Looking after your home
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Maintaining a well-kept home is essential for your comfort and safety. Here, you will find guidelines on how to care for your living space, ensuring it remains a welcoming and secure environment for you and your family.
Essential Rules
- Pay rent on time: Always pay your accommodation and service charges on time. Consistent payments are crucial to maintaining your tenancy.
- Maintain your home by:
- keeping your home reasonably clean
- making sure ensure electrical appliances you own are safe
- keeping gardens or outside areas in a reasonable state
- carrying out minor maintenance tasks, such as changing light bulbs or smoke alarm batteries
- Respect your neighbours: Do not cause any nuisance or annoyance to your neighbours. A peaceful living environment benefits everyone in the community.
- No pets allowed: Pets are not permitted in our accommodation. However, you are allowed to keep assistance dogs for either yourself or members of your household, but you must let us know.
- Avoid alterations: Do not make any changes to the property. Investing in alterations is not advisable, as you may be required to move any time with short notice.
- Report repairs: If you notice any issues with the property, report them immediately. This ensures the property up to good standard and prevents small problems from becoming bigger ones.
- Use the property as your main residence: You must use the accommodation as your only main home. Subletting, abandoning, or using the property for purposes other than your main residence is strictly prohibited.
Your responsibilities
Understanding who is responsible for various repairs and maintenance tasks in your home is essential. Below, we provide a clear breakdown of your responsibilities as a tenant and those of HCBS as your landlord. For more detailed information, please refer to your Tenant Welcome Handbook.
As a tenant you are responsible for:
- replacing light bulbs and fuses
- replacing the batteries in your smoke and CO2 alarms
- replacing toilet seats as needed
- keeping fittings such as cupboards, radiators, and switches in good condition
- keeping all doors, built-in cupboards, and units clean and undamaged
- fixing appliances or furniture that you own
- handling any minor repairs as outlined in your tenancy agreement
- paying for repairs due to damage caused by you, people living with you, or your visitors
- ensuring that electrical appliances you own are safe
- keeping gardens or outside areas in a reasonable state
Your landlord's responsibilites
As your landlord, we are responsible for:
- repairing baths, toilets, sinks, and pipes
- repairing freestanding cookers and refrigerators that have been supplied by us
- repairing electrical fittings such as lights and plugs
- carrying out minor repairs to floors, ceilings, and walls
- repairing the heating and hot water supply
- repairing the outside walls, windows, and doors of the property
- repairing the roof
- repairing gutters, pipes, and drains
- repairing gates and fences
- repairing electrical wiring, gas pipes, and water tanks
- handling external paint work
- dealing with damp problems
- dealing with pests such as rats and cockroaches