danger is greater because you cannot see or smell carbon monoxide so you may not know there is a problem until it is too late.

We have a gas servicing programme which ensures these appliances are checked at least once a year. The contractor will also carry out any repairs or replacements required to ensure the gas installation complies with relevant legislation and is safe to use. It is vital that you allow access to our gas servicing contractors when they request it. If the appointment you have been given is not suitable, please contact us to arrange an alternative.

You must allow us reasonable access to your home so that we can carry out these essential safety checks. If you do not, we will have to arrange to force entry, and you will have to pay any costs incurred.

Common area Inspection Rotas

Property Services staff carry out regular estate management inspections to all areas. These inspections are timetabled and normally take place every 4 weeks. Should you wish more information on these inspections please contact your area team

Where repairs to common areas are identified by our staff these will be ordered and you will be notified of the type of repair and the completion date.

Alterations and Improvements to Your Home

If you wish to carry out improvements or alterations to your house, such as installing a shower, or a new kitchen then you should first seek our permission before making a start. All reasonable requests will be considered and advice given on how to proceed.

At the end of your tenancy you may be eligible for compensation for certain improvement work that you have carried out with our permission. You can obtain further information from us regarding the types of work that may qualify for compensation.

Download: Alteration and Improvements Form (pdf 62.6kb)

Aids and Adaptations

We wish to allow tenants to remain in their own home for as long as possible. One way of doing this is to carry out adaptations to help people whose medical and mobility needs have changed since they moved in. If you require your home to be adapted in some way (e.g. a handrail or a shower unit instead of bath), you should first have an assessment carried out by your local authority Occupational Therapists. They would then make an application to us on your behalf. Every year we receive funding for medical adaptations from Communities Scotland and this plus a contribution from ourselves gives a limited amount of funding to carry out adaptions. Demand for adaptations is very high and requests are prioritised based on levels of need. Contact us for more information.

Planned/ Cyclical Maintenance

Planned maintenance involves the renewal of items like external doors and windows, central heating systems, kitchen units and bathroom suites when they reach the end of their useful life. The Association plans its maintenance programmes on a 5 year cycle. We will notify you in advance of any works that we plan to carry out in your home. Prior to the works you will be contacted to discuss your individual requirements and to participate in for example selecting the types of finish and colours to be used.

Some planned maintenance contracts can result in disruption to decoration and floor coverings so we have a policy of paying standard allowances to tenants on completion of the works. These allowances are intended to assist you with any reinstatement work.

Cyclical repairs are those which relate to items which are required within a specified period such as electrical safety checks and close and fence painting.

Further details of the planned and cyclical repairs programmes are available from the link below.

5 Year Planned Maintenance Programme 2008 (.pdf 40.6kb)

Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire

After each repair is carried out we ask tenants to complete a customer satisfaction survey questionnaire. This relates to the conduct of tradesmen, the standard of workmanship and the conduct of the Associations own staff. Please take the time to complete this questionnaire as it helps us monitor our performance and improve our service to you.