The City Council has an Emergency Repair Service to deal with very urgent repairs outside normal working hours. If you have an emergency repair, phone the emergency service on (0116) 254 9439 and give full details of the problem.

Emergency repairs include:

The emergency service only deals with very urgent work, not jobs that can safely be left until normal working hours. The teams usually 'make safe' or do temporary repairs.

Permanent repairs are left for normal working hours, so please do not expect the job to be done fully during emergency hours.

Gas leaks

If you smell gas you should immediately telephone British Gas - Transco. Their FREEPHONE number is 0800 111 999. They will deal with any report of a gas escape free of charge.

During the year our gas servicing team will call and carry out a safety check on all gas appliances supplied by the City Council.

Gas appliance servicing

As well as repairs, we are also responsible for carrying out an annual safety check of all gas appliances that belong to the city council.

Faulty appliances can give off poisonous carbon monoxide. This gas cannot be seen or smelt, but can kill. Faulty appliances can also cause explosions.

We therefore have a legal duty to make sure that all our appliances are checked every year by properly qualified gas engineers. Our tenants also have a duty under their 'Conditions of Tenancy' to allow council staff in to their homes to carry out the checks.

Gas safety checks

When the safety check is due we deliver a card at the property, suggesting an appointment time. If this time is not convenient the tenant is asked to contact us to arrange another time.

The engineer then calls to carry out the check. If the tenant is not in, they leave a second card, asking the tenant to contact us to arrange a time.

If we do not hear from the tenant, we then send a letter, explaining why we have to get in to check the gas appliances and asking them to get in touch.

If we still hear nothing, we have to issue a formal 'final appointment', warning the tenant that we will start legal proceedings to gain entry to the property.

If in the end we are forced to break in to carry out the safety checks, the tenant will be charged the cost of gaining entry.

Reporting gas repairs

Please report any gas appliance repairs to our repairs call centre on (0116) 252 7007. Outside working hours please contact our emergency repairs number on (0116) 254 9439.