Water Services

The water meter and stop valves are in the service cupboard. If you have a leak, use the stop valve to turn OFF the entire water supply to your home, including the hot water.

Managing Leaks and How to Avoid Them

Report dripping taps to your Relationship Management Team as soon as possible to avoid waste water and basin stains. If you have a leak, find out where it is coming from and how severe it is as soon as possible.

Place a suitable receptacle underneath the leak to prevent any further water damage. If water has found its way into any electrical apparatus, turn OFF the electricity at the Consumer Unit. Once you’ve done that, contact your Relationship Management Team.

Refuse Rooms

There is a designated refuse room in the upper basement. It includes bins for waste and recycling.

You are responsible for taking rubbish from your apartment to the refuse room. Please put general waste in the black bin, using a suitable bin bag, and recycling in the green bin.

For further guidance please refer to your Relationship Management team and for current recycling arrangements refer to Southwark Council’s website.

Disposal of Batteries

Batteries should NOT be disposed of with household waste. Instead, batteries should be taken to collection points for recycling.

Most major retailers have battery collection bins available. For current guidance about battery disposal arrangements please speak to your Relationship Management team.

Disposal of Packing Material and Bulky Items

You cannot dispose of bulky items (e.g. furniture, electrical appliances) or packing material following removals in the Refuse Room. Please ask your removal company to take any packing material with them when you move in.

Council Collection Service

If you want to dispose of furniture or other bulky waste, you should contact Southwark Council who provide a collection service, for a fee. Find out more from Southwark Council about this service and how to arrange collection.

Once you have arranged a bulky waste collection, please notify your Relationship Management team of what is being collected and when so they can ensure Security will provide access for the Council collectors.

Fixing To Walls

Some of the walls in your house are plasterboard, fixed to timber or metal studwork. Particular care needs to be taken when attaching fixings to plasterboard walls.

• Very light items such as towels or coat hooks can be fixed to the wall using adhesives, but be careful: the bond will only ever be as strong as the paintwork. Also, if you decide to remove the item in the future, you could damage the paintwork or the plasterboard.
• Small/light pictures and other small items can also be hung on picture hooks (single or double nail types).
• Heavy pictures and mirrors should not be hung on picture hooks. Instead, you need to use a special wall plug fixing that is specifically designed for fixing plasterboard. These wall plugs are available from hardware and DIY shops. We recommend that you put the fixings into the timber or metal studwork, not just the plasterboard itself.

Important: A significant number of accidents in the home result from DIY activities. To avoid accidents, please:

• beware of cables and pipes within the wall. Cable and pipe detectors can be bought from most DIY and hardware stores and should be used before attempting any fixing
• never fix anything to a wall directly above or below a switch or socket nor either side horizontally to a switch or socket – this is called the ‘NO FIX’ zone and is 300mm wide
• take care not to puncture the external walls.

If you have any concerns about the work that you want to do, you should contact your Relationship Management Team.

Helping the Environment

When doing DIY there are some things you can do to help the environment.

• Use environmentally friendly products and components. Avoid products that contain hazardous chemicals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
• Use timber from sustainably managed sources and reuse or recycle where possible.
• Always dispose of waste responsibly. Contact Southwark Council for advice and information about how to dispose of any hazardous materials safely.

Important: Carrying out DIY activities can be noisy and disturbing. Please be considerate about the time of day that you carry out your DIY task and alert your neighbours before you start a noisy job.

Dealing With Blocked Sinks or Pipes

Do not pour fat or oil or large particles of food down your sink as this will block the system and can attract rats into the drains.

Fat and oil (when cool) should be put into an empty tin or milk carton and disposed of in the bin, rather than down the drain. Never flush sanitary items or food down the toilet – these can cause a serious blockage which will need to be cleared by a professional drain cleaning company.

Kitchen Sink Blockages

If your sink is blocked and full of water, try to remove the blockage using sink unblocking products available at hardware shops and supermarkets. You could also try pushing a flexible rod down the plughole, or using a suction cup plunger to force water up and down the waste pipe.

Bathroom Sink Blockages

Blockages here are normally caused by a build-up of hair and soap and become noticeable when the basin starts to drain slowly. To avoid this, it’s best to use a drain or plughole cleaner regularly.

Toilet Blockages

Toilet blockages can often be dislodged using a suction cup plunger.