Repairs

Emergency repairs are needed to avoid serious health or safety risks, structural damage or to ensure your home is secure.

Here are some examples:

• Total loss of heating between November and March
• Dangerous or exposed wires
• Blocked toilet
• Blocked flue or damaged chimney (an initial assessment to ensure safety may be required)
• No electricity (except during power failure)
• Total loss of water
• Report of gas leak or carbon monoxide alarm sounding. Contact Wales and West Utilities immediately.

You can find a full list of emergency repairs and responsibilities.

Emergency repairs will be completed within 24 hours of being reported and someone must be home and available during this time.

You'll also need to provide a contact number when reporting the emergency repair so we can keep you updated.

Here are some examples of urgent repairs:

• Door not closing on door entry system
• Replacement fascia (an initial assessment to ensure safety may be required)
• Key snapped in lock (excluding front/entrance door)
• Immersion heater repair or replacement (if this is the only form of water heating or alternative form is solid fuel and tenant is elderly or disabled.
• Repair or renew fuse box (treated as an emergency if there is no power)
• Shower not working and no bath available
• Containable water leak from central heating appliance or system
• Taps dripping (treated as urgent where there is a water meter installed)
• External pipe leaking onto walkway
• Clear blocked gutter
• Cracks to external pathways or steps which are causing a trip hazard.

You can find a full list of urgent repairs and responsibilities.

Urgent repairs will be completed within 5 working days of being reported, up to 8pm on the third day. Please provide a contact number when booking your appointment so we can keep you updated.

Here are some examples of routine repairs :

• Faulty or dripping tap
• Shower head leaking
• One radiator not working
• Extractor fans not working
• Internal door sticking
• Blocked or broken guttering
• Shed door won’t lock
• Containable water leaks.

You can find a full list of routine repairs and responsibilities.

• Inspection by a Damp and Disrepair Supervisor within 7 working days if there is:
  • Rising damp
  • Known vulnerability factors of residents

• Inspection by a Damp and Disrepair Supervisor within the agreed routine repair response time if there is:
  • Condensation on windows, walls, peeling paper

• Referred repairs teams for a response within the agreed timeframes for emergency, urgent, routine or planned repair works if there is:
  • Penetrating damp caused by broken/loose roof tiles or slates, blocked or leaking gutters, damaged flashing or chimney breasts and deteriorated rendering or mortar on outer walls
  • Plumbing leaks requiring a repair to a basin, sink, bath or radiator

See the Damp, mould and condensation works section below for more details of the response time standards for carrying out repair works to deal with damp, mould and condensation found during an inspection.

Here are some examples of programmed repairs:

• Concrete and path repairs
• Fencing and gate repairs
• Replacement of windows and doors
• Plastering works.

You can find a full list of programmed repairs and responsibilities.

This includes large refurbishment works across many properties, such as the renewal of kitchens and bathrooms, replacement of windows and doors, heating installations, external re-rendering and painting, electrical testing and asbestos surveys.

We’ll contact you to arrange an appointment when work is due.

It is your responsibility to deal with pests, but we will come along to complete any repairs caused by pests once they have been removed. 

Rechargeable repairs are repairs or replacements that you’ll be charged for if damaged by you, your visitors or any person living with you. This includes:

• A repair that is needed due to deliberate damage or neglect
• Failure to carry out a repair that you’re responsible for
• Alterations that have been carried out by you without permission
• Repeated missed appointments

If we do have to complete a repair that you’re responsible for, you may be required to pay in advance. We will give you an invoice on completion. If you are unable to pay the cost in full, we’ll be happy to help you arrange a payment plan where appropriate.

Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays)

• All day appointments: 8am to 5pm
• Morning appointments: 8am to 12pm
• Afternoon appointment: 12pm to 5pm
• Avoid the school run appointment: 10am to 2pm

By special arrangement, you can also make one of the following appointments:

• Evenings: 5pm to 8pm
• Saturdays: 8am to 5pm

We will send you a text message to confirm the appointment and a reminder the day before we are due to visit.

After the work has been carried out, we will text you to ask if you were happy with the service provided.

You can always ask to see a PCH employee or contractor’s ID badge. If they refuse to show you their ID card or they don’t have one, do not let them into your home and call us on 0808 230 6500 immediately to let them know.

There must be someone aged 16 or over in your home when we attend to carry out a repair. Where there are health and safety documents to sign, we may require someone aged 18 or over to be present.

We kindly ask you to keep your home smoke-free when we visit you.

Emergency repairs will be completed within 24 hours of being reported.

Urgent repairs will be completed within 5 working days, routine repairs will be completed within 20 working days and planned repairs will be completed within 60 working days.

If you’re out at the time of your appointment, our operative will leave you a card advising that you’ll need to contact us to make a new appointment. If this work is for your safety, we will attempt to rebook this work with you. Repeatedly missing appointments may result in you being charged.

If you are unable to keep an appointment for any reason, please contact us to rearrange.

If you smell gas and think you have a gas leak or are concerned that carbon monoxide fumes are escaping from a gas appliance, phone 0800 111 999 immediately and follow their instructions.

If you have no display on your electric meter, contact your energy provider in the first instance.

If other properties in your street have also lost power, please call 105 to report the power outage to the National Grid.

Exposed cables or water on electrics is potentially very dangerous, so please turn off your supply immediately at the fuse board.

If you have a leak from an appliance (like a dishwasher or washing machine) or your plumbing (toilet, bath or pipework), then you can turn off the water supply using either the stop tap or the isolation valve.

If the leak is particularly bad or you can’t turn off the water supply, then you can try to limit the damage in the following ways:

• Turn off all electricity at the fuse board.
• Turn on the taps in your house to release pressure in the water system and reduce the amount of water that sprays out of the leaking pipe or appliance.
• If you can, put buckets under the leak to catch the water. Not only will this help to limit damage to your home, but it will also help you to see whether the leak is getting worse.

If you can see water leaking from the joints of your internal meter, contact South West Water on 0344 346 2020.

Depending on the type of repair reported, we might need to send a supervisor to carry out a pre-inspection to confirm what kind of repair is needed. We will let you know if this is needed at the time of booking your repair.