Maintenance and Repairs

• Introduction
• Requesting Maintenance and Repairs
• Response Time
• Emergency repairs after office hours
• Contractors Code of Conduct

Introduction  

We are committed to providing a responsive and good quality maintenance and repair service to you. This helps us maintain the quality of our housing and extend its life to meet future housing need. Our maintenance services are provided through contractors. Our contractors are subject to a Contractors Code of Conduct. If you believe that a SWISH contractor has not treated you with courtesy, respect or you are not satisfied by the quality of work, please contact your Housing Manager or the SWISH Asset Manager.

Requesting Maintenance and Repairs

When requesting maintenance or repairs on your property please provide:

• Your address
•  A description of the problem
• Whether you have reported the problem before
• When a tradesperson can get into your property to assess and hopefully fix the problem
• If no one is at home, is it OK for us to arrange access?
  

Response Time

SWISH will assess whether the repair is urgent or routine. The response time for:

• Emergency repairs is one day
• Routine repairs is 28 days

Emergency Repairs

Emergency repairs are defined as:

• Blocked toilets, dangerous electrical faults, gas leak, flooding and flood damage, storm or fire damage, failure of essential supply such as gas, water or electricity supply or a failure of any essential service such as hot water, cooking, heating or laundering.
• Broken windows and any failure of external doors or locks.

Emergency repairs after office hours

Capital Property
If you are living in one of our capital properties, please ring the following contractors for urgent repairs:

• Plumber - Mark Able 0408 228 330
• Electrician- Energy Australia 13 1388
  

Leasehold Property
If you are living in one of our leasehold properties the private landlords will ask their contractors to do repairs. Please refer to clauses 16 and 17 in your Residential Tenancy Agreement regarding emergency repairs.

The cost of any repairs you undertake during this period which SWISH does not deem to be an emergency repair will be charged to you.

If you cannot contact the relevant contractors for urgent repairs, please call the following providers:

You should call your Housing Manager during office hours to report the problem.

Contractors Code of Conduct 

SWISH has developed a Contractors Code of Conduct which sets out our expectations of the performance and behaviour of our contractors.

SWISH houses a diverse range of people ranging from those with support needs and many non-English speaking households. Contractors are expected to treat SWISH tenants with courtesy, respect and sensitivity. In return, tenants are expected to treat contractors with the same courtesy and respect.

Contractors are required to make appointments with tenants to undertake work. If you have problems contacting the tenant or the tenant refuses access you must contact the staff member who issued the work order.

At times you may require an interpreter to communicate with tenants, and in such cases you should contact the Telephone Interpreters Service on 131-450 and quote SWISH's Code Number CO 36 337. Ask for an interpreter in the language you need and say that you are calling on behalf of SWISH.

Any complaint arising from a dispute in any form, between tenant and contractor must be referred to the SWISH staff member who issued the work order.

All contractors are to ensure tenants sign off on the work order to indicate that the work is completed and the tenant is satisfied with the quality of the work. Failure to do so may result in SWISH withholding payment for the work from the contractor. SWISH will also undertake spot checks to ensure that the work has been completed to a satisfactory standard.

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