Repairs and Maintenance Policy

At Cross Keys Homes we want to ensure every resident has a safe and decent home, and access to services they can rely on. We want our residents to feel happy and safe in their homes and we know that providing a consistent, resident focused repair and maintenance service is key to ensuring that.

Our repairs service aims to deliver a prompt, high quality service to all residents. The type of repairs we undertake, and the timeframe for doing them, is determined by several factors which include: 

• The type of tenancy that is in place.
• Our legal and regulatory duties – including health and safety requirements and Awaab’s Law.
• Who is living in the home and whether a residents age, health or other circumstance means we need to adjust how or what work is completed.
• Our agreed timeframes.
• Any warranties or defect periods that may be in place.

If you want to find out in more detail how we will support you, please keep reading. This policy outlines how we will do this. It sets the standard of service and conduct that residents can expect from anyone delivering repairs on our behalf. It clarifies our repairing responsibilities for different types of repairs and reminds residents of their own responsibilities.

This policy relates to all rented properties and communal areas managed by CKH. It covers repairs and maintenance work carried out CKH, its appointed contractors and their sub-contractors completing routine, urgent and emergency repairs. Separate policies cover major, planned, and empty homes (voids) work.

Our commitment to you

We are committed to providing you with a warm, safe, good quality home and to ensure that any repairs or maintenance needed to your home are carried out in a professional manner and within set timescales including those set out in Awaab’s Law.  

We are committed to:  

• Delivering a reliable, excellent repairs service for our residents. 
• Providing all residents with a service that is fully accessible, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. 
• Listening to you so we fully understand your repair and individual circumstances. 
• Responding promptly and accurately recording all repair requests. 
• Getting things right first time, wherever possible. 
• Completing repairs in line with our timeframes outlined below.
• Keeping you informed when things may take a little longer or require more visits by keeping you updated on progress, anticipated timescales and any delays. 
• Providing you with clear information regarding your rights and responsibilities for repairs and maintenance.
• Complying with all our legal and contractual requirements which includes: section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1985 and the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 (Appendix A). Awaab’s Law 2025.
• Meeting the requirements of the Consumer and Economic standards prescribed by the Regulator of Homes England.
• Checking and monitoring our performance to help us to continue to improve what we do.

Reporting repairs

You can report repairs 24 hours a day by telephone on 01733 385000 . Emergency repairs should always be reported by telephone.

Repairs can also be reported:

• Through MyCKH on our website.
• By live chat on our website (Monday – Friday, 8am to 5pm only).
• In person at CKH Customer Central.
• To your Scheme Manager if you live in a retirement housing, temporary, community or extra care housing.

Repairs can be reported by an agreed third party on your behalf providing all the relevant information is provided. The third party must have written consent and approval from CKH.

When you report a repair, we will:

• Ask a series of questions to gain a better understanding of the repair and your individual circumstances. This will help us identify the works required and the severity/impact of the problem and any immediate risks.
• Use all the available information to decide if the repair is an emergency, urgent or routine repair. This could be different for different residents and at different times of the year as it will depend on the individual circumstances.
• Record accurate details of the repair, where it has occurred and your circumstances.
• Tell you the type of repair we have allocated so you know what to expect.
• Provide you with alternative accommodation if at any stage, there is a risk of harm to you or anyone else in your home and we cannot make your home safe.
• Whenever possible book an appointment to complete the repair when you call us. If we cannot book an appointment, we will tell you when we will. External repairs where you do not need to be present will be completed within the timeframe but there will not be a specific appointment.
• Respond to all repairs according to the type of repair. You must allow us access to meet these timescales, which means someone over the age of 18 must be at home.
  
  
  • Emergency repairs are those that pose ‘an imminent and significant risk of harm’ to your health or safety.
  • These will be investigated and made safe within 24 hours of being reported.
  • We cannot give you an appointment for emergency repairs, but we will tell you when we aim to attend. This could be within 1, 2 or 24 hours. You are expected to ensure access to your until we are able to attend.
  • Our investigation will determine if further work is required.
  • The nature of the works will determine how long this will take, if we are not able to complete the further work within three working days (following the conclusion of the investigation), we will provide you with a written report outlining the investigation findings and the next steps, so you understand what to expect.
  • We will aim to start this work within 5 working days following the conclusion of the investigation. If specialist equipment or parts are required and it will take longer than 5 working days, we will tell you when we expect to start work.
    
    

• • Urgent repairs are those repairs which are not an emergency, but which result in the loss of basic facility, or where further damage will be caused if the problem is not dealt with urgently.
  • We will attend and complete these repairs within seven calendar days of being reported.
    
    

• • Routine repairs are those repairs which can wait without causing major inconvenience to you. We will attend and complete these repairs within 28 calendar days of being reported.
    
