Repairs
If you have a repair which it is our responsibility to fix, please contact our Customer Service Team on 020 8623 8900 – Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 4.30pm, email repairs@cph-online.co.uk or call in to our office at 1 Headlam Road, London, SW4 8HP.
If your repair is an emergency and the office is closed, please call us on 08457 070 7711.
When you contact us we will ask you what the repair is, how urgent it is and when we can come to fix it. We will give you a category code and offer you a morning or afternoon appointment. If you cannot keep the appointment, please give us plenty of notice so we are able to change it for you.
Always ask for identification when a contractor calls to complete a repair. If you wan tot check the contractor is who they say they are, call us before you let them into your home.
We may contact you some time after the repair is completed to make sure you are happy with our service.
Leaks, repairs and buildings insurance.
What do I do if there is a leak in my flat?
You should locate the source of the leak and contact your neighbour immediately to resolve the situation. If your neighbour is a leaseholder then he or she is obliged to carry out the necessary repair under the terms of the lease agreement. Similarly if your neighbour contacts you then you should carry out the repair immediately. If your neighbour is a leaseholder he or she should be the first point of contact, not the landlord as it is the leaseholder’s responsibility to carry out the repair. See the leaflet ‘How to claim and get help in an emergency’ for advice on tradesman (copies were sent to all leaseholders, you can request a further copy from our customer services team) or visit www.trustmark.org.uk . You should talk to each other and keep each other informed as to how works are progressing. You can make a claim for damage to your property through the buildings insurance policy, claims forms are available at the reception desk at our office and can be posted to you if you call our customer services team on 020 8623 8900. The form will be available for you to print on our webpage www.cph-online.co.uk in the near future. Buildings insurance does not however cover damage to contents. MHT offers contents insurance for leaseholders at a competitive price, leaflets are available at our office and will be available on our webpage in the near future. For guidance on how to make a claim see the leaflet ‘How to claim and get help in an emergency’.
What if my neighbour is away or does not respond?
You should then contact us, we will write to your neighbour outlining any breaches of lease and actions required. We will also advise on what works are required if we are given access to the property. It remains, however, the responsibility of the leaseholder to carry out repairs, we will only take enforcement action in the case of an emergency or if the leaseholder fails to respond within a reasonable time as advised. N.B. leasehold repair obligations are governed by the legally binding lease agreement not by CPH repair categories. We are unable to force entry into a leasehold dwelling to carry out repairs. We can only consider forced entry if the required repair is such that it poses a threat to health and safety (both the property affected and the resident’s health and safety), insurable risks or the structure of the building. In such circumstances we would still attempt to contact the leaseholder first as it remains the leaseholder’s duty to repair. The lease states that repairs must be notified in writing and that the leaseholder must be given a reasonable opportunity (up to 3 months) to carry out repairs unless they are of an emergency nature.
What do I do if my neighbour is a CPH tenant?
Call our customer services team and we will carry out any necessary repairs. You should make any claims for damage to your property through the Buildings Insurance policy.
What do I do if the leak is coming through my window or roof?
If the problem is structural raise a repair through our customer services team. We will make good. Then make a claim through your Buildings Insurance policy.
Why do I have to pay £100 to make a claim when my property is damaged by another leaseholder , one of your tenants or your negligence?
Under the terms of your lease you are responsible for the maintenance and repair works to your property and to pay any excess on demand.
Just because the source of your damage is located in another property does not mean that they are legally liable for the damage due to this unless negligence can be proven. You could try and liaise with your neighbour to split the cost but they are not necessarily under any duty to contribute to your excess payment.
There is a cross liabilities clause on the policy which states “following damage to any buildings covered by this policy the insurer agrees to waive any rights, remedies or relief to which they may become entitled by subrogation against any tenant of such buildings provided that the damage did not result from a criminal, fraudulent or malicious act of the tenant and that the tenant contributes to the cost of insuring the buildings against the peril which caused the damage” this basically says the insurer will not pursue another tenant or leaseholder who is insured under this policy if their property initiated the damage to your property.
It is industry standard to pay an excess on insurance claims, the £100 excess means that the premium paid at renewal will be cheaper than with no excess which benefits the majority of leaseholders.
Our responsibilities
We are responsible for the following repairs in leasehold flats:
- The window frames
- Concrete floors
- Structural walls
- Pipe work, wires and cables that run through your flat to other parts of the building.
And for the following repairs to the building:
- Shared staircases, corridors and balconies
- Door-entry systems
- Lifts
- The roof space
- Roofs
- Main timbers and joists
- Concrete floors
- Foundations
- Window frames (shared and individual)
- Outside walls or dividing walls
- Shared wiring, cabling and pipe work
- Paths and steps (communal)
- Garden fences and walls (communal)
- Communal TV aerials/satellite dishes/cables
- District heating systems (currently only applicable to 140-154 Clarence crescent, 158-178 Clarence crescent, 180-200 Clarence crescent and Aspinall house).
Your responsibilities
You are responsible for any repairs and maintenance inside your home, including:
- Inside floors, walls and ceilings
- Decoration
- Plasterwork
- Kitchen units, sinks, toilets, baths and showers
- Tap washers, fuses, light bulbs etc.
- Window catches, sash cords, locks and glass in windows (unless broken during a burglary)
- Doors, doorframes, door hinges, skirting boards etc.
- Central heating
- Water tanks/boilers
- Plumbing and electrical installations
- Clearing rubbish from the garden (if you own the garden)
- Adding extra security or changing locks if you are locked out (you may be able to get help with this from Clapham Park Project on 020 8678 5900)
- Extractor fans and air vents
- Banisters, staircases etc
- Any damage caused by you or your visitors.