Every tenancy carries a number of light maintenance items that are the tenant’s to deal with. None of them are difficult, and knowing which is which will save you a wait and, in some cases, a bill.
If you have worked through the relevant section below and the problem persists, report it to maintenance@emluk.com and tell us what you have already tried. That alone will often save a visit.
1. Lighting
A light that has stopped working is usually one of three things, and all three are the tenant’s responsibility:
- The bulb has gone. Replace it. This is the answer more often than not.
- The fuse or circuit breaker has tripped. Reset it at the consumer unit.
- The breaker keeps tripping after resetting. Something plugged into the sockets is causing it. Unplug everything, reset, and then reconnect items one at a time until the offending appliance reveals itself.
2. A tripping consumer unit
Fuses and circuit breakers on the main board do trip, and occasionally blow. Before reporting it:
- Does it trip when you switch on a light in a particular room? If so, it is almost certainly a blown bulb in that fitting. Replace the bulb.
- Does it keep tripping with all the lights off? Then it is an appliance. Work through everything plugged in, as above.
If the board still trips with every light off and everything unplugged, that is a fault worth reporting.
3. Blocked sinks and drains
Under your tenancy agreement, blocked wastes are the tenant’s responsibility. In practice, what goes down the sink is what causes the blockage: cooking fat and food waste in the kitchen, hair and product in the bathroom.
There is one clear exception. In a converted building with several flats, a blockage can occur in the shared soil or waste pipe, which is the freeholder’s responsibility. That is easy to identify, because it will affect the other flats too. If your neighbours have the same problem at the same time, report it.
4. Boiler pressure
Where the property has gas, it has a boiler. We arrange the annual gas safety certificate, so you can be confident the appliance itself is safe.
Boilers do gradually lose water pressure, and topping it up is a routine tenant task. There is normally a small filling tap or loop beneath the boiler which can be opened to add water until the pressure gauge returns to the normal range, usually between 1 and 1.5 bar when cold.
Close it again afterwards. An over-pressurised system will discharge through the relief valve, and that is a repair.
If you do not have the boiler manual in the property, contact the office and we will find one for you.
5. Smoke detectors
Smoke detectors must never be removed from the ceiling. They are there for your safety and for that of everyone else in the building, and removing one is a serious matter.
An intermittent chirp almost always means the battery needs changing, which is a simple job: release the unit, replace the battery, and secure the unit back onto its base. Test it afterwards with the button on the front.
If the alarm continues to sound or chirp with a fresh battery fitted, report it.
What is not yours
To be clear, the items above are the routine ones. Structural matters, the fabric of the building, installed appliances that fail, heating and hot water systems, and anything affecting the safety or security of the property are dealt with by us. If in doubt, report it. The guidance here is meant to save you a wait.
For anything urgent, check what counts as an emergency and the out-of-hours procedure.