Maintenance

Heating controls are there to make sure you stay in control of your heating and what you pay.
It’s very tempting to turn up the dial to 27 degrees C when you start to use your heating system, but this will also trigger a massive energy bill. Correctly using a programmer, room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valve, could potential save you up to £75 a year (based on a typical 3 bed, semi-detached gas heated home in the UK). Ref: National Energy Foundation.

Here are a few tips on how to use heating controls effectively:

1. Room thermostat
This type of thermostat prevents your heating system from using more fuel then it needs to. It will turn the heating on, until the room reaches the temperature you have set, and then off until the temperature drops below your programmed temperature. This will also prevent your home getting warmer than necessary.
The thermostat should be set to the lowest comfortable temperature, typically between 18- 21 degrees C. You don’t need to turn your room thermostat up, when it is colder outside; the house will heat up to the set temperature whatever the weather, however it may take longer on colder days. Turning up your room thermostat won’t make your home heat any faster. Also bear in mind that room thermostats require a free flow of air, to sense the temperature, so they should not be blocked by curtains, furniture, or put near to a heat source.
If you turn down your room thermostat by just 1 degree C, you could potentially save £75 per year without noticing any real temperature change.

2. Thermostatic Radiator Valves
These allow you to control the temperature of your individual radiators, allowing you to turn down the heat in rooms you are not using. They work by reducing the flow of water through the radiator, when the temperature goes above the selected setting. They should be set to the temperature level you want for the room; a lower setting uses less energy and you will save you money.
We do not recommend using radiator covers because TRV’s sense the air temperature around them and control the flow rate depending on what level they’re set. Hanging a cover over the radiator means the TRV is enclosed, which is likely to make it think that the room temperature is higher than it actually is.

3. Boiler thermostat
Your boiler will have a dial or a digital temperature setting. This sets the temperature of the water, that is pumped from the boiler, through the radiators, to heat your home. Turn it up during cold winter spells to make sure you don’t get cold. However, if you have any young children, or elderly people in your home, don’t turn the boiler thermostat too high, as it can make radiators very hot to the touch.
If you have a regular boiler, with a separate hot water cylinder, your boiler thermostat should always be set to a higher temperature that the cylinder thermostat, otherwise the hot water cylinder will never get up to temperature. If you have combination boiler you will probably have two dials – the one with the radiator symbol controls the output to the heating, and you can set this without affecting the hot water temperature.

4. Programmer or time control
Once you have set it based on your regular daily routine, it will automatically switch your heating off, when you’re not at home, or when you don’t need the heating on. Programmers will allow you to set ‘on’ and ‘off’ time periods. Most models will let you set the central heating, and domestic hot water, to go on and off at different times. There will also be a manual override facility to override any set times.

5. Setting your time control
You should ideally set the central heating programme to come on around half an hour before you get up and go off half an hour before you go to bed. If your house is empty during the day, or you can manage without heating during the day, make sure that you set your programmer to go off for this period too. Check that the clock on the programmer is correct before you set your programmes. You may also need to adjust the time when the clocks change for the start of BST and GMT.

6. Boiler service
Saffron Housing will service your boiler every 12 months, as well as carry out the annual Landlords Safety Report. It is important that access is provided to carry out these checks, for your safety, and to ensure the efficiency of your boiler.

7. Storage heaters
A standard electric storage heater will have two controls, an output control and an input control. The output will control how much heat is given out (if there is sufficient stored heat available). 
The input control determines how much electricity will take from the supply during the coming night, and hence how much stored heat will be available the following day. You will need to set the output dial to how much heat you want now, and the input dial according to how much heat you think you will need tomorrow. 
If a heater runs out of heat in the evening while you still need heat, or if the weather gets colder, you may need to turn the input dial up. If the weather gets warmer, or the heater never runs out of heat in the evening, you can probably save money, without getting cold, by turning the input dial down.

