Tenants’ repairs
You are responsible for minor jobs such as:

• Changing fuses
• Clearing blocked sinks and protecting against frost in cold weather

Damage caused by the tenant
As a tenant, you are responsible for repairing any damage caused by you, your family and guests. We might hold you responsible for the cost of rectifying the following damage, unless there are reasonable grounds to show otherwise:

• Caused by overflowing sinks, baths and washing machines,
  blocked drains and damaged waste pipes caused by disposable nappies, plastic bags and so on
• Broken glass and damage caused by breaking in or domestic accidents
• Damage to sinks and toilet pans
• Damage caused by condensation, for example from blocked air vents or by using paraffin or bottled gas heaters, etc
• Damage caused by a member of your family or visitor by acts of vandalism or negligence

Internal decoration
It is your responsibility to decorate the inside of your home. We will decorate the outside and shared parts. If you are disabled or elderly and there is no one to help you, please contact our head office and we may be able to find someone to help although we cannot guarantee this.

Gardening
If you have exclusive use of a garden, you are responsible for looking after it. We will maintain common garden areas but tenants who enjoy gardening and would like to help are always welcome. If you want to do this, please contact your Estate Manager or Sheltered Scheme Manager.

Condensation
Dampness is often caused by condensation. This happens when moist air reaches a cold surface and forms droplets of water.

Condensation can be caused by water vapour and steam from cooking, hot baths or from drying clothes. To reduce the amount of condensation in the air, try to:

• Avoid drying clothes indoors and vent all tumble dryers to the outside
• Have enough ventilation when cooking, keeping lids on saucepans
• Close kitchen and bathroom doors when these rooms are to be used
• Keep a constant background heat in your home during the winter months; this may be cheaper than trying to heat the home from cold in the evening

Do not use paraffin orliquid gas fires – apart from the fire risk, they also give off a lot of water vapour

Frost protection
Serious damage can be done to pipes, cisterns, sinks and basins by water expanding when it freezes in cold weather. The result will only be seen when the water thaws again and flooding happens.

At the start of a cold spell, take these precautions:

• Keep your home as warm as possible
• Know where to find the main stop valve and how to turn it off. (If you think it does not work properly, ask us to check and repair it)