Home Safety

We have a legal responsibility to carry out regular checks to ensure that your home is safe and efficient.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

Most of our homes are fitted with smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, which are tested during your annual gas safety check. It is important that these are checked on a weekly basis by pressing the ‘test’ button.

You should never disconnect or remove the batteries from your smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. Should you have any issues with your smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector, please get in touch and we will send an engineer to your home.

Gas and fire safety checks

The safety of you and your family is our priority. By law we have to make sure that a gas safety check is carried out in your home every year. The annual service also provides us with an opportunity to carry out routine preventative maintenance that helps to minimise any inconvenient breakdowns.

Gas servicing page Gas servicing page

What to do if you smell gas

Turn off your gas supply immediately and open your windows and doors. Do not turn any electrical switches on or off, light matches or lighters. Immediately ring Transco on 0800 111 999, they will come to your home and make it safe.

Call 0800 111 999 Call 0800 111 999

Communal areas

We inspect all of our communal areas at least once a year to check that they are safe. You may see our Health and Safety team checking that:

  • There are no obvious fire hazards e.g. blocked fire escapes or flammable items stored in the hallways
  • Fire safety equipment e.g. extinguishers, emergency lighting, are present where necessary
  • Fire doors are working correctly and are in good condition
  • Any asbestos present is safe i.e. not damaged or disturbed
  • There are no general health and safety hazards present e.g. loose tiles that could cause a fall

If you see any safety hazards in communal areas, please let us know so we can fix them.

Asbestos in your home

Most of our homes built before the year 2000 contain some asbestos, often in ceilings and floor tiles. This does not usually present a health risk unless it is disturbed (e.g. by drilling) or damaged (for example by fire or water damage).

When you move into your home, if it contains asbestos, we will give you a copy of the asbestos information that we hold. If you notice that you have disturbed or damaged the asbestos, please don’t be too worried. It is highly unlikely that the amount and type of asbestos known to be in our properties would damage your health. However, please report it to us and we will assess the risk level and may undertake further checks to make sure that your home is safe.

We check all of our homes, usually when they are empty, so that we know where there is asbestos present. If you ask us to do any repairs, we will check the asbestos information we hold to ensure that we do so safely.

If planned improvement works or major repairs are needed in your home, a more in-depth asbestos survey might be required. Our contractors will take small samples from your walls, ceilings or floors, which will be tested in a laboratory for asbestos. We will contact you to arrange this.