East Suffolk Council

Chargeable housing repairs

Some repairs to tenants' homes will only be undertaken if paid for in advance by the tenant. This is necessary because the council only has sufficient funds to replace components at the end of their normal expected lifespan. We cannot budget for unexpected repairs that result from misuse or accidental damage caused by tenants, their families or their guests. As such, tenants must be aware that repairs of this nature will need to be paid for in full by the tenant before the council carries out any works.

Our staff will make tenants aware of this policy from the outset when a repair request is made and we will do our best to provide an indication of what the costs may be. If preferred, tenants are able to use alternative qualified tradesmen to carry out these repairs.

If malicious damage is caused to a home through no fault of the tenant then a report should first be made to the police, giving as much detail as possible about how and when the damage was caused. On making this report the Police will issue the tenant with a crime number and this should be quoted when making the report to the council. In such cases the tenant will not be held responsible for any of these costs and the council will work with the police in attempting to recover costs from the offending party.