Repairs priorities and target timeframes

A Repairs Policy exists which explains Barnet Homes’ approach as your landlord to managing residents repairs both inside your home or in communal/ block areas where you live. You can read Barnet Homes’ full repairs policy here or the repairs policy quick guide.

Barnet Homes intends to respond to every repair as quickly as possible; however, different repairs issues will impact on residents to differing extents, and it is therefore necessary to categorise repairs into different priorities to ensure that we allocate Engineers and Operatives to fix repair issues that present a risk or hindrance to residents first. Each priority has a different target time for attendance, making the repair safe, and completion of the repair. The priorities are categorised according to a priority, or ‘P’ scale.

Repairs within tenants’ homes and communal areas will be categorised using the following priorities and timescales:

Vulnerabilities

• Our Vulnerable Tenants Policy provides more information about how we support tenants, including the types of people who may be considered vulnerable.
• We encourage tenants to make us aware of any vulnerabilities in the household so we can adjust our repairs service to accommodate your needs. For example, if you have a hearing impairment we can ask Operatives to knock louder or for tenants with restricted mobility we will allow more time for the door to be answered before leaving a missed appointment card.
• Where necessary we may also consider increasing the priority of some repairs for residents with vulnerabilities where the hinderance may be made greater by their vulnerability. Please note, this is not an automatic guarantee and all cases will be assessed individually.
• For specialist types of repairs that we refer to a Subcontractor to complete on our behalf, we will alert them to any tenant vulnerabilities as required.
• If you are vulnerable, live in Barnet, and need a repair completed that is your responsibility, Age UK Barnet has a Handyperson scheme. It charges a small hourly rate and can help carry out essential repairs around the home. To find out more information visit www.ageuk.org.uk/barnet/our-services/handyperson-service-2707ebcf-a7fa-eb11-ba5e-00155d585af3/ (this is an external website that is not managed by Barnet Homes), call 0208 1500 963, or email handyperson@ageukbarnet.org.uk.

Emergency repairs

• Our priority is to first make safe all emergency repairs that are reported to us. All emergency repairs must be reported by telephone on 020 8080 6587 due to the urgent response required. Do not email us.
• Emergency repairs are repairs where there is an immediate risk of: an impact on the tenants wellbeing or their health and safety, a total loss of service, severe damage to the structure of the home or a severe impact on the security of the home.
• Barnet Homes provides a 24-hour service for reporting emergency repairs. To report an emergency repair you must call us on 020 8080 6587. If you report an emergency repair and are advised that an Operative/ Subcontractor is attending to make the issue safe and/or complete the emergency repair, please remain in your home until they arrive.
• The Out of Hours Repair Service should only be used to report emergency repairs. If your repair is not an emergency, please report your repair during working hours (8am to 5pm) on the next working day.
• We aim to attend your home and make safe your repair within 4 hours of the emergency repair being reported. If any further repairs are required, a new repair will be raised, and an appointment will be made based on the repair’s priority category. If the full fix remains an emergency, or if it was not necessary to make an initial visit to make an emergency repair safe, we will attend within one working day to complete the repair.

Examples of emergency repairs

• Uncontainable leaks
• No cold-water supply to home
• Complete loss of heating and hot water
• Only one toilet in the home which is not usable
• Severe waste blockages where resident has already unsuccessfully attempted to clear
• Electrical hazards such as exposed or sparking wires
• No power to the home after the tenant has attempted to reset tripped switches
• Unsecured external doors posing a security risk
• Windows that do not lock or close, posing a security or health and safety risk
• Unavailable bath or shower where it is the only means of washing in the home
• No power to the home after the resident has attempted to reset tripped switches
• Failed or missing wired fire and carbon monoxide alarms (note: it is the tenant’s responsibility to replace alarm batteries)

Non-emergency repairs (routine repairs)

• Before reporting a repair, we encourage you to check the responsibilities
• Some repairs need to be completed but are not considered an immediate risk. Tenants can be reasonably expected to live with these ‘routine’ repairs for a short time
  • Routine repairs that are causing a hindrance – in some instances, a repair presents a hindrance to the tenant and their ability to use their home or amenities correctly. If left, the issue could cause damage, discomfort, or inconvenience
  • Routine repairs that are not causing a hindrance – In some instances, a repair issue does not present a hindrance to the tenant and their ability to use their home or amenities correctly. If left longer than 15 working days it would not be expected to cause damage, discomfort, or inconvenience.

Click here to contact us to report a non-emergency repair.