Frequently Asked Questions

• Send an Email

Please send your intention to terminate email to terminations@williamsburghha.co.uk marked FAO of Rents team. Please be aware if you choose to terminate your tenancy via email you will also be required to confirm in writing, as we require a signed document. We can however take the date of your email as the first day of your notice, providing a signed letter or termination of tenancy form is received within a few days.

• Send a signed letter

If you wish to end your tenancy with us, you must give 28 days notice in writing. Please note that the termination period will commence from the date of receipt. To formally end your tenacy you need to fill out this Termination of Tenancy Form.

• Complete our Termination of Tenancy form

Print out, complete, sign and return the form, either by email, post or by hand to our office. Please remember if you choose to post your form, we calculate your tenancy end from the date your signed form is received, not the date it was posted.

Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic and the current closure of our office, if you are ending your tenancy with us, please put all keys to the property into an envelope with your name and address marked on it, and put them through our office letterbox which is located on Cyril Street, Paisley.

If you are having a problem with a neighbour, try to sort it out between you as soon as possible.

Remember, your neighbour may not realise that they are causing a problem, and often a friendly word can be enough. The best thing to do is often to calmly discuss the situation or problem, and if necessary, to be willing to compromise.

If this does not work, contact your Housing Officer.

We will record your complaint and try to sort it out by talking to you and your neighbour. You may have to help by keeping a record of when disturbances happen and trying to get a witness.

We may also ask others to help, such as the Council’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team, or suggest mediation using an independent person. Serious cases of anti-social behaviour are a breach of your Tenancy Agreement.

This is how to deal with Antisocial Behaviour

Williamsburgh has a number of developments which have shared car parking areas, some of these have parking permits allocated but none have allocated spaces for individual properties. All Williamsburgh carparks work on a first come basis, regardless of whether a space is closer to one property than another or whether a certain tenant has parked there for years. If you are having a parking dispute at your development please contact a member of the Tenancy team.

Once you have signed your tenancy agreement Williamsburgh will hand over all sets of keys to you. We do not keep any spare or additional sets. Once a property has been let to you, you become responsible for its security, therefore if you happen to lose your keys, you will need to arrange for a joiner to change the locks.

We recommend that you give a spare key to a reliable family member or close friend, so that in the event something does happen, you do not have the expense of changing the locks. If the Association is required to instruct this work, a standard fee of £60 is charged in advance.

Please contact us if you require assistance.

Please contact us outwith office hours.

Yes you can, as long as you or a member of your household is a blue badge holder. You will be required to complete an application form with Renfrewshire Council, as they assess whether an allocated space is required and will be responsible for completing the work. You will also need to request written permission from the Association prior to the space being identified, to ensure there are no reasons why this work would not be allowed. Please note, even if you request the disabled parking space, it will not be ‘your’ personal parking space, anybody with a valid disability badge will have the right to park their vehicle in it, even if it is outside your property.

It should also be noted that should someone who does not hold a blue badge park in the space, there is nothing that the Association can do to enforce this. It relies purely on the good will and co-operation of others.

Tenants can ‘assign’ or pass the tenancy of their house to another party with our consent, if it can be demonstrated that the house has been the assignee’s only, or principal home, for at least 12 months beforehand. The Association's permission must be obtained. We will consider the circumstances, under which the proposed assignation is to take place and will not unreasonably withold permission.

You are responsible for internal decoration, carpets, laminate flooring, furnishings, lightbulbs, and the contents of fridges and freezers. You are also responsible for your private garden.

We expect you to take good care of your home and may recharge you if the repair is your responsibility or has arisen due to neglect or carelessness.

We are responsible for repairing and maintaining within your home and garden of the property you live in. This includes all the external parts and internal fixtures and fittings originally provided by us but not those that are listed as your responsibility or were specifically made your responsibility at the beginning of your tenancy, or which you have installed yourself.

Our responsibilities also cover most pipes, wiring, fixtures and fittings for heating, drainage, guttering, power and lighting. We are repsonible for all sealed lighting but do not provide ordinary lightbulbs. Smoke detectors are originally provided by us, but we are not responsible for those belonging to the utility companies.

We do not maintain your private garden but are responsible for any fencing or sheds originally provided by us, and for the paths within your garden that lead to the front or back doors.

