Leaseholders

Repairs

Repairs and Responsibilities

Leaseholder Responsibilities

As a leaseholder, you are responsible for most repairs within your property. This includes

  • Internal fixtures and fittings.
  • General Maintenance.

Council Responsibilities

The Council is responsible for structural elements and maintenance of communal areas within your building and estate. This may include:

  • Roofs.
  • Gutters and rainwater pipes.
  • Communal drains.
  • Loft spaces.
  • External Walls and foundations.
  • Communal entrances, stairways and lighting.

For full details, please refer to  Repair Responsibilities  section  on our website

Reporting Repairs to LBBD

Leaseholders can report structural or communal area repairs through the Council’s housing repairs service. This includes:

  • Roof Leaks
  • Faulty communal lighting
  • Damaged rainwater pipes or gutters
  • Problems with shared entrances or stairways

To report a repair, please use the webform available on the  Housing Repairs | London Borough of Barking and Dagenham section of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham website. 

In case of emergency, contact the housing repairs team directly on 020 8215 3000

Who carries out repairs for the Council?

Barking and Dagenham Management Services (BDMS) have an agreement in place for the undertaking of repairs carried out to our blocks and estates.

If you feel works have not been completed to a satisfactory standard, or if you have any issues with the contractor’s conduct, please go online to report this at https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/council-tenant-and-leaseholder-services/repairs

Please remember, anyone working for LBBD should carry identification. Always ask to see an identity card before letting anyone into your home.

Repairs

Repair responsibilities

Our repair responsibilities

 

Our Repair Responsibilities

 

Your Repair Responsibilities 

As landlord, we maintain and repair the structure, exterior, communal areas, and shared services. 

You must contribute to these repair costs through your LBBD service charges, as outlined in your lease.

Our responsibilities include the repair of: 

  1. Roofs
  2. Foundations
  3. Balconies
  4. External walls
  5. Internal structural walls
  6. Internal party walls
  7. Window frames
  8. External decoration
  9. Chimney flues
  10. Stacks
  11. Gutters
  12. Rainwater pipes
  13. Soil pipes
  14. Sewers
  15. TV Aerial system
  16. Entry phone or door-entry systems
  17. Passages, landings, staircases and other shared parts of the estate
  18. cisterns, tanks, pipes, wires and drains in the property which also serve other properties, such as soil stacks or rising mains
  19. gas and water pipes or electrical supply cables and wires into the block, up to but not including the meter or stopcock within your property
  20. entrance doors (and frames) which open onto the outside of the building (not onto a landing or corridor)
  21. Lift shafts, lifts, and associated machinery
  22. Lighting to shared passages, landings, staircases and other shared indoor parts of the estate
  23. Estate roads,
  24. Car-parking areas
  25. Playgrounds and play equipment
  26. Walls and fences on the estate
  27. General areas you use with others
  28. Storage sheds in a block or shared part of the estate

As the leaseholder, you must keep the interior of your flat clean and in good and tenantable repair and condition. 

This includes covering the cost of all repairs within your home.

It is your responsibility to repair and maintain the following:  

  1. cisterns, tanks, pipes, and wires which serve only your property
  2. non-structural walls
  3. windowpanes (glass)
  4. Internal doors and frames
  5. Internal joinery e.g. skirting boards.
  6. all tiling
  7. all plaster work
  8. sanitary fittings
  9. all internal surfaces to walls, ceiling and floors
  10. internal fixtures, fittings, and equipment
  11. any heating or hot-water services which serve only your property
  12. individual heating systems and appliances
  13. Entrance doors and frames (unless doors open on to the exterior of the building)
  14. stopcocks, including those between the mains supply and pipes serving the property
  15. redecorating (every seven years) including the surfaces of any window frames, sills, entrance doors and frames which open onto the outside of the building
  16. Boundary walls or fences marked with a ‘T’ mark on the Property plan
  17. Problems relating to condensation
  18. Individual store sheds 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please note

Please note the items listed above are for repairs only and should not be misinterpreted with renewals or refurbishment programmes which can be deemed as improvements to the property, examples of these would be as follows:

  • Renewal of roof coverings to the entire block
  • Window replacement to the block
  • External door replacement to the block
  • Renewal of door entry systems
  • External Façade renewals or refurbishment 

To contact Housing repairs, you need to complete a form online to log a repair request. 

