Emergency Out of Hours Callouts
*** IMPORTANT PLEASE READ - If a contractor attends an emergency call-out, out of normal working hours, and determines that the problem is not an emergency and that it could have been dealt with during normal office hours then you may be charged the increased cost incurred ***
What constitutes an emergency?
An emergency repair means those repairs which are necessary to resolve an immediate risk to the safety, security or health of a tenant, the general public or the property.
Your responsibilities if you think you may have an emergency
As a tenant, you have a duty to keep expenditure for your landlord to a minimum. Before calling an emergency contractor, please take appropriate steps to investigate the situation. This may include but is not limited to checking manuals (on-line or hard copies) seeing if neighbouring houses have power/gas/water outage (if supply is down) etc.
We have provided emergency contact information on our website but the contact numbers supplied to you when you have an emergency should only be used in an emergency when our offices are closed, and your landlord is not contactable (if that is your normal method of fault reporting).
Types of emergencies where an Emergency Call might be appropriate
Below is a list of situations that you may encounter outside of normal working hours and how you should assess the level of urgency. The use of common sense is needed when calling out a contractor out of hours when our offices are closed.
Water leak
If you experience a severe water leak at the property, then you must look to turn off the stopcock immediately to isolate the mains water supply.
Please contact us immediately during office hours and if it is outside these times please call an emergency plumber.
We recommend that unless your landlord has a plumbing contract in place (you will have been notified if there is) you should contact H20 Plumbing, Heating and Gas Services – 07515 943867
If you cannot contact H20 Plumbing, Heating and Gas Services, then please contact another emergency plumber to visit the property.
No heating or hot water
A plumber will attend during cold temperatures as an emergency if:
- You have checked the timer to confirm the times are set correctly.
- You do not have an immersion heater or an alternative method of heating.
- You have young children
- An elderly or vulnerable person lives at the property
We recommend that unless your landlord has a heating contract in place (you will have been advised if they do) you should contact H20 Plumbing, Heating and Gas Services – 07515 943867
If you cannot contact H20 Pumbing, Heating and Gas Services, then please contact another emergency plumbing & heating engineer to visit the property.
Broken windows or doors following a break-in
In the first instance, please contact Mr Simon Baulk – 07903 721 983 who will endeavour to help and will arrange an appropriate contractor if he agrees that the matter is an emergency.
Should Simon Baulk be unavailable you can instruct a builder to attend:
- To check that the building is safe and make any necessary repairs that are deemed necessary until normal working hours and our office can take instructions from the landlord’s insurance company.
You can instruct a handyman to attend:
- To temporarily board up the window/make the property safe and will re-attend during working hours to replace glass/doors etc. (This can often be arranged via the police when attending the crime location)
...But you must first report the damage to the police and obtain a crime reference number.
No lights
In the first instance please contact Mr Simon Baulk – 07903 721 983 who will endeavour to help and arrange an appropriate contractor if he agrees that the matter is an emergency.
Should Simon Baulk be unavailable you can instruct an electrician to attend if:
- You have checked the fuse box and checked that the switches have not tripped.
- You have contacted the Electricity Board to ensure they have not turned off the power in the street/building.
Serious structural damage e.g., storm damage
In the first instance, please contact Mr Simon Baulk – 07903 721 983 who will endeavour to help and arrange an appropriate contractor if he agrees that the matter is an emergency.
Should Simon Baulk be unavailable you can instruct a builder to attend:
- To check that the building is safe and make any necessary repairs that are deemed necessary until normal working hours and our office can take instructions from the landlord’s insurance company.
Smell of gas
You must call Cadent on 0800 111 999
Lost keys
In the first instance, please contact Mr Simon Baulk – 07903 721 983 who will endeavour to help and arrange an appropriate contractor if he agrees that the matter is an emergency.
Please note that if you have left your keys in the property or you have lost them, you will be liable for the contractor's charges and cost of materials such as a new lock and the cost of additional sets of keys that may be required by Tenants, Landlord and Landlords representatives and Agent.
If this is the case, please contact the emergency Locksmith directly, Mr Andy Bethwick – 01727 240 169.
Please be aware of the following:
- If a contractor attends an emergency call-out, out of normal working hours, and determines that the problem is not an emergency and that it could have been dealt with during normal office hours then you may be charged the increased cost incurred.
- If the problem has arisen as a result of tenant misuse, then you will be charged for the works.
- A contractor's rates are significantly increased due to it being out of hours, therefore, if you can wait until the next working day it is beneficial
- If Collinson Hall or your Landlord consider the emergency call-out necessary, you will be fully reimbursed.
- If you have a non-urgent property problem, please report the matter on your tenant app
- Wherever possible, please leave repairs until the next working day as only absolute emergencies should be dealt with by our out of hours team or emergency contractors
- We would ask for your understanding on what constitutes a genuine emergency.