Repairs
Your safety
Keeping you safe
Ensuring your safety is incredibly important to us.
We’re responsible for regular safety and compliance checks to inspect the structure and fabric of the building, make sure hazards and risks are controlled and check that the building’s mechanical and electrical systems are operating safely.
To help us to complete these important safety checks, please provide access to your home when we, or one of our contractors, contact you.
Gas safety
If you’re a tenant and have a gas meter or gas appliance in your home, when you first move into your home, we’ll do a gas safety inspection and provide you with a copy of your Landlords Gas Safety Certificate (LGSC).
To ensure your safety, we’re required to come back and do this once a year. We’ll contact you two months before your LGSC is due to give you enough time to arrange an appointment that works for you.
What happens during the inspection?
During this inspection, we’ll check all of your gas service and appliances are safe, and that your carbon monoxide and fire detectors are working correctly.
You'll be provided with a copy of the LGSC within 28 days after we have visited.
If your home is heated by LPG, oil, ground or air source systems, we’ll also inspect and service these annually.
If you smell gas or suspect there's a gas leak, leave your home immediately and call the National Gas Emergency number on 0800 111 999.
If you know where the gas supply is, switch it off. Once you've reported the gas leak, contact us at any time on 01202 319 119.
Further information on gas safety.
Electrical safety
Before you move in, we'll inspect and test your home to make sure the electrical installation is safe.
We also complete an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) on all communal electrical systems and customers' homes every five years. We'll contact you before your electrical safety check is due to let you know when we'll visit.
If you’re a leaseholder or shared owner, you're responsible for making sure that the gas and electrical systems and appliances in your home are kept in a good condition and safe.
If you sub-let or rent your home, you're deemed to be acting as a Landlord and you're required to:
- Undertake a LGSC every year and provide a copy of the certificate to your tenant (where a gas service or appliance is present)
- Undertake an EICR every five years
- Install a carbon monoxide alarm, where a gas appliance is installed
- Install fire detection (smoke and heat alarms) on every level of your home (for example, by the front door and on the bedroom landing)
- Complete a water risk assessment (WRA)
Please note that if you rent your home from Stonewater, the terms of your tenancy state you cannot sub-let your home.
Staying fire safe
We do Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) of all our blocks of flats and specialised housing units on a risk led program – which means that the greater the risk, the more often we'll attend. We also check the performance of communal fire doors and flat enterence doors on a regular basis.
More information about our Fire Risk Assessment program.
All our customers' homes are fitted with fire (smoke and heat) detectors, and we test and inspect these annually.
Please test your alarms weekly. If you believe that your smoke or heat detectors are not working correctly, or it starts beeping (which means it needs a new ten-year lithium battery), please contact us.
If you’re a leaseholder or a shared owner you can contact your local Fire & Rescue Service and request a Safe & Well Visit, during which the crew will install smoke detectors free of charge.
Know your plan
It’s important that everyone in your home knows what to do if there is a fire in your home or in another part of your building. Your buildings fire evacuation strategy will be provided at sign up. All buildings are fitted with a Fire Action Notice, which is located in the block noticeboard or at each building entry point.
If you or anyone in your home would be unable to leave your home in the event of an emergency without assistance, please contact us at buildingsafety@stonewater.org to let us know.
Further information on staying fire safe.
Lifting equipment checks
We inspect all our passenger lifts at six monthly intervals and service them monthly. If you have an aid or adaptation in your home you're responsible for testing and maintaining it to ensure it's safe for use.
If you've entered into a service agreement with us and have asked us to do this for you, we'll visit every six months to inspect the installation.
Water safety
If your home or building has stored water (your cold water comes a water tank) we’ll complete a water risk assessment, which will be reviewed at regular intervals. The risk assessment will tell us what checks, testing and work we need to do to the water system to ensure the water is clean and suitable for drinking.
Over the next ten years we’re working to move all homes onto mains fed water.
If you’re going to be away from home for more than two weeks, follow our safety tips to staying water safe.
Asbestos
Asbestos is present in some of our homes and communal areas of our buildings. We hold an “asbestos register” which details the location, extent, type and risk posed by asbestos containing materials (ACMs) across all buildings.
We regularly re-inspect material to ensure that it hasn’t been damaged or its condition hasn’t deteriorated. Where we identify a risk, or we need to remove an ACM to allow us to do repairs or maintenance work, we use a licenced contractor.
If you believe that you have damaged asbestos in your home or building please contact us.