    

• At all times we will work with you to agree appropriate timescales, appointments, and next steps to complete the work.
• We will aim to work within these timescales, but if the work is more complex, for example, where we need to order a specialist parts, equipment, or a specialist contractor to complete the repair – such as roofing work requiring scaffolding, we will let you know upfront how long the work may take. We will always keep you informed and aim to work as quickly as possible.
• Communicate with you throughout the process and record all contacts.

• All day access – 8am – 6.30pm
• Morning – 8am – 1pm
• Afternoon – 1pm – 6.30pm
• School run – 9.30am – 2.30pm
• Saturday – 8am – 1pm

Defects and New Build repairs - if you are in a new home (up to 12 months from when it was built), repairs are undertaken in the Defects Liability Period. These repairs and defects are the responsibility of the developer to resolve and are subject to different rules and timescales. We will explain this when you report a repair.

Repair classifications

All repairs will be assessed to determine the category. This will be dependent on the individual circumstances. For example, a loss of heat could be classed as an emergency if it is in a period of cold temperatures or there is a resident in the home that has a physical or mental condition that could be affected by the cold. If it is in the warmer months and there are no physical or mental conditions that will be affected it could be classed as an urgent repair.

Emergency repairs

Examples of emergency repairs include:

• Issues affecting doors security (individual or communal) either preventing access or unable to lock.
• Emergency pull cords (LifeLine) not working.
• Emergency lighting total system failure.
• Key fobs not working.
• Fire alarm activations.
• Gas leaks.
• Broken boilers (depending on individual circumstances).
• Total loss of water supply.
• Electrical hazards such as exposed wiring.
• Significant leaks.
• Broken external doors or windows that present a risk to home security.
• Significant damp and/or mould that could impact on your health.
• Significant structural defects or disrepair.

Urgent repairs

Examples might include:

• A minor leak to the roof.
• A partial loss of heating.
•   Broken boiler.
• Overflowing sewage.
• Taps which won’t turn on.

Routine repairs

• Leaking gutter.
• A damaged kitchen unit.
• Broken fence.
• Broken or cracked floor tiles.
• Minor leaks.
• Dripping taps.

Your responsibilities

Keeping homes and neighbourhoods well-maintained is a joint effort. We have set out a number of clear responsibilities and expectations for residents in their tenancy agreements to help to achieve this. Broadly, you are responsible for:

• Keeping your home clean and in good condition.
• Preventing damage through neglect or misuse.
• Reporting repairs to us promptly
• Reporting any criminal damage or vandalism to the police.
• Allowing us access to carry out repair work, inspections and servicing as required.
• Carrying out minor repairs, replacements, and redecoration.
• Keep gardens and communal areas tidy and free of rubbish.
• Ask permission before carrying out any alteration or home improvement work (see our Home Improvement policy).
• Insure your own possessions with home insurance.
• You will also have to repair/replace items that they have not properly looked after, or which your family or visitors have broken or damaged by neglect or misuse.

Below is a list of repairs that you are responsible for:

• Clearing blocked sink/bath/basin wastes (blocked by waste food/hair).
• Clearing blocked toilets (blocked by nappies, sanitary towels, baby wipes, or anything else that has been put into the toilet by accident).
• Connection or removing of any appliances, for example, washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher, and cooker (a gas cooker must be installed by a registered Gas Safe engineer)
• Driveways and patios.
• Fixtures and fittings provided with the home, for example, battery operated doorbells, built-in wardrobes, coat hooks/rails, bathroom cabinets, toilet roll holders.
• Garden maintenance.
• Garden sheds (wooden and metal).
• Internal decoration.
• Internal doors.
• Lost keys (including changing locks, replacing keys, providing new fobs, or any additional keys locks required).
• Minor repairs, for example, tightening loose screws or cupboard door hinges.
• Minor cracks to inside plasterwork if the structure is not affected.
• Minor repairs to walls and redecorating after repairs.
• Painting and/or staining fencing, gates, and sheds.
• Re-lighting pilot lights on boilers.
• Replacing light bulbs.
• Replacing floor coverings except permanent coverings such as quarry tiles.
• Replacing plugs (and/or chains) for sinks, baths and washbasins.
• Replacing bath panels.  
• Replacing toilet seats.
• Replacing shower heads and hoses.
• Replacing clothes lines and rotary dryers (except in shared blocks and sheltered schemes).
• Repairs, where necessary, after alterations, improvements or other work which you have carried out or organised.
• Repairing or replacing inside door handles, locks, latches.
• Replacing broken glass including double glazed units.
• Setting the heating controls.
• Television aerials (unless a communal aerial in a sheltered scheme or block).
• Testing and replacement of batteries for smoke alarms (if you have refused hard-wired alarms).
• Adjusting internal doors if you have installed flooring/carpets.

