Responsibilities

Your home is yours to care for. You're responsible for looking after everything inside it – from taps and tiles to light fittings and locks. That means arranging and paying for repairs within your own space. It’s the biggest responsibility you have as a customer, and it’s part of what makes your home truly yours.

If you live in a flat with some shared spaces – like hallways, stairwells, or the building’s roof – we’ll take care of repairs to those areas. These are covered by your service charge, which helps keep communal spaces safe, clean, and well-maintained.

Feel free to make your home your own. Whether it’s painting walls, hanging shelves, or adding personal touches – just make sure any changes are safe and don’t affect the structure. If you're planning something bigger, like knocking through a wall, see “Apply to make alterations” below.

Your rent and service charges help keep things running smoothly – from building insurance to communal cleaning. We’ll always be clear about what you’re paying for, and you can access your rent statements so there are no surprises.

Welcomed a new member of the family? Changed your number? Keeping your contact details and household info up to date helps us support you better – especially if there’s an emergency or we need to get in touch.

Where we share ownership, or you live in a flat, we cover the building, but what’s inside is up to you. Contents insurance protects your belongings – from your sofa to your laptop – in case of theft, fire, or damage. It’s not mandatory, but it’s strongly recommended.

Thinking of making changes to your home? For anything structural or significant (like installing a new kitchen or changing flooring), you’ll need to get written permission first. We’ll guide you through the process and let you know what’s okay and what’s not.

Your home continues to be protected by the remainder of its 10 year new build structural warranty, which covers major structural issues only. This includes problems affecting key parts of the building, such as foundations, load bearing walls or the roof structure. The warranty does not cover minor, non structural issues after year 2 — only defects that could impact the integrity or safety of the home.

If you believe you have a major issue, Sparrow can help you understand the next steps — but the warranty provider will expect evidence. They may ask for an expert report that shows what the issue is and what’s causing it. Neither Sparrow nor the warranty provider can carry out these initial investigations for you, so you’ll need to arrange this yourself before a claim can be considered.

Most structural warranties include an excess of around £1,500, which reflects the fact that this insurance is designed for serious structural issues, not routine repairs. The excess helps keep the premium low while ensuring the warranty focuses on the major problems it was designed to cover.

GDPR may apply if your device captures images of people in communal areas or public spaces, which can be hard to avoid in a block of flats. Where possible, angle the camera so it records only your doorway and the smallest area necessary, and check the official ICO guidance so you’re confident about your responsibilities when it comes to storing and handling footage.

Your flat’s front door is likely to be fire rated, which means the way you install your doorbell matters. Drilling holes or altering the door’s structure can weaken its fire resistance and affect the safety of the whole building. Before installing anything, make sure your method won’t compromise the door, and if you’re unsure, get advice from a competent installer or fire safety professional.

If you’re a shared owner of a house or live in a flat – even if you own it outright – Sparrow provides building insurance and includes the cost in your service charge.

If you buy 100% of a house, you’ll need to arrange your own building insurance. It’s a legal requirement if you have a mortgage.

In all cases, you’ll need to sort your own contents insurance to cover your personal belongings.

If someone else provides services to your building or estate, we stay closely involved to make sure everything meets Sparrow’s standards.

For flats, we’ll take care of repairs in shared spaces – like hallways, stairwells, and communal gardens – so your block stays safe, tidy, and welcoming.

If there’s flooding, an electrical fault, or a lift breakdown in communal areas for flats, please call us as soon as possible - 020 4524 5200

For flats, we'll look after shared services like water, gas, electricity, heating, hot water and sanitation – where they’re part of your building setup. What’s included depends on your block and will be reflect in your service charge.

For flats, we’re usually responsible for things like roofs and external walls – and sometimes windows, communal doors or balconies too. It depends on your building and lease, so check the details to see what’s covered.

For flats, we carry out regular safety checks in communal areas – like making sure emergency lighting and smoke detectors are working, and that hallways and stairwells are clear and safe.

Every two weeks, our cleaners will:

Carpeted areas: vacuum carpeted hallways, stairs and landings

Surfaces and doors: dust and wipe walls, joinery, uPVC, plastics, door frames and banisters; polish door furniture

Lighting and lifts: clean communal light fittings, sockets and switches; clean passenger lifts

Cobwebs: remove cobwebs from internal communal areas and around external entrances and exits

Internal communal doors: clean doors, frames, fittings, handles, glass panels, push plates and kick plates

Immediate external areas: sweep the communal area immediately outside each external entrance (up to 3 metres); remove litter, dust and debris; brush and clear any external communal light fittings or features

Bin stores: clean and sweep communal bin stores

Cycle stores: sweep and clear litter from communal cycle stores

Concrete floors: sweep and clear litter from concrete floors, stairs and landings

Vinyl floors: sweep vinyl floors, stairs and landings

Once a month, in addition to the fortnightly tasks:

Concrete staircases: disinfect and scrub concrete staircases

Vinyl staircases: disinfect and scrub vinyl staircases

Four times a year, we will:

External entrance areas: sweep areas outside entrances (up to 3 metres), including any external light fittings and features

Bin stores: jet wash, mop and disinfect communal bin stores

Windows and porches: clean communal windows and vision panels in doors; brush communal porches and clear porch roofs of dirt, algae, moss and leaves

Once a year, we carry out deeper cleans:

Carpeted areas: deep clean carpets in communal areas

Concrete floors: deep steam clean concrete floors

Vinyl floors: deep clean vinyl floors, including mopping, polishing and buffing

Frequency: Every 10 working days

Cutting heights: lawn areas: cut to around 40mm; amenity areas: cut to around 60mm

First cut of the season: all clippings are collected and removed

Frequency: Monthly

Tasks: keep beds and borders free of weeds, dead wood and debris; make sure shrubs don’t overhang footpaths or cause obstructions

Frequency: Every 10 working days

Tasks: Clear fallen leaves and other horticultural debris from paths, lawns and communal areas

Tasks: replenish mulch in planted areas using good quality organic wood chip or shredded bark; maintain mulch to a depth of around 50mm

Tasks: Prune shrubs, roses, climbing plants and hedges as needed; make sure plants don’t obstruct pedestrians, vehicles, signs or sight lines

Tasks: forking and applying herbicide where required; pruning and trimming at agreed intervals; for newly planted hedges, more frequent weeding and trimming to help them establish

Tasks: remove epicormic growth (small shoots at the base or along the trunk) where appropriate; maintain a weed‑free band around the base of each tree; report any dead, damaged or dangerous trees immediately so they can be inspected

Tasks: keep buildings, walls and fences clear of climbers or invasive species that could cause damage; report any notifiable invasive species (such as Japanese knotweed) immediately, so a specialist plan can be put in place

At every scheduled visit, our teams will:

• Remove litter, debris and animal fouling from communal grounds

• Report any sharps, needles or other clinical waste immediately so it can be safely removed

Tasks: cut and clear rough grassed verges and banks in line with the agreed programme; remove self‑set growth from trees, saplings and shrubs where it causes issues