Frequently Asked Questions

This service is for bulky household items that are too large to be collected with your normal household waste collections. We will take freestanding household and garden furniture, fridges, freezers, and white goods. If you are not sure whether we will take a certain item please call the recycling hotline to find out.

We are unable to collect garden waste, bricks, rubble, concrete, soil, asbestos, car parts, tyres, glass including greenhouses, patio dorrs, and windows, pianos or anything too heavy for 2 men to carry.

We will not collect any waste left by a tradesperson carrying out works to your home. Tradespersons must be advised to take the waste away with them. If you are not sure what we can collect please call the recycling hotlne on 01530 454572.

We will first make sure that it is our responsibility to do the repair. If it is, and we have enough information about the repair,an order will be placed with a contractor to carry out the work. Wherever possible, the order will be placed immediately.

You are entitled to be told if any personal information is held about you and if it is, to be given:

• A copy of the information in permanent form
• An explanation of any technical or complicated terms
• Any information we have about where they got your information from
• A description of the information, the purposes for processing the information, and
  who we are sharing the information with
• The logic involved in any automated decisions (if you have specifically asked for this).

Your Support Officer has close working relationships with organisations and agencies whose aim is to provide help and support. Whether you have mobility problems, financial difficulties, or require adaptations to your home, your Support Officer will help you to find the best possible solution

The building itself is insured against most risks - such as flood and fire for the cost or repair or rebuilding. Even risks such as terrorism or subsidence can normally be purchased as optional extras for added security from most insurers.

When you declare the value of your property you are actually estimating the cost of rebuilding it should it be totally destroyed (this is what insurance companies call a total loss).

Most insurance companies work out a rate to charge the landlord based on the location of the property and then apply it to the amount specified to rebuild the building (which is called the Buildings Sum Insured).

It is therefore cheaper to insure a building that is worth less than an expensive building which is as expected.

It is equally important to make sure that you do not underestimate the cost of rebuilding your property. If you have paid a lower premium by underestimating the Buildings Sum Insured, then the insurer will normally only pay your claims up to the proportion of the building that you have insured.

For example: If your house is worth £100,000 but you only declare a Buildings Sum Insured of £60,000. should you have a claim of £10,000 then the insurer will only pay you £6,000, as they will deem that you under-insured. It is important not to be caught out by this by being tempted by lower premiums for lower Buildings Sum Insured.

When you report your repair we aim to offer an appointment for all urgent and routine repairs at a convenient time.

As well as explaining what day we will call, we will also confirm a morning or afternoon appointment.

For planned repairs which generally require an inspection, we aim to offer you an appointment before the work is done. Also at the time of inspection we'll arrange a further appointment for the work to be completed.

But not all repairs will need an appointment (work to the outside of your home, for example).

For emergency repairs you will need to guarantee access to your property for the following 24 hours.

You will not be given a set appointment but will be able to negotiate a time when you will be at home to make sure the emergency work can be done.

You will receive written confirmation of your appointment, and of the repair.

By law, a landlord has to provide a rent book to somebody who pays rent weekly, unless the rent includes a substantial payment for meals. The rent book must contain:

• The name and address of the landlord and the landlord's agent if there is one
• The amount of rent to be paid
• Description of the property the rent is for.

If you ever have any queries about your Council Tax or Business Rates balance or payments simply telephone usl on 01530 454545 or e-mail us at customer.services@nwleicestershire.gov.uk.

For housing enquiries please call 01530 454635 or e-mail rent.accounting@nwleicestershire.gov.uk

Rural affordable housing is housing provided in rural parishes for people on lower incomes who are unable to afford a home in the general housing market.

Affordable rented housing is usually owned by a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) - normally a housing association, or a council - and rented at a weekly rent that is affordable to people on low incomes.

Shared ownership and shared equity homes are partly purchased by the resident and partly owned by the RSL.

In the case of shared ownership, the resident may pay rent on the part owned by the RSL. 

While the Act does not specifically limit the number of requests you can make, it does give us the right to refuse any 'vexatious' or unreasonably repeated requests.

This can include repeated requests for similar information from the same person (or persons acting together) or requests which are deemed to be made with the intention of disrupting our work.

One item is defined as one bulky item: For example, a 3 piece suite counts as 3 items. Likewise a bed, headboard and mattress are also counted as 3 items.

'Personal information' is information about a living person that can identify that individual. Information about deceased individuals is not covered under the Data Protection Act'