On this page
Social housing repairs will be classified into one of three categories: routine repairs, urgent repairs or emergency repairs.
To report a repair, Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) tenants should telephone 03448 920 901 (including outside office hours).
Housing Association tenants should contact the office named in their tenant’s handbook for repairs. Contact details of Housing Associations are available from NI Direct.
In the event of an emergency or out of hours repair all social landlords have an emergency number to contact in such circumstances.
Categories and response times
The categories determine such things as response time to fix the repair, see below:
Routine Repairs
The Social Landlord should deal with routine repairs within four weeks. Examples of routine repairs include:
- repairing loose or cracked flooring
- repairs to internal doors or frames
- repairing kitchen fittings and work surfaces
Urgent Repairs
The Social Landlord should carry out urgent repairs within 4 days. Examples of urgent repairs include:
- leaking pipes and blocked sewers or drains
- loose roof tiles
- broken door locks
Emergency Repairs
The Social Landlord must carry out an emergency repair within 24 hours. A repair is defined as an emergency repair if there is a risk of immediate injury to people or major damage to the property. Examples of emergency repairs include:
- gas or oil leaks
- bare electrical wiring
- overflowing sewage
- broken external doors leaving a property unsecured
- burst pipes, storage tanks
- no heating in severe weather
Compensation and Allowances
The Housing Executive runs a self help scheme to allow tenants to carry out minor repairs that would normally be the responsibility of the Executive, and claim back the cost of these repairs. This scheme is available for repairs under £200, for example:
- repair gutters
- replace bathroom doors and frames
- install a replacement radiator
- replace front gates
- repair fences
- replace front doors
- replace internal doors
NIHE tenants cannot contract out urgent or emergency repairs or fix the problem themselves.
You must contact the NIHE to report the repair and leave it with them. Nevertheless, if they do not complete the repairs within the time limits above, they may be liable to pay you compensation for your trouble.
You may be eligible for compensation or allowances if the work carried out on your Housing Executive or Housing Association home has been a major disturbance or re-decoration has been required. In some cases you may have to move into temporary accommodation so that the work can be completed.
Contact the NIHE or your Housing Association for further details.
Back to top