Repairs

If you are a leaseholder, you are responsible for repairs in your home. Landmark is responsible for maintaining the 'common parts' which will usually include external window frames and your front door. You need to look at your lease for a precise definition of who does what. If you are a tenant, Landmark is responsible for repairs in your home. Full details of who does what are given in the Tenants Handbook.

You can report repairs to your Housing Officer either by phone or in writing or by calling in to our office.

Please give as many details of the problem as possible to avoid misunderstandings and delays.

For all day to day repairs we give an estimate of how long it will take to complete the work.

Emergencies (within 24 hours).

Note: the purpose is to make safe and often a full repair will follow later.

Examples are:

• Major power failure
• loss of communal staircase lighting
• major roof leak

Category A (within three working days)

• Electrical repairs - faulty/loose switches, sockets or lights.
• Blockages in sinks, baths and drains that are not backing up. You will be responsible for the work if the blockage is within the dwelling.

Category B (within 28 days)

• This covers all repairs not listed above, for example damage to plaster finishes, window frames or any other defect that is not going to prove a hazard.
• Some non-urgent repairs may be picked up as part of major repairs programmes works (see below). For example, if the external areas are due to be repaired and repainted in the near future then any repairs required to window cills might be left until then.

Major Repairs

Landmark prepares life cycle profiles for all our shared ownership schemes. These are estimates of when building elements will need to be repaired or replaced. This may include relatively regular repairs, for example external redecoration every four to five years, or longer term, for example roof, lift or window renewals.

We believe it is essential to consult residents closely if major repair or redecoration programmes are to be successful. We are legally obliged to consult you about major works under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. This defines major works as anything with an estimated cost of more than either:

• £1,000 or
• £50 x the number of leaseholders in the block.

This means that if twenty or fewer leaseholders live in your block (as is the case in almost all our housing schemes) we have to consult you if the work costs more than £1,000. For the purpose of this calculation, where two or more people own a flat they are counted as one leaseholder.

If shared owners have concerns about the validity of proposed works (for example they dispute whether they are needed or they are the wrong repairs such as proposed replacement rather than repair or the costs are believed to be unreasonable) we try to resolve these through the consultation process. If shared owners so wish they can ask a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to give a ruling on any dispute. The address for the LVT is shown on the contacts page

Emergencies

If you have an emergency repair problem that is Landmark's responsibility, please let us know immediately. The out of hours emergency repair number is available here and is also included in our answer phone message. The emergency contractor can only respond to repairs that Landmark is responsible for (see above). If you call them out for other work you will have to pay the cost yourself.

It is often worth checking to see if your neighbours are suffering the same problem as this narrows down the possible causes and may help to identify whether you should use the Landmark emergency contractor or call out your own. For example, a blocked pipe within your home is your responsibility but a blockage in the main drain (i.e. one that affects other residents too) is something we must put right.

If you have a problem with one of the utilities, you should take the following action:

• Gas. Turn off the supply at the mains and inform your gas supplier immediately. Do not smoke or use a naked flame if you can smell gas.
• Electricity. Check the fuses or circuit breakers to see if any have been activated. Reset them if necessary. If they trip again you may have a faulty appliance plugged in causing the problem. Try disconnecting each appliance on the circuit to isolate the fault. If you cannot identify the problem, call an electrician. If the supply has failed completely contact your local electricity company.
• Water. Contact your local water authority if the supply fails. For burst pipes or leaks turn off the water main or appropriate stop cock and contact an emergency plumber.
• Smoke alarms. Where we have fitted these, they are normally powered by mains electricity with a battery back-up although in some of our developments they are battery-only. You should test the alarms at least once per month and change the batteries annually.

Prevention is better than cure. We strongly recommend that you have your gas and other appliances serviced regularly and that - where they are not already fitted - you install and test smoke alarms. You may be able to get more information on minimising fire and other risks from your local authority fire safety department . Your local British Gas office will have advice on gas appliances. If you are a Landmark tenant and you have gas appliances, we will service them once a year.

Paying for repairs

Your service charge pays for repairs to the external and structural parts of your property. You must pay for other repairs yourself. As explained above in paragraph 3.2, part of your service charge goes into a sinking fund to cover the cost of major works. We cannot guarantee that the fund will be sufficient to cover the cost of a major repair project and we may therefore have to charge you an extra amount to recover the balance. This is because our practice is not to over charge before the sinking fund needs to be called upon but instead to collect a reasonable sum each year with an expectation that you will have to pay a top-up charge every five years or so when cyclical decorations, for example, take place or when unforeseen major works are required.

Choosing contractors

We have a detailed selection process for contractors and, once appointed, we monitor their work through:

• Inspecting a percentage of completed jobs.
• Sending residents copies of orders raised so that they can comment on the speed of response and quality of work.
• Carrying out regular site inspections, with residents representatives whenever possible.