How to Choose a Block Maintenance Contractor in London

Most London blocks do not choose a maintenance contractor. They inherit one from the developer, or they end up with whoever answered the phone during the first winter breakdown, and three years later the directors are still paying call-out rates for the same faults. If you are a managing agent, an RTM director or a residents' management company board, the questions below are the ones to put to any contractor before you sign, and the answers you should expect to hear.

1. Who coordinates access to the flats, and what happens when a resident does not answer?

This is the question that decides whether a block programme finishes or stalls. Servicing every heat interface unit means getting into every flat, and residents work, travel and ignore letters. A contractor who says “you sort the access” is handing you the hardest part of the job. The answer you want: an agreed access plan before the first visit, notices and time slots sent either by your team or by theirs, no-access units logged with the date and notice given (the record you need under the lease), and a mop-up visit at no extra charge so the programme ends with every unit accounted for.

2. What do we receive after each visit?

A tick on a spreadsheet is not a report. Ask to see a sample. For each flat you should get a photographed service record showing the unit before and after, the readings and settings, any parts fitted and any recommendation, delivered digitally the same day. For the block you should get a summary the directors can read: units completed, units outstanding and their rebooked dates, faults grouped by pattern, units recommended for repair or replacement in priority order, certificates issued and their renewal dates. That summary is what goes in front of the AGM and the auditor.

3. Are your engineers trained on the HIU brands fitted in our block?

HIUs are not generic. Danfoss, SAV, Evinox and Caleffi units have different plate heat exchangers, actuators, strainers and commissioning procedures, and a general heating engineer learning on your residents' units will leave return temperatures high and hot water weak. Ask for the manufacturer training certificates, ask which brands they carry parts for, and ask what their first-visit fix rate looks like on those brands. Our engineers hold SAV Advanced HIU Service Engineer certification and service Danfoss, SAV, Evinox, Caleffi and vTherme units across London.

4. What is the emergency response, and does the contract block get priority?

“24/7” on a website means nothing until you ask who answers at 2am and how fast an engineer is on the road. The useful answer is a same-day response for blocks on a programme, a named line that is answered by a person, and the engineer arriving with the service history for the block rather than starting from scratch. Ask what happens if the fault is in a unit they serviced last month, and whether that visit is chargeable.

5. How is it priced, and what is not included?

The clean model is a fixed annual figure: a per-unit rate for the flats that steps down as the number of units rises, plus the communal assets (plant room, pumps, BMS, MVHR, FCUs) itemised separately. Then the three questions that expose a bad contract: Are repairs and parts quoted and approved before any work, or swept into the invoice? Are flats you could not access billed anyway? Is the mop-up visit included? A contractor confident in their access process will say no, no and yes.

6. Does this agreement trigger Section 20?

Under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a qualifying long-term agreement is one lasting more than 12 months under which any leaseholder would pay more than £100 in a year. Enter one without consulting and the recoverable amount is capped at £100 per leaseholder. A 12-month term, reviewed annually, keeps most blocks outside the definition, which is why it is the sensible starting point. If the block wants a longer agreement, the contractor should be able to supply the itemised quote and specification the consultation notices require, without being asked twice.

7. Which certificates will you keep on one calendar?

A block on communal heating typically needs the gas safety certificate for the plant room, F-Gas leak-check records for any communal cooling, a TM44 inspection where the cooling exceeds the threshold, EICRs for the landlord's electrical installation and, for let flats, the individual landlord certificates. The contractor should hold every expiry date, book the inspection before it lapses and send the certificate the day it is issued. If they only “remind you”, the risk is still yours. See our compliance certificates page for what each one covers.

8. What is the first step, and what does it cost us if we do not go ahead?

A serious contractor wants to see the block before quoting. The right first step is a survey: an engineer walks the block with you or the concierge, photographs a sample of units and the plant room, and lists every asset with make, model and condition, followed by a written condition report and a per-unit quote within 48 hours. Ask what happens to the survey fee if you sign (it should be credited against the first year) and what you keep if you do not (the report). Either way you leave the exercise knowing what is in your block, which most agents do not.

9. How do we leave?

The answer tells you how confident the contractor is in their own service. A 12-month term with a quarterly review and a short notice period means they expect to be kept because the block runs better, not because the paperwork makes leaving painful. Ask also what you receive at the end: the full asset register and service history should be yours, in a format the next contractor can use.

What a good answer sheet looks like

• Access plan agreed before visit one; no-access units logged and rebooked at no charge
• Photographed report per flat the same day, block summary for the directors
• Manufacturer-trained HIU engineers who carry parts for your brands
• Same-day emergency response with priority for blocks on a programme
• Fixed annual figure, per-unit rates that step down, repairs approved before work
• 12-month term that keeps the block outside Section 20, with the paperwork ready if you want longer
• Every certificate on one renewal calendar
• Survey first, fee credited against year one
• Short exit, and the asset register is yours

That is the standard we run block maintenance contracts to across all 32 London boroughs, from the Pimlico District Heating Undertaking to the heat networks of Nine Elms, Canary Wharf, King's Cross and Stratford. If you would like to put the nine questions to us, the first step is a block survey.