Repairs rights and responsibilities
You are entitled to some repairs free of charge, but there are others you'll need to pay for.
You can find out more about information about your repairs responsibilities by selecting one of the links below:
If you're a council tenant
You're responsible for most minor repairs and maintenance to your home, including:
- electric plugs, fuses and light bulbs
- inside doors, cupboards and handles
- catches and locks
- toilet seats
- broken glass inside your home
- floor tiles
- small cracks in plaster
- decorations
- gardens (including gates, fences, trees, window boxes, etc.)
We're responsible for repairs to the structure, exterior and essential services to your home. These include:
- roofs
- foundations
- external doors, walls and windows
- drains, gutters and outside pipes
- chimneys and stacks (you're responsible for sweeping chimneys)
- brickworks
- major plastering repairs
- floors and ceilings
- installations for water, electricity and gas (including wiring, sockets, fittings, internal pipes and valves)
If you're a leaseholder
You're responsible for repairs to your property, including but not limited to:
- internal walls, doors, cupboards, locks and fittings
- kitchens and bathrooms
- all floors (including floor coverings), ceilings, plastering and decorations
- installations for water, electricity and gas (including electric wiring, sockets. light fittings, plumbing, water pipes that serve your property alone)
- electric plugs, fuses and light bulbs
- broken glass inside your home
- gardens (including gates, fences, trees and window boxes and keeping these tidy and clean)
Your lease specifies the repairs we're responsible for (communal parts of the building and the estate). These include but aren't limited to:
- roofs
- foundations
- outside walls and entrance doors
- drains, gutters and outside pipes
- windows
- exterior doors including entry systems
- chimneys and stacks
- external brickwork
- communal water pipes that run through your property and serve multiple properties
- communal lifts
- communal gardens
These repairs will be added to your annual service charge as a proportion of the total cost shared between the properties in the block or estate. You can get further information on our and your responsibilities on the council home owner services section of the website. Please see your lease for specific details.
If you're a freeholder
You're responsible for all repairs to your own property.
If you live on a council owned estate, we'll be responsible for the upkeep of the estate (eg the estate roads, pavements and communal heating system). Your deeds should set out what shared charges apply to your property.
Page last updated: 24 August 2022
