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Repairs & Modernisation

Repairs & Maintenance

Wansbeck Homes is committed to providing a high quality repairs and maintenance service.  Tenants have told us that this is the most important service we provide.  We will make every effort to ensure it is customer focused, responsive, reliable and efficient.  We continually monitor the quality of repairs and assess tenants satisfaction with the work carried out. 

Report a Repair

Phone our repairs freephone 0800 0279 766. This line is open 24 hours and can be used to report repairs outside of normal working hours. However after 5pm and at weekends we will only send out repair workers for emergency situations.

E-mail - repairs@wansbeckhomes.co.uk

By visiting a local area housing office at:

• Ashington, 3 & 4 Dawson House, Poplar Street, Ashington, NE63 0BY
• Bedlington, Front Street West, Bedlington, NE22 5TU
• Newbiggin, The Bungalow, Woodhorn Road, Newbiggin by the sea, NE64 6HG

Write to us - Repairs Request, Wansbeck Homes, Front Street West, Bedlington, NE22 5TU.

Report a repair online.

When you report a repair, we will:

• Record details of repairs accurately and confirm details by letter (except for emergencies)
• Issue you with a job reference number at the time of the report
• Make a convenient appointment with you to complete the repair.

Appointments

For most repairs except emergencies we will offer you an appointment or identify a date when the work will be done.  Our appointment times are:

Early mornings  8am to 10 am

Late mornings  10 am to 12 midday

Early afternoons  12 midday to 2pm

Late afternoons  2pm to 4pm.

Saturday mornings 8am - 12 midday

In addition to these we offer early evening appointments Monday to Wednesday up to 6pm (7pm on Thursday). Please note that work which can be carried out during these appointments is limited to smaller jobs such as replacing locks, electrical sockets, damaged tiles or repairing minor plumbing leaks.

We will book appointments around you, and ask you to please let us know if you cannot be at home for any appointment made.

On the day of your appointment we will:

• Ring ahead to let you know we are on our way
• Leave a calling card if no one is at home with contact details so that you can rearrange or re-report your repair
• Let you know if we have carried out work to the exterior of your home when you were not in
• Notify you if an appointment cannot be kept
• Carry out repairs efficiently and to a high standard
• If we need to leave during the course of the job, we will tell you why and for how long
• Where the job requires work by other trades or contractors, we will arrange for this to be done to ensure the job is fully completed
• On completion of the repair, ensure that your home is left in a safe, clean and tidy condition. We will tell you what has been done and any arrangements for follow up work if required, before leaving your home.

In addition we may contact you by telephone to find out what you thought about the service you received.

Timescales

 

Working in your Home

Our repair workers must:

• Carry an identity card, show it to you and ask your permission to enter your home
• Take reasonable care to protect your belongings from damage, dust and paint
• Be polite and treat you and your home with respect
• Make sure materials and tools do not cause danger and remove them from your home when they are not being used
• Tidy up inside your home at the end of each working day and arrange for rubbish to be cleared away from your home and garden as soon as possible after the work is finished
• Repair any damage caused by their work in your home
• Make sure gas, water and electricity are connected at the end of each day and when the repair is completed
• Warn you about any likely noise or disturbance they will make, and keep it as low as possible
• Keep you informed about how they are getting on with the repair
• Make sure their power tools are fully charged at the beginning of each working day
• Take account of any special circumstances you let us know about .

To find out more Download a copy of the Repairs & Maintenance Service Standard here.

Tenant Responsibilities

Some repairs requested by tenants are not our responsibility and details of these are given in full in our Repairs Handbook. If tenants have installed or changed fittings or agreed to take responsibility for items at the beginning of their tenancy we will not be responsible for repairing these. Similarly we are not responsible for fences between neighbouring homes.

Rechargeable Repairs

If we are requested to carry out a repair resulting from deliberate damage, negligence or carelessness tenants may be asked to pay for the repair before we start the work.

Servicing

Once a year we service all gas and solid fuel we have provided in your home.  Also we must by law carry out a safety check on all gas appliances and pipework in your home.

We carry out these checks to protect the health and safety of you, your family and your neighbours.

Tenants are notified at least 6 days in advance of an appointment for gas servicing and if the appointment is unsuitable we ask that you contact as soon as possible to make alternative arrangements.

Improving and Modernising your Home

Improvement Programme

We have an ambitious 5 year improvements programme that will see thousands of homes modernised to the Wansbeck Homes Standard. 

Download a copy of the full Modernistation Programme here.

The Wansbeck Standard was developed with tenants and is based on what tenants tell us is important to them in terms of both choice and quality.

Examples of the work include:

Windows – timber frames are replaced with PVCu double glazed units.

External doors – old front and rear external doors are replaced with a choice of high security feature doors including multi point, multi action locking systems and spy holes.

Kitchens – new kitchens are fully fitted with a choice of style and layout including choice of floor covering, wall tiling, extractor fan and additional electrical sockets.

Bathroom – new bathrooms are fully refurbished and include a choice of floor coverings, wall tiling with over bath electric shower and extractor fan.  In certain properties we can offer the choice of a shower room instead of a bath.

Heating Systems – We now install energy efficient boilers with a choice of gas (where possible) or electric fire with a choice of hearth and feature surround.   Loft insulation is upgraded where necessary.

Solid Fuel – we offer an option to have solid fuel systems changed to gas when homes are upgraded.

Electrics – improvements include wiring upgrades, hard wired smoke alarms, external security lighting, additional sockets and extractor fans.

When we carry out improvement works, where possible, we will take into account any special needs or requirements you may have.

To deliver the improvement programme Wansbeck Homes is working with three Partners.

Our own Property Maintenance Division is responsible for an extensive programme of door and window replacements and heating upgrades.

Tenant Liaison

Helping you make the right choices about your home improvements and looking after you while the work is underway is of great importance to us.

We have our own Tenant Liaison Officers who are there to answer any concerns or questions, provide support and seek your views on how satisfied you were with the work, both during and after.

Our Contractor Partners provide a full resident liaison service and their officers will visit you before any work starts, help you prepare for the work and visit you every day during the work to make sure things are running smoothly.

Feedback

Wansbeck Homes is committed to ensuring that the promises made in its service standards are met.  This means that we sometimes contact customers by telephone to ask them questions about how their request was dealt with.