We will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of blocks of flats where Almond owns or has a factoring agreement for the block. Almond will be responsible for the external and common areas of the block, i.e. not inside each individual flat unless owned by Williamsburgh. Items included are communal doors, door entry systems, decoration, paving and fencing, floor covering and electrical work such as lighting etc. The cost for all these works will be covered by your rent. No additional cost will be expected from the tenant for these repairs.

In the case where Williamsburgh is not the sole owner or factors the block the cost of repairs will be divided between the owners. In this case before any work which we want to carry out can commence an agreement with other owners is required for the payment of the shared costs.

We may recharge tenants for the cost of some repairs. This is where we have identified the repair is the responsibility of the tenant or because the repair has arisen due to neglect or carelessness by the tenant.

When you report a repair we will try to let you know at the time if it is a rechargeable repair and we will also try to tell you how much it will cost. Depending on what the repair is and the cost implications, you may be better getting the repair carried out by your own contractor. For identified rechargeable repairs at the reporting stage we require payment to be made before instructing the work to be carried out, for example when we are requested to carry out a lock change.

Sometimes it is only once the work is being done that we may identify that it is a rechargeable repair. Your Housing Officer will inform you when this happens, the cost of the repair and when you should pay for it.

How long will the repair take to complete?

The time it will take for repairs to be carried out depends on how serious they are. All repairs are given priorities and the timescales for completion are as follows:

EMERGENCIES

4 Hours

URGENT REPAIRS

2 Working days

ROUTINE REPAIRS

10 Working days

RIGHT TO REPAIR (1)

1 Working Day

RIGHT TO REPAIR (3)

3 Working Days

For many years now we have offered an appointment service for repairs with about half of all reported repairs being attended to by appointment and we are looking at ways of improving this part of our service. However, even though a specific appointment has been made for the work to be carried out, for one in twelve appointments the tenant is not at home.

Please remember to keep the appointment and if you have any doubts you can always check with us. As a word of warning, those who abuse the appointment system in this way run the risk of being charged for the missed call – don’t let it be you.

Should you wish to make alterations or improvements to your home, you must apply for permission before having any work carried out.

The Planned Maintenance Programme identifies all the improvements and cyclical repairs that are to be carried out over the next 12 months.

Our factoring service

You can find details of the factoring services that we provide within our Written Statement of Services. The information will include our Core Services and include; Property Management and Maintenance, Estate Inspections and Management of Common Areas, Instructing Repairs and Buildings Insurance.

There are a number of blocks in Scotland where owners have chosen to manage the common parts themselves by organising for repairs or maintenance work to be complete. This is called ‘self-factoring’. However, there are many occasions where this is not possible and this might be because:

• One of the owners is absent and can’t be contacted
• Any of the other owners may not be as equally committed to self-factoring
• the Deed of Conditions stipulate that a factor must be in place

Whatever the reason, factors can be employed to manage the common parts on behalf of all owners and can take this burden away. A factor can:

• act as a single point of contact for reporting any repairs or maintenance
• implement and manage any contracts for things like gardening or cleaning
• carry out routine inspections of the common parts
• arrange payment for any shared utilities such as electricity in common stairwells
• arrange common buildings insurance
• apportion any costs incurred in accordance with shares stipulated within any Deed of Conditions
• recover any costs
• manage any larger projects for such things like installing/replacing secure entry systems, or replacing roofs

Williamsburgh aims to minimise instances of poor communication and complaints by engaging and consulting with homeowners, on matters affecting them.

We are also happy to receive feedback from our residents. You can write to us at Ralston House, Cyril Street, Paisley PA1 1RW, email us at admin@williamsburghha.co.uk, telephone the office on 0141 889 9134 or visit in person.

If you wish to make a complaint about any aspect of the Association's service as a property factor, our complaints policy is available, on request or on our website www.williamsburghha.co.uk. In accordance with our procedure, we aim to deal with all enquiries or complaints received within 5 working days. If we consider the matter complex and that it requires a fuller investigation, we will let you know and agree the likely timescale for dealing with the investigation.

If, on completion of the complaints procedure, you remain dissatisfied, you may redirect your complaint to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber (FTT).

You can contact them as follows:-

Housing and Property Chamber

First-tier Tribunal for Scotland

Glasgow Tribunals Centre

20 York Street

Glasgow

G2 8GT

Telephone: 0141 302 5900 Email: HPCadmin@scotcourtstribunals.gov.uk

Website: www.housingandpropertychamber.scot