Reporting a Repair
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Telephone: 01922 471910 (Walsall) 0207 043 0670 (London) Or by email to: info@watmos.org.uk |
When you contact us please let us know:
- Your name, address and phone number
- Details of the item that needs repairing
- Whether you have any individual needs that we need to know about when ordering the repair and visiting your home for example if you have difficulty hearing or getting to the door when someone calls
The repair is recorded
- We will record details of your repair onto our computer system
- We will tell you how soon we will respond. See Response times below
- Depending on the repair, we will place an order, or we will make an appointment for a surveyor to visit your home to look at what needs to be done
We will arrange the repair
- We will ask you for a phone number where we can contact you
- We will discuss what times are convenient for the repair work to be done
- For urgent and routine repairs, a morning or afternoon appointment slot will be offered between the hours of 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday
We will confirm with you the following:
- The date of an appointment agreed with you
- The job number and a description of the work to be done
- The date by which the repair should be completed
Warning - check identity cards!
Warning - check identity cards!
Before you let anyone into your home to carry out a repair or gas service, you should check their identity card and works order to ensure they are genuine. If you are not sure, ask them to stay outside and contact us to check.
Things you need to know about the repair service
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We may need to inspect your repair to decide exactly what work needs to be done
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If it is an emergency, you must stay in your home until an operative arrives
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Outside normal service hours we will only respond to emergencies
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If you exaggerate the urgency of the problem to get a quicker (emergency) response, we may charge you the emergency call out fee
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You must arrange the repair of any damage that you cause, any repairs that are not a result of fair wear and tear, and repairs that are your responsibility under the Tenancy Agreement.
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Operatives can refuse to work in your home if they believe their health and safety is at risk or if they experience abusive, threatening or antisocial behaviour towards them. We will write to you giving the reasons
- We will tell you if you need to move or protect any furniture, or if you need to lift any floor covering you have put in (carpets, laminate). You should do this before the operative arrives, but if you cannot do this or cannot arrange for someone to do it for you, you should let us know. If our operatives have to do this because you haven’t made any arrangements, we accept no responsibility for any damage
- You or another responsible adult should be in the home while operatives are working in the home. This person should be at least 16 years old
- You need to make sure that everyone is safe while operatives are working. For example, keep children and pets away from the work area
- In bad weather conditions (such as severe frost, heavy rain or gale force winds) we will always make things safe but operatives may not be able to carry out a full repair at the time. This is for their own safety, and yours too.
Our Response Times
When you report a repair to us we will discuss the nature of the problem. We will then decide what response time is appropriate. For urgent and routine work, we will agree a morning or afternoon on a specific day when the work will be done. If the work takes longer the operative will agree with you when he or she will return to finish the work. Please tell us if you have any individual needs that we need to know about.
Response times
Response times are measured from when you report the problem to us.
- Emergency - we will attend within 24 hours. For repairs affecting the safety or security of your home or potentially affect ing the health of the you , or your household . Examples include a blocked toilet, full loss of power or loss of heat in winter months
- Urgent - we will aim to complete the repair within 5 working days. For work to restore partial failure of essential services: sanitation, water or electrical supply, or heating systems, and any other work that needs to be done quickly to prevent damage to your home, to overcome serious inconvenience to you or where there is a possible health, safety or security risk
- Routine - we will aim complete the work within 25 working days. For work where the repair does not cause immediate inconvenience or present a danger to you or your household occupants or the public, but should not wait for programmed maintenance
- Programmed work - Certain repairs may be held back and carried out with other repairs in the area as part of our general maintenance programme
- Inspections - Some problems need to be looked at before repair work can be ordered. All inspections are done by appointment within 4 working days from when you reported the problem to us
| Emergency | Urgent | Routine |
| To be attended within 24 hours. Any disrepair that causes an immediate threat to the safety, security or health and safety of occupants or members of the public. |
To be carried out within 5 working days (unless estimates/ tenders are required ) Any disrepair that is causing serious inconvenience to the occupants or likely to cause further problems to the home. |
To be carried out within 25 days. Any disrepair that is not urgent or an emergency. |
| Examples include: | Examples include: | Examples include: |
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Our Operatives and Contractors – what you can expect?
