Repairs information for homeowners in England

If you own your home on a freehold basis, then you will be responsible for all repairs to your own property but we may be responsible for repairs to any communal facilities.

If you're one of our leasehold customers (which includes shared owners), your lease will state what repairs you are responsible for and what repairs (if any) we are responsible for. Any repairs we carry out will usually be paid for through your service charge.

You will usually be responsible for all repairs inside your home, including services that are exclusive to your home (like water, gas and electricity supplies and drains, even where these are situated outside of the property).  If you live in a house you will usually also be responsible for maintenance and repairs to the outside of the property.

Leaseholders are responsible for keeping any gas and electrical appliances within their own home in a safe condition and you should ensure that regular safety checks are carried out.  If your lease permits sub-letting, and you are a landlord yourself, you should ensure that you understand your obligations regarding the safety of your tenants.

We will usually be responsible for the maintenance of the structure of the building (in the case of apartment blocks) as well as any common parts of the building and/or the estate where your home is situated.  This might include lifts, communal gardens, un-adopted lighting or roads, pipe and drains serving more than one property etc. Under the terms of your lease you will be responsible for a proportion of the cost of communal repairs.

If the repair is our responsibility then you can report a repair by contacting us on 0345 141 4663 and choosing option 3.

It’s important that communal areas are kept in good repair so occasionally we’ll need to repair, replace or redecorate communal areas and facilities of the building and/or the estate where you live. These are sometimes called “major works” and “cyclical redecorations”.

Yes, for any expenditure to which you will need to contribute £250 or more, we are required by law to follow a consultation process which is called ‘Section 20’. The consultation will mean that you have a stated period of time to comment on the work and, under some circumstances, you may nominate a contractor (provided they can meet our procurement requirements).

We are also required under Section 20 to consult you when appointing a contract under a Long Term Qualifying Agreement. These are agreements which exceed one year in length and to which leaseholders will contribute more than £100 per year.

Some repair costs may be covered by the regular service charge that you pay.

If your lease or legal contract allows us to collect a regular contribution from you to be added to a reserve fund (sometimes called a building, sinking or cyclical fund) then the cost of works will be charged to this fund. If the fund does not cover the cost of the planned work, or there is no fund, then you will be sent an invoice after the work is complete or asked to pay extra at the end of the financial year when you receive your summary statement of expenditure (usually in September, dependent upon the terms of your lease).

See below for your payment options:

Online

Cheque payable to Home Group Limited and send to Leasehold Team, 2 Gosforth Park Way, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE12 8ET

Direct Debit by calling 0345 141 4663 and choosing option 3

Debit or credit card by calling 0345 141 4663 and choosing option 3

BACS payments,  you can make a payment directly into the following account:

Home Group Limited

Sort code: 20-59-79

Account number: 63908208

Please ensure that you quote your tenancy reference when making payments.

If you need advice on the terms of your lease, service charge or any other lease related issues, The Leasehold Advisory Service is an independent body funded by the government which provides free advice on the law affecting residential leasehold property in England and Wales. 

In most cases where Home Group is the freeholder of your building, we are required under the terms of the lease to provide buildings insurance cover on your behalf. We have a bulk insurance policy which covers all leasehold and shared ownership properties where we are the freeholder. The cost of this is recovered through your service charge. However if there is a managing agent for your property they may provide the insurance cover.

Our buildings insurance is currently with Zurich Municipal, the policy number is JHA-22S677-0013. If you need to make a claim you can contact them directly on 0800 335500 during office hours or their 24 hour emergency repairs service can be contacted on 0800 0280336.

An excess of £100 applies which all leaseholders have to pay for each and every claim they submit, this increases to £1,000 for subsidence related claims.

If you are not sure who provides the insurance cover for your property, or you would like a claim form, or a copy of the summary of cover, then please contact us on 0345 141 4663 during office hours or email leaseholdcustomersupport@homegroup.org.uk

Yes, an excess of £100 applies which all leaseholders have to pay for each and every claim they submit, this increases to £1,000 for subsidence related claims.

The buildings insurance we arrange does not include the contents of your home and you are responsible for arranging your own contents insurance.