Our repairs service
We are committed to providing our customers with good quality affordable homes that are safe and comfortable to live in.
Our long-term programme of planned works helps to keep customer homes in good condition by carrying out work before repairs are needed, for example, replacing kitchens, bathrooms or boilers.
Customer homes will also need occasional repairs if something breaks down or stops working properly. Our repairs team will respond to these with high-quality repairs.
To make the best use of our resources, we categorise repair requests from emergency through to routine. We have an agreed target maximum response time for each type of repair.
Awaab’s Law and our repairs service
On 27 October 2025, Awaab’s Law came into effect. This new law sets out strict timescales for how social landlords must respond to serious repairs that could affect health and safety. Currently, Awaab’s Law applies to all emergency repairs and significant damp and mould repairs.
Under Awaab’s Law:
- Emergency repairs: must be investigated within 24 hours and repairs completed or made safe within a further 24 hours.
- Significant damp and mould repairs: must be investigated within 10 working days and repairs completed or made safe within a further 5 working days.
- A written summary: must be provided to the customer within 3 days of the investigation, unless the repair has been completed.
- Follow-on work: must be completed within 12 weeks where required.
At Selwood Housing, our emergency repairs service already goes further than this law requires. For emergency repairs, we aim to respond the same working day, and we are committed to continuing this fast and reliable service.
For other repairs that don’t fall under Awaab’s Law, our priority and routine timescales apply.
How we prioritise repairs
Every repair is assessed to decide whether it falls under Awaab’s Law, or if it is a priority or routine repair. Here’s how we define these repair categories and our target maximum response time for each type of repair.
Repairs that fall under Awaab’s Law
- Emergency repairs – same day
- Emergency damp and mould repairs – within 24 hours
- Significant damp and mould repairs – within 10 working days.
Other repairs
- Priority repairs – before the end of the next working day
- Routine repairs – within 30 days for straightforward repairs or 60 days for more complex repairs.
When prioritising repairs, we assess each case carefully, taking into account who lives in the home, the condition of the property, how long the problem has been there and the time of year.
| Repair category | Examples |
| Emergency repair
A defect that puts the health and safety of customers, or the safety of the home at an immediate and significant risk.
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| Emergency damp and mould repair
Serious damp and mould affecting health. |
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| Significant damp and mould repair
A problem with damp or mould that could put health at risk.
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| Priority repairs
A defect that would cause harm or further problems if left unattended for longer than a few days. |
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| Routine repairs
A non-emergency repair that is not life-threatening or causing significant harm to you or the property but needs attention to ensure comfort, safety and quality of life. |
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Who will do my repair?
Most repairs are dealt with by our response repairs team which is made up of around 41 trade operatives. More serious cases of damp and mould will be dealt with by our specialist damp and mould team.
All our operatives and surveyors are required to wear an official Selwood Housing ID badge when attending appointments.
We may also use external contractors to help us reduce waiting times for repairs, to provide specialist skills, or during exceptionally busy periods.
Why is my repair appointment delayed?
The repairs team carries out around 650 repairs appointments at customer homes every week. We have a dedicated team of planners who book the repairs and assign them to the right operatives each day.
Very occasionally, appointments are delayed by things beyond our control. This could include bad weather, traffic delays between appointments, parts not arriving on time, or a peak in emergency appointments.
We know that your time is valuable, so if the appointment needs to be rebooked, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
Is Selwood Housing responsible for my repair – or am I?
You are responsible for carrying out basic repairs as part of the upkeep and maintenance of your home. Check out our tips and advice pages to see the types of repairs that are your responsibility. This includes tips on setting boiler hot water and heating controls or re-pressurising a system.
You may also be able to treat minor cases of damp and mould yourself. See our removing damp and mould page for advice on when to clean it yourself and when to contact us.
Our repairs service is offered to customers renting existing homes. Please see below information for customers renting newly built homes.
Will I be charged for repairs?
Repairs that aren’t due to fair wear and tear, or relate to damage that you, your friends or family have caused accidentally or deliberately are ‘rechargeable repairs’. We will repair the damage, but you will be charged for the work.
If you repair the damage yourself, but it’s below the standard we require, we may also charge you to put it right.
How are we doing?
The table below shows how well we performed against our response targets for all types of repair jobs from 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025.
| Category | Target % |
Actual % |
Variance % |
Number of repairs |
All repairs % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency | 100% | 100% | 0.0% | 1,360 | 12.3% |
| Priority | 95% | 99.9% | +4.9% | 1,244 | 11.3% |
| Routine (30 days) | 90% | 80.5% | -9.5% | 3,369 | 30.5% |
| Routine (60 days) | 90% | 90.8% | 0.8% | 5,061 | 45.9% |
| Total | 90% | 89.8% | -0.2% | 11,034 | 100% |
1 April 2025 – 30 September 2025
Excludes repairs where we were not granted access to the property
Below are further details of what each column means:
- Target: the percentage of repairs we aim to complete within the target response time for each category
- Actual: the percentage of repairs we actually completed within that target response time
- Variance: how the completed repairs compare to our target – better or worse than our aim and by what percentage?
- Number of repairs: how many repairs were carried out in each repair category
All repairs: the number of repairs in each category as a percentage of total repairs across all categories.
Customers renting newly built homes
Our priority and routine repairs service applies to customers renting existing homes. If you are renting a newly built home, it comes with a one-year defects period which lasts 12 months from when Selwood Housing takes ownership of the home from the developer. During this time, any defects are fixed by the developer. We will work with them to make sure any issues are resolved within agreed timescales and to a good standard.
Towards the end of the defects period, we will contact you to arrange a visit to your home to check for any final defects or items to be completed. The developer will then have up to three months to complete any outstanding works. Once the defects period has ended, our standard repairs service applies.
Awaab’s Law applies to customers renting both existing and newly built homes. This means that if there is a significant damp and mould issue or emergency hazard identified in your home, even during the defects period, we will investigate and resolve the problem within the legal timescales.
Repairs work differently for shared ownership customers. If you are a shared ownership customer, please refer to your lease agreement for more information.
