Please consider whether the problem is an emergency before contacting the emergency contacts/services.

If you have any general queries and/or find any remedial repairs outside of office hours that do not require immediate assistance, report these to Drake & Co using the details above and a member of staff will respond when the office re-opens. 

You must not contact the emergency services/contractor unless there is a genuine emergency which you are unable to resolve independently. If you contact them about trivial/non-urgent matters, or matters you could resolve yourself, they may not respond and your issue will not be logged.

Should you become locked out of the property and/or your bedroom, you will be responsible for any costs associated with regaining access, as per the terms of your Tenancy Agreement. This is non-negotiable.

Our Moving in Guide explains that doors can lock automatically and advises tenants to keep keys with you at all times.

If the Drakes office is open and/or you are able to wait until we reopen, you can attend the office and borrow our keys FREE OF CHARGE, to let yourself back in.

If you become locked out and would rather avoid having to pay a call out charge, you could consider asking a housemate to let you in (if you’re locked out of the house), staying with a friend, sleeping on the sofa (if you’re locked out of your room), or maybe even bunking with a housemate.

If the office is open but you are unable to visit to borrow our keys, and you require a contractor to attend the property during working hours to let you back in, a call out charge would still apply.

If you are unable to wait for the office to re-open and you need an emergency out-of-hours contractor to attend the property, a call out charge will apply (starting at £60). You will need to contact them following these INSTRUCTIONS and arrange for the relevant payments to be settled. The contractor will then need to collect keys from Drake & Co’s office before attending the property to let you back in, so bear in mind arrival times will vary.

Local locksmiths can charge around £150+ to attend an emergency call out and change locks etc. It is much more cost effective to either wait until the office opens, or use the Drake & Co approved emergency contacts as they have access to our keys. 

Under no circumstance should you force your way into the room/property. You would be responsible for the cost of rectifying any damages you cause to locks, doors, doorframes/architraves and windows etc. Many of our properties have fire doors installed which are very expensive to repair and/or replace (approximately £200+).

If you smell gas and/or suspect a gas leak, call Cadent for free on 0800 111 999.

Cadent advise:

• Open doors and windows to ventilate
• Turn off gas at meter (unless the meter is in a cellar or basement)
• Don’t use electric switches or naked flames
• Exit the property
• CLICK HERE and WATCH THEIR VIDEO for more information

If you suspect a carbon monoxide (CO) leak, call Cadent for free on 0800 111 999.

Carbon monoxide is odourless. You cannot see, hear or smell carbon monoxide. If you can smell gas, it will not be carbon monoxide and you should follow the steps above.  

In the event of a suspected CO leak, Cadent advise:

• Open all doors and windows
• Move outside into fresh air
• CLICK HERE for further information and advice about suspected CO leaks

If you have a gas supply/boiler, your property will have a carbon monoxide detector installed – make sure you test this regularly. This will only detect carbon monoxide, not necessarily a normal gas leak.

If your CO detector beeps, this could indicate that the batteries need changing, which is your (the tenants’) responsibility. Please change the batteries and test the detector by pressing the button, to make sure that it is working correctly. If you find that the detector is faulty, or this has been misplaced and you can no longer find it, please report this to Drake & Co using the Report a Problem portal.

Once you have reported either to Cadent and they have sent an emergency engineer to investigate, don’t forget to notify Drake & Co about this as soon as possible in case any follow-up is required by us or our maintenance team.

If you experience a problem that affects the security of the property (such as a lock becoming damaged or a window being smashed etc), you must report this immediately.

You can report this to Drake & Co and/or the emergency out of hours contact by following these INSTRUCTIONS.

If the damage has been caused by somebody else (vandalism) and/or is a result of a break-in/burglary, you must report this to the Police first and foremost.

The Police may need to attend the property to investigate this before a contractor can complete any repairs. Completing repairs before the Police have attended may impede their investigations and/or be seen as tampering with evidence.

Once the Police have attended, you will need to let Drakes and/or the emergency contact know, so they can arrange for the relevant contractor to attend to complete the repairs and/or board up the affected area.

When you report the incident to the Police, they will provide you with a Crime Reference Number which you will need to provide to Drake & Co, as your landlord may need this for insurance purposes (costs for repairing the damages). 

Your landlord will have buildings insurance in place to protect the property, but this will not cover your personal belongings. If any of your personal belongings are damaged/stolen, you will also need the Crime Reference Number to make a claim on any contents insurance policies you may have in place. If you don’t have a policy in place, refer to the Moving in Guide for more information.

Need help after a crime? Get in touch with Victim Support anytime for independent, free, and confidential advice.

If your electricity (plug sockets and/or lights) cuts out at any point, there could be a couple of reasons for this. 

If the problem is also affecting neighbouring properties, this could be an area-wide fault. Drake & Co and/or our contractors will be unable to assist with this. You will need to check with Electricity North West to see if the problem has been reported to them. Search your postcode on the ENW website and see their fault tracker which will give you live updates about when they have arranged for an engineer to attend and when they expect the problem to be resolved. 

If the problem is only affecting your property, this likely means that your electrics have tripped. Each property will have a fuse box/consumer unit (some have multiple) which contains the fuses for the electrical system in the property. These will trip/switch off, if it registers a faulty connection or is overloaded; this is for your safety. 

Using too many appliances at once is a common cause of fuses tripping. If you are making toast, whilst boiling the kettle, using the microwave, washing your clothes and watching TV simultaneously, it’s not surprising that the fuse may overload. Another risk is plugging too many things into one socket/outlet.

