Repairs and maintenance (homeowners)

If you live in a house or bungalow, you’re generally responsible for all of the repairs to your home under the terms of your Shared Ownership lease. 

As you're landlord, we’re generally responsible for keeping the structure and outside of your flat and block in a good state of repair.

The exact details of our responsibilities will be detailed in your lease. 
Here are a few examples:

• The roof
• Outside walls, outside doors, windowsills and window frames (but often not the glass in the windows), including necessary painting and decoration
• Outside drains, gutters and pipes
• Pathways, steps or other access routes
• Shared entrances, stairways, halls and passageways
• Estate and block lighting
• Lifts
• Rubbish chutes, bins or other facilities for storing rubbish
• Shared aerial

Where there is an alternative management structure in place, it may be a management company that is responsible for these areas.

Reporting communal repairs

To report a repair to the structure of your block or communal area please contact us.

If you are a leaseholder, we are responsible as your landlord for the maintenance and improvement of the external and communal parts of the building and/or estate where your leasehold property is situated.

A proportion of the cost of this work is rechargeable to you as a service charge in accordance with the terms of your lease. Your lease will explains this in detail.


Notifications and consultations

In some circumstances, leasehold legislation requires us to carry out formal consultations with leaseholders who may be affected by expensive works.

If the cost to you is likely to be more than £250 (plus VAT), we must provide you with certain information about the works that we intend to undertake, the costs, and the reasons why we consider it necessary.

In addition, should we propose to enter into a long-term contract where you are likely to pay more than £100 in any year, we must also provide you with certain information about the contract, the costs, and the reasons why we consider it necessary.

Notification of these works and contracts is often referred to as a Section 20 consultation. It relates to Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which was first introduced to require landlords to consult their leaseholders about works.

The law has been amended since 1985, and the current rules regarding Section 20 consultation are now contained in Section 151 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

If you live in a new home, the builder who built the home may be responsible for some repairs for a limited time after your home was completed (usually 12 months). 

This is called the defects period, and we’ll tell you the date this period ends.

The builder has to put right any defects in workmanship that appear within the 12-month period of the property being built, and with any services such as heating, plumbing and electrics.

Find out more about the defects period.

How to report defects

If you discover a defect, it's important that you report it to us as soon as possible. The easiest way to report your repair is via MyHome. 

Alternatively you contact us directly.

We will then contact the builder to arrange for them to rectify any problems.

Please note: No alterations or decoration should be carried out to your new home during the defects period, as this may affect the defects warranty on the property and increase the risk of settlement cracks. Learn more about decorating during the defects period.

What happens after the defects period?

At the end of the defects liability period, we’ll inspect your property with the builder. We’ll agree what outstanding repairs (if there are any) will be the builder’s responsibility. The builder’s responsibility ends when they complete these repairs.

Certain components in your home, such as windows, doors and boilers, may still be under warranty, depending on the age of the home.

You would have been provided with any warranty details when you bought the share in your home.

If you are unsure whether a warranty is in place, please contact us.

After the defects liability period has ended, you may be able to claim the cost of repairs against the National House Builders Council (NHBC) cover, provider by the contractor. This cover is different to your buildings insurance cover.

The NHBC policy covers your property for some items for 10 years from the date your property was built. The full details are set out in the NHBC policy manual. 

If you’d like a copy of this policy manual, want to make a claim, or would like more information about this, contact the NHBC directly.

As a Shared Owner, Stonewater (or the superior landlord) is responsible for insuring your home, and you pay for this insurance through your service charge.

View the confirmation of insurance document.

It may be that a repair is covered under the buildings insurance.

Making a claim

The details of our insurance provider would have been provided to you on move in, but if you need to know any more about making a claim through insurance, please contact us.

If you have a lease that has an Initial Repair Period, our responsibilities are slightly different – read more here.

If you live in a house or bungalow, you’re generally responsible for all of the repairs to your home under the terms of your lease.

As you're landlord, we’re generally responsible for keeping the structure and outside of your flat and block in a good state of repair.