We will respond to repair problems in an efficient and helpful way. Most repairs are carried out by our own operatives, but some specialist work is done by contractors. Anyone working in or around your home on behalf of Watmos must follow certain rules of behaviour.
Our code of behaviour
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Anyone working in your home must:
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Introduce themselves and show you photo identification
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Be polite and treat you with respect
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Explain what they are going to do and discuss how this will affect you
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Keep you informed about how the work is progressing
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Take care of your belongings, protecting them from damage, dust and paint. This includes putting down dust sheets or shoe protectors
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Make sure materials and tools do not cause danger to anyone in your home
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Warn you and neighbours of any likely noise or disturbance they will make and keep it to a minimum
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Clear rubbish away from your home at the end of each working day
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Make sure electricity, water and gas are connected at the end of each day where possible
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Be appropriately dressed in uniform.
Operatives are not allowed to:
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Smoke or play radios in or around the home
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Use your phone or toilet or electricity or gas supply, or go into other rooms in your home without your permission
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Use their mobile phone during their work to make or receive personal phone calls
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Be in your home with children under 16 without a responsible adult being present
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Receive gifts from tenants
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Keep keys to your home
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Use offensive language for example, racist, sexist, religious or homophobic, (including jokes and behaviour).
Your Responsibilities
What you must do
As a tenant you have certain general responsibilities regarding repairs:
- To let us know as soon as you notice a repair is needed and to take action to prevent it getting worse
- To allow us access to your home to carry out repairs, annual safety checks and any inspections that are necessary
- To keep the inside of your home in good repair and in a clean and safe condition
- To decorate the inside of your home to a reasonable standard, including filling minor cracks or holes in walls
- To repair and maintain any fixture, fitting or appliance you have put in
- To take action to prevent and control condensation. See Condensation
- To take action to prevent pipes from freezing or bursting
- To arrange for the repair of any damage that has been caused by you or a member of your family or a visitor
Alterations you have made
Before carrying out any improvements or alterations to your home you must get our written permission before you start. This includes such additions as laminate flooring. You will be responsible for any repairs to the changes you have made and for removing and reinstating them if we need to remove them in order to carry out repairs to other parts of your home .
You are responsible for certain repairs
You are expected to do these yourself, or arrange and pay to get them done:
- Replacing glass in windows or doors unless you can show that the cause of the damage was outside your control
- Replacing door and window keys or locks when keys are lost, or you get locked out
- Accessing your property if you get accidently locked out
- Fitting additional locks or draught excluders to doors or windows
- Adjusting door, door chains and door numbers doors, particularly when you have new carpets fitted how ever, w e have fitted new composite doors across many high rise blocks and these are fire tested . N o further items such as door numbers or other door hardware should be screwed into these doors
- Fitting curtain rails, blinds or coat hooks
- Replacing light bulbs
- Resetting trip switches
- Putting up TV aerials or satellite dishes except in communal areas or on communal blocks
- Testing and cleaning smoke detectors. If yours is battery-operated (not mains-wired) you also need to replace the battery when it gets low
- Trying to clear blocked basins, sinks, baths or toilets
- Repairing or replacing toilet seats
- Replacing plugs and chains on baths, basins and sinks. Bathroom fittings, including towel rails, toilet roll holders and mirrors
- Descaling shower heads and supply of shower heads and curtains
- Fitting wastes and supply pipes for washing machines and dishwashers (if not already provided) and vents for tumble driers
- Installing or removing cookers or other gas or electrical appliances you own (All works must be carried out bay a gas safe or NICIEC qualified electrician. Copies of all certificates must be forwarded to us
- Cleaning extractor fans
- Keeping drain gullies clear of leaves etc
- Maintaining general garden paths (not the main one leading to the front door)
- Maintaining dividing boundary walls and fences between properties, Watmos maintain fences in communal areas or where they face onto public areas
- Repairing steps, patios, sheds, or garden features not originally provided by us
- Maintaining your garden including trees and shrubs in private gardens
- Replacing clothes lines, posts and rotary driers, except in communal areas
Home contents insurance
We strongly advise you to take out home contents insurance. This will cover you against damage to your personal belongings, carpets, furniture and other household contents and decorations including for fire or flood damage.
We have 2 recommended schemes although you are free to choose your own insurer.
