As a Portsmouth Homes tenant or leaseholder, your responsibilities include the inside of your home, any attached structures and any private garden or yard.
We’re responsible for communal areas – like hallways, staircases, shared balconies, or doors in enclosed spaces – which means there’s separate rules for how you can use those areas. Visit our communal areas page for more info.
Maintenance of your home
Your responsibility to help us maintain your home is:
- To report repairs to your area housing office as soon as possible.
- To keep your home clean, tidy and in reasonable condition. This includes good decorative order. If you have been given a decoration allowance it must be used for the purpose of carrying out decorations.
- To allow Portsmouth City Council or our contractors access into your home to inspect or carry out repairs such as the annual inspection and service of gas supplies and any gas appliances installed. We’ll give you 48 hours written notice. If a repair needs to be carried out immediately because of a risk of personal injury or damage to the property, we reserve the right to enter without giving you notice.
Alterations to your home
You must have the prior written agreement from us before you carry out alterations to your home. We will not withhold agreement without good reason. Alterations that require prior written agreement may include:
- structural alterations to walls or doorways
- erecting sheds, garages or forming hard standings
- decorating the outside of your home
- removing trees or hedges
- erecting TV, satellite or CB aerials
- installing kitchens or bathroom suites
You are responsible for the reinstatement of any unauthorised or unsafe alterations that you have made.