Please refer to  Housing Repairs | London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

Outside of our normal operating hours of 8am to 6pm, emergency repairs can be reported by calling 020 8215 3000.

For any alteration enquiries please contact the Sales and Leasehold Team 

Reporting repairs

Leaseholders can report structural or communal area repairs through the Council’s housing repairs service. This includes:

  • roof leaks
  • faulty communal lighting
  • damaged rainwater pipes or gutters
  • problems with shared entrances or stairways

Report a repair online form

In case of emergency, contact the housing repairs team directly on 020 8215 3000

Who does repairs for the Council?

Barking and Dagenham Management Services (BDMS) have an agreement in place for the undertaking of repairs carried out to our blocks and estates.

Please remember, anyone working for Barking and Dagenham Council should carry identification. Always ask to see an identity card before letting anyone into your home.

Damp and mould in leasehold properties

To determine the cause of damp and mould, we assess whether it is due to condensation, how the property is used, or a structural defect.

The Damp and Mould Team do not investigate the interior of leasehold properties. Unless there is clear evidence of a structural issue, leaseholders must provide an independent inspection report to support their assessment. The report should be submitted to email leasehold@lbbd.gov.uk

If the issue is external, the Council will investigate and carry out any necessary repairs.

Damp and mould safety in your home

The main cause of damp and mould is too much moisture in the air. Here are six tips to bring down the humidity in your home:

  1. Heating - Try to keep your home warm with a low background heat of at least 18C, and open windows or doors to unused rooms frequently to circulate the air
  2. Drying clothes - Where possible dry clothes outside. Avoid drying clothes on radiators. Use a clothes airer in a room where a window can be opened, or an extractor or dehumidifier is on
  3. Cooking - Put lids on pans while cooking, close connecting doors, open a window and/or use the extractor fan
  4. Bathing - Use extractor fans where fitted and close connecting doors. After a bath or shower, open the window to let the air circulate and use a squeegee to remove excess water from tiles and shower screens
  5. Windows - Air your home by opening windows when possible. Leave trickle vents open and wipe away condensation on windows
  6. Furniture - Leave a small gap between furniture and outside walls. Avoid putting mattresses directly on the floor as air needs to circulate underneath and declutter rooms to improve air flow

Help and guidance to deal with damp and mould (PDF, 13.8 MB)

For more information or to report an issue with damp and mould, please visit our housing repairs pages.

Leaks in leasehold properties

If you are affected by a leak, report It online or in an emergency, call 0208 215 3000.

If the leak is caused by a leaseholder:

  • you must arrange prompt repairs and complete them within seven days
  • you must get a plumber’s report confirming the work has been completed and the leak has been resolved 

If no action is taken, legal proceedings may be initiated.  The Council may enter the property to carry out the repairs, and all costs will be recharged to the leaseholder

Emergency access

In emergencies, the Council may enter the property without notice to inspect or carry out necessary repairs, as permitted under the lease agreement.

For full details, please refer to our emergency housing repairs page.

Requesting a Replacement key fob

If you need to replace one of your key fobs that is faulty, lost, or stolen you can request a new one by calling 020 8215 3000.

The price of a new fob will cost between £8.90 to £30.00 dependent on the type of fob your building requires and you'll need to pay over the phone with a debit or credit card. Please note that we cannot accept American Express cards.

You may not have to pay for a new key fob if your fob is faulty or stolen. If your key fob was stolen, you'll need to report it to the police and quote your crime or incident reference number when requesting a new one. 

Landing keys can also be ordered and are chargeable at the same price range.

It may take up to 10 days for your new key fob to arrive.  

Fobs will be delivered to either Dagenham Library or Barking Learning Centre and you will be notified which one to collect your fob from via email or phone call. Whoever orders the fob must collect the fob within 14 days of being informed that the fob is ready for collection. If they cannot do so and need an occupant, carer or family member to collect, they will need to carry the ID of the person who ordered and ID for themselves.

Types of ID accepted are:

  • passport
  • driving licence (including provisional)
  • citizen card
  • Council Tax bill (for this financial year)
  • utility bill (Electric/Gas/Water) (dated within the last 3 months
  • bank statement/Building Society statement (dated within the last 3 months)
  • rent statement (dated within the last 3 months)
  • birth certificate can be accepted but only with a proof of address i.e., Council Tax bill,)

Photocopies of ID’s will not be accepted.