 
Our Responsibilities

We believe that no one should live with damp and mould. You can find full information on our approach to supporting residents affected by damp and mould on our website and in our Damp and Mould policy. Please call us straight away 01733 385000 if you have any signs of damp and mould.

We are also responsible for maintaining the following items in good repair and working order, unless you, your family or visitors have caused the damage deliberately or through misuse:

• Basins, sinks, baths, toilet, flushing systems and waste pipes.
• Boundary walls.
• Boundary fencing.
• Communal areas (as shared areas).
• Drains, gutters and outside pipes.
• Defective plasterwork e.g. popping and de-bonding from the structure of the wall (not minor decorative cracks).
• Heat recovery systems.
• Inside walls, skirting boards, thresholds, floors and ceilings (but not painting and decorating).
• Internal fire doors.
• Outside doors (including door handles, locks and hinges), windowsills, window catches, window frames including any necessary outside redecoration and mains powered doorbells.
• Passenger lifts.
• Pathways, steps and other means of access to external doors (not including driveways or patios).
• Rainwater harvesting.
• Shared areas such as halls, stairways and passageways.
• Sockets and light fittings.
• Structure and outside of the property including garages and brick outhouses.
• Sweeping the chimney (when in use).
• The roof/s.
• The installations water heating, sanitation, and water, gas and electricity supplies (electric wiring, gas and water pipes, heating systems including the supply of hot water to the home.

The right to repair

We must, by law, carry out certain urgent repairs, which could cause harm to your health, safety or security. This is called the ‘Right to Repair.’ Please contact us for a list of qualifying repairs and timetables if you require it. They are limited to £250 in cost.

If we fail to carry out or complete the qualifying repairs within the specified time scale and without good reason, you may, in certain circumstances, have the repair carried out by a secondary approved contractor. Failure by the secondary contractor to complete the work within the same specified time scale would enable you to make a claim for compensation from us.

This scheme can only be used as a last resort and with our consent. If you do not comply with the scheme requirements, you may be required to pay the contractor’s costs.

Consultation and customer feedback

We will:

• Provide a range of customer survey methods to measure resident satisfaction and feedback with services. Following contact with the repairs service or when repairs are completed, we will give you the opportunity to comment on the service received and the quality of the work carried out to your home. Your feedback will be used to review and improve services.
• Consult on significant changes to the service through our resident engagement framework.
• Continually improve services by involving and consulting with residents through our Service Improvement Panel.
• Where reasonable and practical, involve you in selecting choices of products for example colours, and types of kitchen fitments, colour choices for external painting and external insulation.
• Involve and consult with you when you are affected by environmental or communal improvements to your areas, flats or estates.
• Ensure resident and leaseholder representatives are involved in the procurement of new repairs and maintenance contracts and services.
• Consult with leaseholders in accordance with the leasehold and commonhold acts.

Further information:

Who is responsible for managing our repairs service?

Legislation and regulation

This policy is written in accordance with the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

• Landlord and Tenant Act, 1985
• Housing Act 1985/88
• Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018
• The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) introduced under the Housing Act 2004
• Decent Homes Standard
• Right to Repair
• RSH Consumer Standards
• Equality Act 2010
• Awaab's Law 2025

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

We understand that some residents might have unique situations, such as medical conditions, disabilities, or vulnerabilities, which may require us to adjust how we provide our services. This commitment aligns with the Equality Act 2010. We also recognise that disabilities or other challenges can be hidden or temporary. We depend on residents or those supporting them to inform us about any additional needs they have, and to update us if these needs change, so we can respond accordingly.

Here are some examples of how we might implement this policy:

• Carrying out health and safety repairs that would typically be the resident's responsibility.
• Adjusting our service standards or timeframes where a delay would put a resident at increased risk because of a disability or health condition.
• An adjustment to how we communicate with our residents to meet their specific needs. For example, providing information in alternative ways for people who are visually or hearing impaired.

For further information please see our Residents Preference policy. 

Information sharing

Cross Keys Homes has an information sharing agreement with key agencies and contractors to share information in relation to the deliver of our repairs service. Information shared must be relevant and the Data Protection Procedure adhered to when handling data.

Monitoring and review

The Repairs Policy was written and approved in October 2025 and will be reviewed every year – next review October 2026.

Other related policies

• Aids and Adaptations policy
• Damp and mould policy
• Defects policy
• Emergency transfer and temporary re-housing policy
• Planned works
• Moving in standard
• Resident Preferences
• Health and Safety policies covering gas, electricity, asbestos, fire safety, legionella, lifts, Raddon.