Repairs and Maintenance for Landlords
When you sign up with us, one of the things we’ll discuss is how you want to manage the ongoing maintenance of your property or properties.
Together, we must ensure your property meets and is maintained to the standards required by law and by our Local Authority clients.
We also know from experience, that well maintained homes cost less in the long term, so it’s important for protecting your investment.
To keep things simple, we can carry out all repairs on your behalf. We have a team of in-house multi-skilled operatives, as well as specialist gas and electrical engineers who are trained and qualified to keep your homes safe, well-maintained and compliant with legislative standards.
Or, if you prefer, you can take responsibility for carrying out repairs yourself. In this case, it is our responsibility to inform you about repairs that need doing and to ensure they are carried out.
Our repairs team is supported by a customer contact centre which is manned 24-7.
How it works
1. Reporting
When a tenant needs a repair carrying out in their home, they can call our contact centre or log their repair on our online reporting tool. We will assess the need and determine whether it is an emergency or standard repair.
Timescales for completion:
Emergency – where there is an immediate danger to life or limb – within 24 hours
Standard – All other repairs – within 20 days.
For information about tenants’ responsibilities around repairs and maintenance, please see here.
2. Carrying out the work
For landlords who have opted IN to our repairs service:
If the cost of the repair is below £250, we will arrange for one of our operatives to carry out the repair and notify you by letter that the job is being undertaken on your behalf.
For standard repairs above the £250 threshold, we will write or call you with an estimate before we go ahead with the work (provided it is not an emergency).
The cost for repairs carried out will be deducted from your next month’s rental income.
We calculate the cost of repairs using an industry standard costing system known as the National Housing Federation Schedule of Rates v6.3 + a 15% management and administration charge.
For landlords who have opted OUT of our repairs service:
We will contact you to let you know a repair is required and the timescale in which it needs to be completed.
You can then liaise with the tenant and arrange for your own contractor to attend, or carry out the work yourself if you are qualified to do so.
Alternatively, at this point, you may ask Mears Living to carry out the work on your behalf. We will provide you with a full, competitive quote before we go ahead (provided it is not an emergency).
If we cannot reach you or if you do not complete the work within the specified timescale, Mears Living will step in and do the work in default. We will charge you for this work at a rate of Nat Fed SOR v6.3 + 100% + £100 attendance fee + VAT.
Once you have completed any works, you will need to send us photos and provide evidence that the work has been carried out to the correct standards.