If you are not overloading the system, you could have a faulty device/appliance plugged in.

Most of the time, you should be able to get your electrics back on yourself, by following these steps:

1. Locate your fuse box/consumer unit. This could be anywhere inside of the property, such as near your electric meter, in the hallway, under the stairs, in a cupboard/cabinet, in the cellar, in a bedroom etc.
2. You will see lots of fuses/switches on the consumer panel which are labelled e.g. first floor, kitchen, lounge etc. These should all be switched on (in the upward position).
3. Check if any (or all) of the fuses have tripped (tripped switches will be in the downward position).
4. Trying switching them back on again. This will either fix the issue, or, the switches will immediately trip again.
5. If it trips again, this indicates that the item/appliance causing the problem is still plugged in/switched on. You will need to go around the property room by room, unplugging all of the appliances and turning off lights and isolator switches for extractors, showers. First, try unplugging the last item used before the electrics tripped, as this may be the culprit. Don’t forget things like the fridge, freezer, kettle, toaster, washing machine, dryer, oven, iron, lamps, phone/laptop chargers, etc.
6. After everything is off, return to the consumer unit and flip the fuse back on.
7. If it trips again, you may have missed something and will need to take another look around the house making sure everything is off and unplugged.
8. Once you manage to get the fuse back on, you can then carefully begin to plug appliances back in, one by one.
9. Continue to do this until you plug something in that causes the electrics trip again (if at all), this will allow you to identify the problem. Keep the problematic item/appliance unplugged/switched off to allow the rest of the electrics to work.
10. If the problematic appliance is provided by the Landlord (e.g. oven, fridge freezer, microwave) please report this to us immediately using our Report a Problem Form. If it belongs to you/your housemates (e.g. toaster, kettle, hairdryer, charger, lamp etc) you will need to have this repaired or replaced.

During any type of power cut, remember to keep the fridge/freezer doors closed to retain the cold air/temperature.

You will likely also need to reset your burglar alarm afterwards as this may detect a fault during the power outage.

If you notice a leak in the property, you must follow these steps carefully.

1. It is very important to find where this is coming from and minimise the damage it may cause to the property. There are various things that could cause a leak in a property, so many possibilities you should consider.
2. Always check which room is above the leak first and foremost.  Does the leak correlate with the bath or shower being used, or the toilet being flushed? Has a sink overflown, or is it coming from a radiator? Has something been spilled and/or is there a puddle of water on the floor in the room above the leak? Could it be coming from the roof (or flat roof above a bay window) and has it been raining? 
3. Once you have identified the cause of the leak, you may be able to control it. This may seem obvious, but for clarity sake – if you find that the shower is causing the leak- stop using it. If it is a sink or toilet, there may be an isolator valve which you can use to stop the water flow to the particular appliance. Roof leaks cannot be controlled, but you can still minimise damage.
4. If you are unable to find the source of the leak and water is still running, locate the stop tap to turn the water off. See below for more information.
5. Always remember to place a bucket/bowl beneath the leak to catch any water and stop it from damaging the floor/furniture. Use a mop and/or towels to clean up any water before this soaks in.
6. Move any belongings/furniture from underneath/around the affected area to prevent them from being damaged too. 
7. Report the leak. If you manage to control the leak and feel that this can wait until the next working day, simply report this to Drakes via the online portal. If the leak is uncontrollable and/or there is lots of water/damage to the floor/walls/ceiling, you will need to report the issue to the emergency out of hours contact, following these INSTRUCTIONS. After contacting the emergency contact, tenants must also report the leak using our Report a Problem Form so staff members are aware and can follow this up when the office reopens.

Stop Tap

An internal stop tap (sometimes called a stop valve or stopcock) is the point where you can shut off the water supply to your home.

Internal stop taps (inside the house) are generally located near water pipes, like underneath the kitchen or bathroom sink, behind the washing machine, in the cellar, or sometimes in the lounge, kitchen or hallway. Once you have turned the stop tap off, the water in the property will be switched off until it it turned back on again. You may find that the leak will continue for a short period of time as the water already in the pipes will need to drain.

Some properties do not have internal stop taps,  CLICK HERE to see more information on external stop taps.

If you are unable to find the stop tap/have been unable to switch this off, please notify staff/the emergency contact as soon as possible.

Leak when taking a shower/bath

If you see a leak coming through the ceiling below a bath/shower room this is most likely caused by the shower/bath. Stop using this immediately and report the problem. If the leak stops when you aren’t using the shower/bath, this may not necessarily an out of hours emergency repair and can be done the next working day (depending on how severe the damage is). 

Leak from the roof and/or windows

These types of leaks often occur when the weather is poor e.g. heavy rain and high winds. Whilst you won’t be able to shut the water supply off, you can minimise the damage by leaving buckets/towels underneath to catch the water. If you notice a leak stain and think this is being caused by the weather, please report this immediately. Although, in order for a contractor to check the roof safely, the weather must be dry and calm.

Leak from a toilet/sink

If you find that the leak is coming from the toilet and/or sink (you may see a build-up of water on the floor around the toilet, or find a pipe behind the sink is leaking), please stop using the toilet/sink. You must report the leak and follow the steps above to prevent water damage to the surrounding area.

There may be isolator valves fitted to the toilet/sink which can be turned off to isolate the water supply. Some isolator valves have handles that can be turned, others require a flathead screwdriver to turn the dial. If you cannot turn them off, please let staff know and they will do their best to assist you/arrange for a contractor to attend as soon as they can.