Who is responsible for the repair?
As a SNG resident, you are responsible for some repairs and putting right accidental or deliberate damage to your home.
Your responsibilities
- Internal decorations to your home
- Adding extra security, for example fitting mortice locks
- Minor repairs such as small plaster cracks, door handles, locks, hinges and letterboxes
- Replacing light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, electrical plugs, fuses and batteries in smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors
- Repairing any damage that you, a member of your household or a visitor caused
- Repairing fixtures, fittings and equipment gifted to you or not provided by us.
- Floor coverings except in bathrooms and kitchens
- Doorbells
- Minor repairs such as wall and floor tiles, toilet seats, bath panels, basin and bath plugs and chains, shower screens / curtains, grout, sealant, shower heads and hoses
- Clearing blocked sinks, toilets and baths where the blockage is in the property or was caused by your own misuse or lack of care
- Fitting waste and supply pipes for washing machines and dishwashers and vents for tumble driers (except where we have fitted the items).
- Kitchen cupboard doors and cabinets, drawer fronts and runners.
- Replacing broken windows, except where we were responsible for the breakage or you have a police crime number.
- Internal doors and cupboards including handles and glazing. Also includes kitchen cupboard doors and cabinets, drawer fronts and runners.
- Replacing keys and locks when you lose the keys, snap the key or keys in the lock or if members of your household are locked out.
- Maintaining gardens, including fencing.
- Maintenance and repair of external taps.
If we need to complete a repair that is your responsibility or for example if the repair is needed to prevent further damage or if you refuse to carry out your repair responsibilities, you can be charged for the repair work.
If you contact us to report the following repairs, you will be asked for a £50 deposit from our repairs contractors.
- A faulty kitchen or bathroom light
- Blocked kitchen sinks, bathroom basins and baths
- Extractor fan not working correctly
- Battery operated smoke detectors not working
- Glass damaged by you or people you know.
This charge will be refunded after the visit if the issue is not something that is your responsibility to maintain or put right. For example, if cleaning the extractor fan would not have resolved the issue, or if there is an issue with the light and changing the lightbulb or starter would not solve it. There will be some exceptional circumstances where the charge will not apply, and this will be reviewed on a case by case basis dependent on the residents' specific circumstances. The charge does not apply to residents living in our older persons schemes. You can find out more about the deposit process for these repairs here.
Repairs videos
For help on carrying out some simple repairs which are your responsibility, please watch our video below.
Our helpful videos explains how you can:
- Reset a mini circuit breaker
- Test a smoke alarm
- Unblock a toilet or sink.
Changing a light bulb
Our responsibilities
- Keeping the structure of your home in a good state of repair
- The roof, walls, windows, entry/exit doors and doorframes, floors, ceilings and plasterwork, skirting boards, drains and gutters
- The maintenance of walls at the boundary of the property (but not dividing walls), as well as pathways, steps and other means of access to the property.
- Maintaining and decorating common halls and stairways.
- The installations for the water, gas and electricity supply to your home
- The maintenance of heating systems
- Making good any plaster work that has been damaged because of water leaking from pipework
Please see your tenancy agreement for more information about who is responsible for the repairs in your home.
