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.
Emergency repairs include:
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Dangerous electrical faults
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Fire damage
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Heating failures involving elderly or sick people
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Major plumbing faults (resulting in large scale loss of water).
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 and gas safety checks
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 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 these checks.
When the safety check is due we deliver a card suggesting an appointment time. If this time is not convenient you are asked to contact us to arrange another time.
The engineer then calls to carry out the check. If you are not at home they leave a second card, asking you to contact us to arrange a time.
If we do not hear from you, we then send a letter explaining why we have to get into the property to check the gas appliances and asking again for you to get in touch.
If we still hear nothing, we have to issue a formal 'final appointment', warning that we will start legal proceedings to gain entry to the property.
We must carry out this safety check. If we are forced to break in to do this at this stage, you will be charged for this, so please work with us to make sure all your gas appliances are safe.
Reporting gas repairs
Please report any gas appliance repairs to our Tenants Advice and Repairs Service on (0116) 252 7007. Outside working hours please contact our emergency repairs number on (0116) 254 9439.
