Responsibilities
Our and your responsibilities
It can be pretty frustrating when something in your home breaks. To make sure your repair is dealt with as quickly and smoothly as possible, it’s important you know if the repair is our responsibility or yours. Here you can see some examples of repairs we may be responsible for, but always remember to check your tenancy agreement for full details.
Bathroom
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Baths and showers
- Sinks
- Toilets
- Some fixtures and fittings (see your responsibilities)
- Taps
- Tiles fitted by us
What are my responsibilities:
- Bath and sink plugs or chains
- Clearing blockages caused by misuse to baths, sinks and basins
- Shower curtains or rails
- Toilet roll holders
- Toilet seats
General
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Ceiling hatch
- Communal lighting
- Emergency lighting
- Entry phones
- Fire extinguishers
- Gas appliances
- Lifts
- Refuse chutes
What are my responsibilities:
- Cleaning and replacing carpets and flooring
- Door furniture including cupboard doors (if installed by you)
- Floor tiles and floor finishes
- Rubbish disposal
- Wardrobes
Electricity and power
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Electrical wiring
- Fuse boxes
- Fuses in circuit breakers and fused spurs
- Wall sockets
- Washing machine fittings provided by us
What are my responsibilities:
- For your safety, electrical repairs must always be carried out by someone qualified to do so
- Domestic appliances such as cookers, freezers, fridges and washing machines (unless provided by Home Group and specifically referenced in your tenancy agreements)
- Replacing light bulbs
- TV aerials (this might be different if it’s in a communal area)
- TV and telephone outlet points
Kitchen
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Cooker sockets
- Drawers
- Electric cookers provided by us
- Extractor fans
- Kitchen units fitted by us
- Plinths
- Sink bowls and drainers
- Tiled splash-backs fitted by us
- Worktops
- Units
Plumbing and heating
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Banging pipes
- Chimney and flues
- Chimney sweeping
- Coal bunker if you have solid-fuel heating
- Domestic cold water supply
- Electric storage system
- Electric warm-air system
- Fireplace tiles
- Gas-fired system with radiators
- Gas-fired warm-air system
- Smoke detectors
- Solid-fuel system
- Tiles loose or broken around the fire
Windows and doors
Home Group's responsibilities:
- All locks fitted by us
- Door chains fitted by us
- Door entry systems
- Doorbells fitted by us
- External doors
- Handles and latches to internal doors
- Internal doors
- Replacing glass in doors and screens caused by criminal damage
- Window frames and fittings
What are my responsibilities:
- Curtain tracks or battens
- Doorbells and alarms (if installed by you)
- Hasps, padlocks or door locks (if installed by you)
- Internal doors, finishes and fittings damaged by misuse or neglect
- Replacing glass in doors and screens (unless due to criminal damage)
- Replacing or cutting new door keys
- Wilful property damage
Property structure
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Ceilings
- Damp-proof course
- Floors
- Skirting boards
- Stairs
- Walls
- Brickwork
- Chimneys
- Flashing
- Handrails
- Render
- Roof
- Balustrade
What are my responsibilities:
- Minor plastering to repair a small crack
Garden/outdoor area
Home Group's responsibilities:
- Brick and concrete sheds provided by us
- CCTV
- Downpipes (rain and soil)
- Fences between gardens (in Home Group’s ownership)
- Footpaths
- Gates
- Graffitti
- Gutters
- Loose or missing flashing
- Manholes and drains
- Outside decoration
- Outside woodwork
- Posts and wires that are boundaries (in Home Group’s ownership)
- Steps to entrances
- Trees in communal areas not adopted by a local authority
What are my responsibilities:
- Cutting grass, hedges or shrubs within your property
- Sheds
- Trees within your garden
- Washing lines or rotary dryers
How do I know who pays for a repair in my home?
Not sure who covers the cost of a broken boiler? A dripping tap? What about a problem in the garden? You can find out who's responsible for what in your tenancy or lease agreement. If we’re responsible then you won’t need to pay for the cost of the repair. But there’s also a few repairs you’ll be responsible for too.
What are Home Group’s responsibilities?
We’ll do everything we can to fix any problems we’re responsible for quickly and efficiently, and you can easily report a repair to us online.
Please bear in mind though that we’ll have to charge you for any repairs that are not our responsibility or any property damage that has been caused through misuse or neglect by you, your family or any visitors you have or any criminal damage. This is called a rechargeable repair.
The type of tenancy you have will also affect who’s responsible for what, so make sure you take a look through your tenancy agreement. It’s also important to arrange contents insurance as soon as you move in, in case any of your belongings are damaged in connection to a repair (for example, water damage from burst pipes).
We’ll always carry out repairs in an emergency, even if the repair is your responsibility. If this happens then you might still need to cover the cost of the work. We also will take account of exceptional circumstances.