8. Electric water heating
Your hot water will be stored in a cylinder, and the thermostat prevents it becoming hotter than necessary. Once the water has reached the temperature you have set, the electric immersion heater will switch off. A separate hot water time switch will let you heat the right amount of water at the right time and take advantage of off-peak Economy 7/10 tariffs. Set your water to heat up only when you need it, as this will save money. Most electric hot water cylinders will be fitted with two immersion heaters, a second immersion heater fitted at the top of the cylinder, activated by a boost switch. Use this second immersion heater by using the boost function to heat a small amount of water if required, but this will be at expensive peak times during the day.

9. Oil heating
Oil boilers will have similar controls as described above, the only difference is the fuel used. Savings can sometimes be made by forming a local oil heating group to bulk buy your heating oil.

10.Hot water thermostats
If your hot water is stored in a cylinder, the thermostat will prevent it becoming hotter than it needs to. Once the water has reached the temperature you have set, the heat supply from the boiler will be turned off.

Turning the thermostat higher will not make the water heat up any faster, and the water heating will not come on if a time switch or programmer has switched off. Cylinder thermostats are usually fitted between one quarter, and one third of the way up the cylinder. They have temperature scales marked; you should set them at between 55- 60 degrees C. This is hot enough to kill any harmful bacteria but should not be hot enough to scold. If you have a combination boiler, the hot water temperature will be set by a dial on the front panel of the appliance. 

11. Weather compensation controls
Some modern boilers have these now fitted as standard. When the weather is cold you need your boiler stat to be set to a high level to make sure your house can get warm enough. If the weather is milder you could turn the boiler stat down and still be warm enough. This will make the system more efficient, and you should save money. A weather compensator does this for you automatically by measuring the outside temperature and adjusting the boiler thermostat temperature as required, to maintain the selected temperature.

12. Air Source Heat Pumps
Air source heat pumps (ASHP) absorb heat from the outside air. This heat can then be used to heat radiators, and hot water in your home. Unlike gas and oil boilers, heat pumps deliver heat at a lower temperature over much longer periods. During winter they may need to be on constantly to heat your home effectively. You will also notice that radiators won’t feel as hot to the touch as they might do if you are using a gas or oil boiler.

We provide all our homes with the best possible energy efficient and fully serviced heating system. We try to repair existing systems where possible, to avoid long installations for our tenants. We also replace boilers at the end of their serviceable life. 

If you would like to discuss a heating upgrade with us, please email info@saffronhousing.co.uk or call 01508 532000.  

If you do not have central heating in your home and you or a member of your family has a serious medical condition which is affected by a lack of heating, you can apply to have this installed. 

We will assess each case on an individual basis. To find out more email info@saffronhousing.co.uk or call 01508 532000. 

We want to ensure that your home is energy efficient. One of the ways we can help is to make sure your home has suitable insulation.  

If your loft insulation is less than 20cm (about 8 inches) or you do not think that the cavity in your wall has been filled, email info@saffronhousing.co.uk or call us on 01508 532000 for more information. 

We carry out a Total Property Maintenance survey (TPM) on all of our properties every 6 years. The TPM survey allows us to spot property issues before they become a problem and deal with minor repairs quickly.  

The survey also means we can pick up, and budget more effectively for bigger issues, such as where we need to install new kitchens and bathrooms. 

The survey covers the following areas: 

• A full survey on the entire property, including areas such as gardens and loft spaces. 
• An HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety Rating System) assessment to make sure there are no category 1 failures. You can find out more by clicking here. 
• A Decent Homes Assessment - this is part of the Decent Homes Standard which is for social housing introduced by the government. It aims to provide a minimum standard of housing conditions.

We will let you know by letter when your home is due a TPM survey and will contact you by phone (or letter if that is your preferred method of contact) to organise a date and time to visit. The average TPM survey will take between 1½ to 2 hours and we will need to be able to access every area of the property. 

Our inspector will pass any immediate health and safety concerns to our repairs department on the same day. Non-emergency repairs will go to our repairs team once the survey is processed. 

