Essential guidelines to assist with a smooth festive period
If you’re lucky and going away to relax and enjoy the festive break below may assist you and alleviate any worry about leaving your property if the weather sharply dips and if you have any maintenance issues and are unsure how to proceed.
At the bottom of this notice you will find a list of emergency contractors that should be available but please refer to the following information in the first instance for clarity and advice
PREVENTION OF FROST DAMAGE
Please observe some simple precautions if you intend to be away from the property for longer than 24 hours during the festive period, for most properties it is necessary to:
Maintain the central heating on a low or normal setting to maintain a temperature of between 55/60 degrees F and leave the trap door open to the roof space; alternatively you could:
- Turn off the water supply, and shut down and drain any central heating boiler, water tanks and associated pipework. To do this you will need to turn off the water supply at the main stopcock and open all taps, hot and cold, to drain water from roof storage tank and pipes. Circulating water central heating systems will also need to be drained (and refilled on return before re-starting)
We are anxious to save our tenants and landlords possible costly damage that could be avoided if adequate precautions are taken, damage from frozen, burst pipes could be very costly and in a worse case up to the value of £20.000.
How to categorise if you have an emergency issue or not and a few pointers that could help you.
There are 3 main categories of repair:
1. Emergency Repair is defined as one which is unforeseen and poses a direct threat to the health or safety of persons or serious damage to the property.
Examples of Emergency Repair work are:
- Loss of heating and hot water involving health risk, for example
- elderly persons, people with special needs, families with small babies
- Severe roof leaks
- Total loss of electrical power – please contact Western Power as this may be an electrical outage
- across the network in the first instance/ check if your neighbours have a supply.
- Unsafe electrical work
- Burst pipes
- Blocked foul drains
- Dangerous structures
- Flooding
- Break in – if property not secure – must report to police first
If a contractor is called out to deal with a repair as an emergency when an emergency repair is not justified, then you are liable to be charged for costs involved.
2. An Urgent Repair is one which significantly affects the comfort or convenience of the resident
Examples of Urgent Repair work are:
- Partial loss of electrical power or light
- Unsafe power socket or light fitting
- Partial loss of heating or hot water
- Blocked or leaking drains
- Toilet blocked or not flushing
- Blocked bath, sink or basin
- Leaks from taps, pipes or tanks (when causing damage)
- Leaking roof
- Insecure external door, window or lock
- Appliance not working
3. Non-Urgent Repairs - All other internal or external repairs of a non-urgent manner are categorized as Routine Repairs.
- Loose or dripping taps.
- Replacement W.C. seat.
- Mending of faulty W.C. cistern.
- Seal bath, wash hand basin or sink.
- Repairs to leaking waste pipes and guttering.
- Repairs to W.C. pan.
- Doors adjustment, replace faulty locks.
- Repairs to kitchen units.
- Window repairs.
- Repair floorboards.
- Fix draught strips.
- Noise from neighbours