Home Maintenance

Home Maintenance is an issue most homeowners have to tackle at some time. The old adages, prevention is better than cure and a stitch in time saves nine really do apply when it comes to looking after what is, for most people, their biggest and most valuable asset; their home. It sounds obvious but looking after your home really does pay dividends in terms of comfort and security and in holding and improving value.

The City Council has produced a Home Maintenance Guide to give practical help and advice about how to maintain your property and there is a section on how to carry out simple repairs to your home. Do it Yourself can be difficult. Hopefully this guide will give you the knowledge on what needs to be done to keep you house maintained and make you aware of the issues involved in keeping your home in a reasonable state of repair. The more work you can do to your home especially preventative, the more money you will save in the long run.

If you have any doubts or queries before undertaking a job, read this guide first and if you still have concerns contact the Private Sector Housing Team on 402572.

Click to download the Home Maintenance Guide - (1mb)  

Housing Repairs - the overall picture

If you rent your home, one of your landlord's duties is to keep the property in a reasonable state of repair. There are various laws that deal with repairs, and knowing about these can help you get repairs done. However, the law is complex and putting your rights into practice is not always easy, so it's usually a good idea to get advice.

 

Tenants - Your rights to repair

All tenants have some rights to get repairs done. Your right to repair will depend upon the type of tenancy you have. You will need to know what type of tenant you are before taking any action.

Some rights to repair exist in law whether or not you have a written tenancy agreement. If you have a tenancy agreement, it may say  which repairs your landlord will do. Your landlord may have given you extra rights, on top of the ones all tenants have.

However, your landlord cannot take away your rights by saying that it is up to you to do repairs which the law says are the landlord's responsibility.

Repairs or Improvements?

Some work counts as improvements rather than repairs, but it's not always clear. For example, installing central heating in a home that previously didn't have it would usually be an improvement. However, if central heating was being installed to replace an old heating system that had broken down then it could be viewed as a repair.

As a tenant you don't have an automatic right to improvements in the same way as you do to repairs

Repairs that all landlords must do.

General repair work

• Repairs to the structure of your home (includes the roof, walls, floors, doors and windows)
• Repairs to the outside of the building, including gutters, pipes and drains
• Repairs to plumbing, such as baths, toilets and basins
• Repairs to electrical wiring and gas pipes
• Repairs to fixed heaters and water heaters

(These duties are from section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985)

 

Health and Safety Repairs

(These duties are from section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985)

• Serious damp and condensation
• Inadequate ventilation
• Lack of piped clean water
• Poor facilities for preparing and cooking food
• Excessive noise
• Burst pipes
• Infestation

Gas safety

Landlords must have all gas appliances in their properties checked and serviced every year by a CORGI registered engineer. They should provide you with a copy of the gas safety certificate within 28 days of the latest check.

Repairs of furniture and fittings

If your tenancy includes furniture and/or items such as a cooker or fridge, it is up to your landlord to repair or replace them if they break down or wear out. It is up to you to repair any furniture and items that belong to you.

Furniture Safety

If your tenancy started after March 1993, all of the furniture and furnishings included in your tenancy must meet certain standards.

• It is illegal for landlords to provide furniture which catches fire very easily, or which would give off dangerous fumes in a fire
• If you are worried that your furniture may not meet these standards, contact Trading Standards and ask for your furniture to be inspected:

    Trading Standards, Backford Hall, Chester. Phone 0845 1132500
    
    If you live in a shared house (or House in Multiple Occupation)
     
You may have extra rights if you live in a shared house with people who are not part of your family, for example if you live in a bedsit and have shared use of a bathroom or kitchen. Houses like this are called Houses in Multiple Occupation ( H.M.O's).

Landlords of H.M.O's must make sure that their houses:

• Have enough facilities, such as toilets, baths/showers, sinks, cookers, etc., and that these are in working order
• Have proper means of escape from fire
• Are not overcrowded
• Are properly and safely managed

     
If you think your HMO is not up to standard you can get help from the City Council's Housing Team, Phone 01244 402314.

If you live in a block of flats or shared building

The landlord is normally responsible for keeping the common areas in good repair. These include shared stairways, hallways, lifts and doors

Usually the landlord must also do basic repairs in empty flats in the building, so that they don't cause problems for other tenants, e.g. from leaking pipes.

Contact:  01244 402314, or housing@chester.gov.uk

If you consider that the required work on your home would not be affordable, there are, in certain circumstances, loans available to help you improve your home . If you are not eligible for a loan from the City Council, Chester Credit Union has facilities to offer a modest loan. Details of the scheme are available at: http://www.chestercreditunion.com (external link)