What a housing association's maintenance contract should actually cover

The subject of the contract and an exact description of the building

A maintenance contract should start by naming the building precisely: address, number of stairwells, number of flats, year built, and whether it has a basement, attic, lift, or shared boiler room. Vague wording like "the building at X and its surroundings" leaves room for argument later about what was actually included.

It should also list what technical systems exist: district heating substation, ventilation type, water and sewerage, stormwater drainage, any communal aerial or intercom system. A firm pricing a contract without this list is guessing, and so is the board when it compares two offers that priced different things.

What counts as regular maintenance

Regular maintenance is the recurring work that keeps the building functioning day to day: cleaning and lighting the stairwell, clearing gutters and roof drains, checking the boiler room, inspecting the roof covering, gritting paths in winter, and minor repairs to door closers, letterboxes or stairwell fittings.

A good contract lists these as concrete tasks with a frequency attached, not as a general promise to "keep the building in order". If the contract says gutters are checked twice a year and drains before the autumn rains, everyone knows what was agreed and what was skipped.

• Stairwell cleaning and lighting, with a stated frequency
• Roof, gutter and drainage checks, ideally spring and autumn
• Boiler room and technical space inspections
• Winter gritting and snow clearance on paths and steps
• Minor repairs to door closers, handrails, letterboxes and signage
• Pest control checks in basements and refuse areas

What falls outside regular maintenance and is ordered separately

Regular maintenance does not usually cover repairs of a certain size: replacing a section of roof covering, fixing a burst riser, rewiring a stairwell distribution board, or renovating a stairwell. These are ordered as separate jobs, ideally quoted in advance so the board can approve the cost before work starts.

The contract should say clearly how such extra work is priced, whether by the same hourly rate or a separate fixed quote, and who is authorised to approve it. Odd jobs around the building, from small carpentry to fixture repairs, are usually billed from 39 € per hour, and larger works get a fixed quote valid for 30 days once described or photographed.

Response time and emergency cover

The most useful clause in any maintenance contract is the response time for emergencies: a burst pipe, a stairwell with no lighting, a lift stuck between floors. Without a stated time, "emergency cover" means nothing, and a board only discovers this the first time they need it.

A contract should separate ordinary requests, which might be answered within a working day or two, from urgent ones, which need a same-day or even same-hour response. Plumbing emergencies in particular should have a clear number to call, since a slow response to a leak turns a small repair into a large one.

Pricing structure and invoicing

A contract should state the pricing model plainly: a fixed monthly sum for the recurring tasks, an hourly rate for anything outside it, and whether materials are billed separately or with a handling fee added. Building and office maintenance is typically billed from 49 € per hour, and plumbing call-outs from 45 € per hour, with materials either supplied by the contractor with a handling fee or bought by the association itself.

Invoices should be itemised, showing hours worked and materials used, sent by email, and payable within a stated term such as seven days. A board comparing two offers should ask each firm the same question: what exactly does the monthly sum include, and what is billed on top.

Guarantee and the limits of liability

A contract should state what guarantee applies to work carried out, typically a period of 24 months on workmanship, and be clear that this covers defects in the work itself, not normal wear or materials the association supplied. It should also say who is liable if a fault causes further damage, for instance a badly resealed pipe joint that leaks into a flat below.

Electrical work should be carried out by a qualified electrician, and any competent contract should say so without needing to list certificates. Gas work and anything touching load-bearing structures fall outside ordinary maintenance work entirely and should be referred to a specialist named separately in the contract, not folded into general terms.