Dear tenants,

Re:  Winter precautions, office opening hours & protocol for emergencies during the festive period

As we are now within the winter months and approaching the festive holiday period, we wish to take this opportunity to contact all tenants to remind you of the precautions required to ensure that your home is safe and secure during the winter months.

Please ensure that your home is heated sufficiently during the cold months and we also advise that bathrooms and kitchens are adequately ventilated when in use to prevent the build-up of condensation/mould.

Should you have an outside tap in your home please ensure this is securely covered with insulation to stop the tap / pipework from freezing, which could result in a burst pipe damaging your home and contents.

As the festive period is a prime time for people to be away from home, we strongly request that if you are planning on leaving your home empty please ensure the heating is left on sufficiently to keep the property from getting too cold resulting in burst pipes.  The recommendations from insurers is that boilers are left on, on a permanent setting no lower than 7 degrees to help prevent pipes from freezing.

We would recommend that you arrange for a neighbour/friend to check the property on your behalf should you be away for more than two consecutive days during the winter months to ensure the landlords Building Insurance and your own Contents Insurance does not become void.

Should you have an emergency issue out of our office hours for the festive period, we do have local contractors on call who will attend to EMERGENCIES ONLY (damage to property or danger to life) at their own discretion.  The contractor will make the decision as to whether a call out request is an emergency requiring immediate attention.  Please understand that there are limitations on what contractors can do over the festive period when suppliers/merchants are closed. 

Please ensure that you are experiencing a true emergency (damage to property or danger to life) and that the issue cannot be resolved during our office opening hours. Please remember that if a contractor is called out as an emergency when this is not justified, you will unfortunately  be liable for all costs which will be charged at bank holiday rates.

Our local contractors agreeable to assist at their discretion are:

Matthew Hayes – 07980113746 – General contractor 

Mark Adamson – 07973659775  General Builder

Linton Vickers - 07800532269 - General contractor

Matthew Heather – 07879897437  - Gas Engineer / Plumbing / Leaks / Heating issues

Chris White – 07403330745 – Gas Engineer / Plumber / Leaks / Drains issues

Andy Gorst - 07831213286 - Plumbing/Leaks

ARB Electrical Services -  07966 246 727 - electrical mains

Lambley Electrical Services -  07805 246 943 -  electrical mains 

Breedon Electrical Services -  0115 701 2078 - electrical mains 

Please be aware that the above third party local contractors do not hold or have access to individual property keys.  If you are locked out of your home or have mislead your keys we would recommend you contact a 24hr Locksmith directly. 

Many of the properties that we manage have British Gas Homecare cover or similar policies in place as well as some landlords having their own preferred contractors, so please check the information letter you were given when you moved into the property, if your rental property does have a call out policy or specific instructions/contractors, you will need to contact the relevant company and not a R&L nominated contractor, as per your landlord's wishes. If you need to refresh yourself with regard to whether your rental home has specific contractors/call out policies please contact the office before the 22nd December 2017 to check your records.

Royston & Lund Estate Agents opening hours during the festive period are as follows:

Friday 22nd December - 9.00am - 5.30pm

Saturday 23rd December - 9.00am - 4.00pm

Sunday 24th December - closed

Monday 25th December - closed

Tuesday 26th December - closed

Wednesday 27th December - closed

Thursday 28th December - closed

Friday 29th December - 9.00am - 5.30pm

Saturday 30th December - 9.00am - 4.00pm

Sunday 31st December - closed

Monday 1st January - closed

Tuesday 2nd January - normal working hours resume

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all at Royston & Lund.

Kind regards,

The Royston & Lund team