We will look into any structural issues that might arise within your home. They could be: 

• Cracks to plaster and/or brickwork
• Sticking windows and doors
• Bulging or leaning walls
• Movement of walls
• Sagging roof lines and roof spread 
• Drainage issues causing subsidence 
• Uneven floors
• Leaning chimney stacks
• Movement caused by trees or swelling clay-based subsoil

If we identify any issues with the structure of the building, we will: 

1. Monitor it over a 12 month period by fitting steel discs on either side of a crack so that any movement can be detected. 
2. Check on this every 3 months over that 12 month period.  
3. If we identify any movement we will carry out repairs that are needed to rectify the issue. Sometimes, this will involve employing specialist contractors. 
4. After we have completed this process, we will keep monitoring the property to make sure the problem is solved.

If believe there are structural issues affecting your home or you have any questions, email info@saffronhousing.co.uk or call us on 01508 532000. 

Our Grounds Maintenance service makes sure that the green areas of your community are kept neat and tidy. 

We aim to cut the grass in your area every month during the summer and we will trim hedges, maintain ditches, and tend to flower beds on our land. We also inspect and maintain children’s play equipment, remove invasive weeds and nurture wildflower meadows. 

We have qualified tree surgeons to keep all trees on our land in good condition and will remove or prune any that become a nuisance. If we do have to remove a tree, we will make sure they are replaced with a suitable species that will suit the area. 

If you have a query about the grass cutting in your area or are worried about a potentially dangerous tree, contact our Grounds Maintenance Team at info@saffronhousing.co.uk or call 01508 532000.

Grounds Maintenance Service 

Our in-house teams are working hard to get the communal grass in your area cut. We are also concentrating on our priority hedgerows which may block pathways or cause a hazard due to being overgrown. Please be advised we always carry out a Wildlife Habitat Assessment before any hedges are cut during springtime.

Invasive, non-native plants

Now that spring is finally here, please be extra vigilant in the prevention of any invasive non-native plants spreading or overgrowing into your neighbours' outdoor areas or property. Damage from these plants can cause a nuisance to others, and you may incur a charge to cover the costs involved to contain the spread.

It is the tenant’s responsibility to ensure that their garden area is maintained and in good condition.

We may be able to offer a service if a change of circumstances affects a tenant’s ability to take care of their garden.

This is a onetime service which gives the tenant the opportunity to find an alternative solution to the problem, whether that be getting over illness, successfully applying for benefits to help financially, downsizing, finding a low cost gardener or help from other voluntary organisations.

For more information, contact your Neighbourhood Officer at info@saffronhousing.co.uk or call 01508 532000. 

In line with government guidelines, we base our service charges on the cost of providing that service to you and, they are separate from your rent. Service charges have been identified and linked to individual properties where appropriate. Some examples of what your service charge is spent on are: 

• Sewerage
• Lift operation and maintenance
• Communal window cleaning 
• Stairway lighting
• Door entry system maintenance
• Caretaking and cleaning
• Communal facilities within our Independent Community Living and Independent Community Living Plus schemes 
• Heating and/or hot water
• Estate charges (lighting and grounds maintenance)

We hope you will be satisfied with the level of service charge you are paying. If you disagree with any part of your service charges, you can contact us to talk it through and we will do our best to resolve your query. If you are unhappy with our response, there some other things you can do.

Tenants

If you have a query about the level of rent or service charge you are paying or the amount it has increased, you may be able to apply to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). You can contact them by clicking here. If you have a concern about the collection of your rent or service charge, their calculation or how this information was communicated, you can contact the Housing Ombudsman Service by clicking here.

Leaseholders

If you are a leaseholder or shared owner and are dissatisfied with the level of rent or service charge you are paying, you will find further advice on this on the Leasehold Advisory Service website by clicking here.

Alternatively, you may be able to apply to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to dispute the reasonableness of the service charges or the increase of the service charges. The option to seek independent legal advice is also available. You can contact the First Tier Tribunal by clicking here.

We clean all of the gutters in tenants' homes. Read our help sheet on how to book your gutter cleaning, what happens next and the process.

Read our help sheet on gutter cleaning here.