We are monitoring the situation with COVID-19 (coronavirus) on a daily basis and taking our advice from the NHS, government and Public Health England. 

This means:

· our repairs service is now for emergencies only which includes no heating or hot water, total loss of power, major leaks, broken toilets (if no other toilet), blocked drains and major structural damage.

· planned repair works on lifts will not take place during this period. You’ll also no longer be able to book a repair online at this time.

· if you’ve logged a repair and it is not categorised as an emergency, you’ll receive a call to let you know that your appointment has been cancelled. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this and hope that you understand why. As soon as our normal service resumes, we’ll call you to schedule a new appointment.

· where your repair does qualify as an emergency, we’ll aim to attend your property within 24 hours to either make the situation safe or undertake the repairs required. If we can’t attend within 24 hours, we’ll let you know. In some circumstances we may call you to see whether you can resolve it without us attending, thereby following the government guidance. Our priority will remain to ensure you and your homes are safe.

· if you or anyone in your household have symptoms of Coronavirus or if you’re self-isolating, please let us know this when you book an emergency repair.

· for the safety of both you and our caretakers, their services on site will reduce to essential work only.  This will focus on removing bulky items from communal areas (as a fire risk), pulling out or rotating refuse bins to ensure they are collected by the Council and checking communal lighting. To ensure minimal contact they will carry out this work early in the morning.

·  unfortunately, we won't be able to do any customer viewings or let new homes during this period.

Our Customer Services Team is still here to help . For an answer in real time, use our web chat service. You can also email customer.services@rhp.org.uk or call 0800 032 24332433 or 0203 166 2200 from a mobile. If you have any concerns about your rent, please get in touch and we’ll talk you through any support we can offer. 

One big thing we ask for your help with during this time is that you please don’t leave your rubbish or anything else that could pose a fire risk outside of your door or in communal areas. 

We’ll continue to monitor official advice carefully and work to resume our services as quickly as possible once it’s safe to do so.

NHS advice

Everyone must stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

This includes people of all ages – even if you do not have any symptoms or other health conditions.

You can only leave your home:

• to shop for basic essentials – only when you really need to
• to do one form of exercise a day – such as a run, walk or cycle, alone or with other people you live with
• for any medical need – for example, to visit a pharmacy or deliver essential supplies to a vulnerable person
• to travel to and from work – but only where this is absolutely necessary.

Continue to stay at home if you have either:

• a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
• a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)

To protect others, do not go to places like a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Stay at home.

Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.