The whg scheme is for residents living in Walsall.
We can send you an application form if you are interested or you can download whg Home Contents Insurance 24.pdf 413KB
The Thistle My Home Insurance Scheme provided in partnership with the National Housing Federation is specifically for any social housing tenant or resident and we promote it our residents living in London.
Visit My Home Insurance (thistlemyhome.co.uk) to find out more or contact us to ask for an application form.
Tenants' Right to Repair
Under the Right to Repair regulations, you have a right to have certain repairs done within set time limits. These are repairs which could affect your health or safety if they are not carried out on time. For further information please contact us.
Frequently asked questions
What repairs and maintenance do Watmos carry out?
We are responsible for repairing and maintaining the structure and outside parts of the building you live in, such as gutters and roof tiles, and any communal areas and facilities that we own.
Inside your home, we are responsible for all water and gas pipes, wiring, heating systems, drainage, power and light fittings. We service gas heating systems and appliances owned by W atmos once per year
In the private part of your garden , we are responsible for fence panels, walls and outbuildings and for main paths that lead to the front and back doors.
How long will my repair take?
When you report a repair, we will tell you whether it is an immediate, emergency, urgent or routine repair. Each of these categories of repair has a target response time for the work to be done. See Response times
In some cases, we may need to visit first to decide exactly what work needs to be done.
Certain repairs are covered by the Tenants Right to Repair.
What if it is an emergency?
We treat repairs as emergencies if they are necessary to avoid danger or risk to the health of the people living in the home, or serious damage to the property. You can call us about emergencies at any time of day, but please be sure that we agree that it is an emergency repair rather than an urgent repair. See Emergency below. If you call us out and we find the repair is not a genuine emergency, we may charge you the call-out fee.
What if I can only be in at certain times?
Most repair work is carried out during our normal working hours. If you find you cannot be in during our normal working hours you should arrange for a friend or neighbour to wait in on your behalf. This should not be anyone under 16 years of age. If you report an emergency , you must stay at home. If you are not in the repair will be cancelled and we may make a charge. For all other repairs we usually agree on a morning or afternoon when the repair will be done. If you are not in when the operative comes on an appointed morning or afternoon, your repair will be cancelled. If we did not agree an appointment, the operative will leave a card asking you to phone us to agree when they will come again.
What if the work is not done on time?
We will always put your repair into a response time category – see our response times above. If the repair is not done within that response time please contact us and we will follow it up immediately. The Tenants Right to Repair entitles you to have certain repairs done within set time scales. See Tenants’ Right to Repair above.
How can I let you know what I think of the service?
We welcome your feedback and comments. They help us find out what we are doing right and how we can improve. We will send you a Customer Satisfaction survey by text when the work is completed, please reply to this message giving your feedback .
If you have a complaint, about the service you have received please contact us and we will investigate it thoroughly. Alternatively you can complete this form Comment & Complaint Form to give your feedback.
Do you check up on the quality of service or work ?
We carry out regular checks to make sure that we are maintaining a good standard of service. This is done by selecting a number of completed repairs on a random basis, and carrying out visits to those homes to check on the standard of work or calling you to see if you are satisfied with the repair.
What if I can’t carry out my responsibilities?
You are responsible for taking care of the inside of your home and for certain repairs. See Your Responsibilities above. If you are elderly or disabled and have no one who can help you we may be able to put you in touch with organisations that can help.
Can I claim for damage to my property?
You may be able to claim if damage was caused by the negligence of our operatives, or contractors working for us. If this is the case please contact us to discuss the problem.
We recommend that you should take out home contents insurance to help you pay for any other damage, for example from accidents. You can find out more here: Insurance .
Do I have to pay for any repairs?
If damage was caused by you, a member of your family or anyone else in your home, we expect you to get it repaired immediately. If you don’t, we may carry out the work and you will have to pay for the cost of the repair. We will quote you a fixed charge for standard work or give you an estimate for an unusual repair. Unless it is an emergency, you must pay the charge before we will order the work. You may decide to get someone else to do it.
If damage is the result of a break-in or vandalism, we will carry out work to make your home safe. We will do further work to complete the repair if you supply us with a Police Crime Reference Number. See Your Responsibilities above.