Our service
When you report a repair to us, we will assess the problem and your circumstances and then decide whether it is an emergency, urgent or routine repair.
Your questions answered
How long will I have to wait before the repair is done?
When you report a repair, we will put the work into a response time category - emergency, urgent or routine. This decides how quickly we will complete the work. See below.
Unless it is an emergency, we will agree a morning or afternoon on a specific day when a repair worker will come to do the work. We will always take your personal circumstances into account when assessing how soon we need to come and carry out a repair. Also, by law, we must carry out certain repairs within set time limits. We will do all these within our emergency or urgent categories. See Tenants' Right to Repair in Repairs standards.
What if it is an emergency?
We will treat repairs as emergencies if they are needed to remove danger or risk to the health of anyone living in or visiting the home or to the general public in the area, or if the situation could cause serious damage to the property. If you call us out and your repair is not an emergency, we may charge you for the cost of the emergency call-out.
Who will carry out the work?
Most repairs are carried out by repair workers employed by us. For a few repairs, we will need to call in specialist contractors. All repair workers will behave professionally and treat you and your home with respect. Anyone visiting your home on our behalf will wear an identification badge. Do not let anyone in until you have seen this card and you are sure that they are genuine. If you are in any doubt please contact us. A genuine caller will not mind waiting outside. If they are coming to do a repair, inspection or service, they will also have a Westlea work order for the work they need to do.
What if I am not satisfied with the service?
Let us know if the repair is not completed within the time allowed or if you are not satisfied with the work that has been done or the service provided. We will sort out the problem quickly. Please tell us if you feel that we have failed to provide a service or acted in an unfair or discriminatory way towards you. See Complaints in your tenancy book.
Emergency repairs
We will make the situation safe immediately and will complete satisfactory repairs within 24 hours. These include:
- a blocked drain to the sink, bath or shower or whole property;
- loss of electrical power to all or part of the home;
- repairing locks, doors or windows to make your home secure;
- a toilet blocked or not flushing and there is no second toilet;
- total loss of heating or hot water during periods of cold weather;
- very bad water leak from a pipe or toilet pan, or through the roof; and
- making safe parts of the building if there is an immediate danger.
Urgent repairs
We will complete the repair within seven calendar days. These include:
- broken glass;
- chimney pots and roof leaks;
- outside door locks and window catches where there is no immediate security risk;
- faulty (but not dangerous) electrical fittings;
- heating or hot water breakdown;
- an immersion heater not working and it is the only source of hot water;
- minor leaks from pipes, dripping overflows or faulty taps;
- television aerials and sockets we have installed; and
- toilets leaking, not flushing or blocked where there is a second toilet in the home.
Routine repairs
We will complete the repair within 28 calendar days. These include:
- baths, basins, sinks, taps, stoptaps and toilet seats;
- fire grates and surrounds;
- guttering, roofs, garages and outbuildings;
- locks, hinges and catches;
- outside walls, fencing and gates;
- paths and drives;
- plasterwork, tiling and insulation;
- replacing basins, baths and toilets; and
- woodwork - doors, windows, floors, cupboards.
In some situations where you will really struggle, we will carry out a normal routine repair as an emergency or urgent repair.
Programmed work
Certain non-urgent repairs will be put together with others so we can carry them out more economically in a programme of work in the same area. Examples are baths, kitchen units, fences or gutters.
We will tell you if a repair you have asked for has been put into programmed work and when it is likely to be done.
Inspections
We will need to inspect some repairs before we can order repair work. We aim to carry out inspections, by appointment, within seven calendar days.
