Making sure your home is safe and warm is a priority for us.
Every tenant and resident has the right to a decent, safe home, and good quality service. You have the right to be listened to and have your views heard on decisions which may affect your home, your community and your safety.
Working together we all have a responsibility to keep everyone safe. The safety information in this section will help to keep you, your family and your neighbours safe, along with our staff, visitors and contractors and covers gas, fire, electrical, asbestos, water, lifts, communal areas and seasonal safety.
- As your landlord, we have a legal duty to meet all applicable statutory requirements that we provide for the health and safety of occupants in their homes and to keep the neighbourhood and communal areas associated with the homes that we own clean and safe.
- We do this by carrying out regular safety checks on your home - gas, fire, electrical, asbestos, water, lifts - these are to protect you, your family and your neighbours.
- We will communicate with you when safety checks are required and offer you an appointment, if the appointment offered is unsuitable, it is important to contact us as soon as possible to arrange a more suitable time to visit your home.
- We will treat you and your home with respect and try to keep any mess or disruption to a minimum.
Find out more information in our Compliance Policies:
Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Policy
We can’t do this without your support and cooperation so, to ensure we keep your home safe, we need you to:
- Report any concerns you have about the safety of your home by calling 0800 678 1894 or emailing info@torus.co.uk.
- Allow us access to your home on your appointment date/time to carry out these important safety checks. You must be at home or have arrangements in place to ensure we have access on the appointment date. If you fail to allow us access to complete the required legal safety checks we may have to take legal action and recharge those costs, which we do not want to have to do so please allow us access or contact us as soon as possible if you are unable to keep your appointment and we will try to re-arrange for a more suitable time. If you have any questions or concerns about the visits, please give us a call and we will do our best to help reassure you.
- Please contact us if you have any changes to your contact details such as mobile phone number, landline number or email address to ensure we are able to keep you up to date with your appointments.
- Keep us up-to-date with any other personal changes that may have an effect on how we manage your home, your tenancy and the building in general. In particular, changes that may affect any response to an emergency situation should the need arise i.e. evacuation.
- We understand it can be disruptive having people visit your home and will keep any inconvenience to a minimum, to help us do this please follow this the advice in the Tenants Safety Guide and on the appointment letter to ensure the visit goes smoothly.
- Please follow any instructions you have been given by Torus or the contractor attending your home. If you have any questions or need some advice or assistance, please get in touch before the visit. We will do our best to help.
- If you are unsure, always ask to see ID badge before you let an operative into your home.
- Keep children and pets safe and away from areas where we are working, for their safety.
- Occasionally we may need to use scaffolding at your home or in your neighbourhood. Please follow any safety advice given, any temporary safety-related signage and ensure children and pets stay away from the area.
Essential checks and surveys
Regular checks and surveys on your home alert us to any potential problems that might arise.
These checks are not optional and we will contact you to arrange regular safety checks to ensure your home is safe. They don’t take long and appointments can be made to suit you.
This section of the website explains what each check involves, why they are so important and has useful tips and advice to help you to stay safe.
| Type
|
Frequency
|
Duration
|
Type of Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gas Safety Check | Every year | 40-60 minutes (dependant on number of appliances in your home) | All properties with a gas supply |
| Electrical Safety Check | Every 5 years | Up to 3 hours
|
All properties with an electrical supply |
| Asbestos Safety Survey | Every 5 years | 30-60 minutes | If you home was built before the year 2000 we may have to complete an asbestos survey. |
| Water System Safety Check | Every 5 years | 90 minutes
|
All properties with stored water installations |
| Energy Performance Survey | Every 5 years | Up to 1.5 hours
|
|
| Property Condition Check | Every 5 years | 30 minutes
|
|
Lift safety checks
You must allow access for both a servicing appointment and a Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) inspection which is an independent legal inspection.
| Type
|
LOLER Inspection Frequency
|
Servicing Frequency
|
|---|---|---|
| Passenger Lift
|
Twice a year
|
4 times a year
|
| Domestic Hoist
|
Twice a year
|
Twice a year
|
| Domestic Stairlift
|
Once a year
|
Twice a year
|
Not only do these checks help keep you and your family safe, but they also let us know when things need improving.
These checks are a condition of your tenancy agreement. If you fail to allow us access we may need to take legal action, and recharge those costs in doing so. So please allow us access to avoid escalation action, including court action for breach of tenancy.
Not letting us in to make these essential surveys may also mean you miss out on property improvements works.
Further safety information
Gas safety
Your annual gas safety check and how to stay gas safe in your home.
Fire safety
Protect your home from fire and what to do in an emergency
Electrical safety
Your electrical safety check and how to stay safe with electricity.
Asbestos safety
What we do to protect you from asbestos
Water safety
Advice to keep you water safe in your home.
Flood safety
How to protect your home from flooding and what to do in an emergency.
Lifts
Keeping domestic and passenger lifts in safe working order.
Communal area safety
How we keep our communal areas safe.
Seasonal safety tips
Top tips to keep safe in spring, summer, autumn and winter