The exact details of our responsibilities will be detailed in your lease. 
Here are a few examples:

• The roof
• Outside walls, outside doors, windowsills and window frames (but often not the glass in the windows), including necessary painting and decoration
• Outside drains, gutters and pipes
• Pathways, steps or other access routes
• Shared entrances, stairways, halls and passageways
• Estate and block lighting
• Lifts
• Rubbish chutes, bins or other facilities for storing rubbish
• Shared aerial

Where there is an alternative management structure in place, it may be a management company that is responsible for these areas.

Reporting communal repairs

To report a repair to the structure of your block or communal area please contact us.

If you are a leaseholder, we are responsible as your landlord for the maintenance and improvement of the external and communal parts of the building and/or estate where your leasehold property is situated.

A proportion of the cost of this work is rechargeable to you as a service charge in accordance with the terms of your lease. Your lease will explains this in detail.


Notifications and consultations

In some circumstances, leasehold legislation requires us to carry out formal consultations with leaseholders who may be affected by expensive works.

If the cost to you is likely to be more than £250 (plus VAT), we must provide you with certain information about the works that we intend to undertake, the costs, and the reasons why we consider it necessary.

In addition, should we propose to enter into a long-term contract where you are likely to pay more than £100 in any year, we must also provide you with certain information about the contract, the costs, and the reasons why we consider it necessary.

Notification of these works and contracts is often referred to as a Section 20 consultation. It relates to Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which was first introduced to require landlords to consult their leaseholders about works.

The law has been amended since 1985, and the current rules regarding Section 20 consultation are now contained in Section 151 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

Certain components in your home, such as windows, doors and boilers, may still be under warranty, depending on the age of the home.

You would have been provided with any warranty details when you bought the share in your home.

If you are unsure whether a warranty is in place, please contact us.

After the defects liability period has ended, you may be able to claim the cost of repairs against the National House Builders Council (NHBC) cover, provider by the contractor. This cover is different to your buildings insurance cover.

The NHBC policy covers your property for some items for 10 years from the date your property was built. The full details are set out in the NHBC policy manual. 

f you’d like a copy of this policy manual, want to make a claim, or would like more information about this, contact the NHBC directly.

As a leaseholder, Stonewater (or the superior landlord) is responsible for insuring your home, and you pay for this insurance through your service charge.

View the confirmation of insurance document.

It may be that a repair is covered under the buildings insurance.

Making a claim

The details of our insurance provider would have been provided to you on move in, but if you need to know any more about making a claim through insurance, please contact us.

If you are a leaseholder, we are responsible as your landlord for the maintenance and improvement of the external and communal parts of the building and/or estate where your leasehold property is situated.

A proportion of the cost of this work is rechargeable to you as a service charge in accordance with the terms of your lease. Your lease will explains this in detail.


Notifications and consultations

In some circumstances, leasehold legislation requires us to carry out formal consultations with leaseholders who may be affected by expensive works.

If the cost to you is likely to be more than £250 (plus VAT), we must provide you with certain information about the works that we intend to undertake, the costs, and the reasons why we consider it necessary.

In addition, should we propose to enter into a long-term contract where you are likely to pay more than £100 in any year, we must also provide you with certain information about the contract, the costs, and the reasons why we consider it necessary.

Notification of these works and contracts is often referred to as a Section 20 consultation. It relates to Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, which was first introduced to require landlords to consult their leaseholders about works.

The law has been amended since 1985, and the current rules regarding Section 20 consultation are now contained in Section 151 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

Certain components in your home, such as windows, doors and boilers, may still be under warranty, depending on the age of the home.

You would have been provided with any warranty details when you bought the share in your home.

If you are unsure whether a warranty is in place, please contact us.

You may be able to claim through NHBC or similar warranty. The NHBC policy covers your property for some items for 10 years from the date your property was built.

The full details are set out in the NHBC policy manual. 

If you’d like a copy of this policy manual, want to make a claim, or would like more information about this, contact the NHBC directly.