As part of this, it's our responsibility as your landlord to ensure periodic maintenance is carried out to your heating and hot water systems. This will make sure your heating and hot water systems are working safely and efficiently. This is our legal responsibility.
It’s crucial you allow our contractors access to your home so we can carry out the necessary maintenance.
Under the terms of your tenancy agreement you’re also obliged to provide us access (when it’s necessary) for us to carry out this work within your home .
Problem with your heating and hot water system?
If you're having problems with your heating or hot water system, or you would like to discuss or rearrange your maintenance visits, then the details on who you need to contact are listed on this page.
Please note: Optivo and Southern Housing Group (SHG) have just merged to form a new housing provider, Southern Housing. The contact details for where you need to report heating and hot water problems will be different depending on whether you are living in a home that was previously managed by Optivo or a home previously managed by SHG.
Please select the appropriate box below to find out who to contact. If you’re not sure who used to manage your home please use our postcode lookup tool on this page.
Who to contact?
If you are living a home previously managed by Optivo you will need to contact the gas contractor that covers your area. These details can be found below.
KENT:
Swale Heating
- Telephone: 03301 230 266
- Website: swaleheating.com
LONDON & SURREY:
We use different contractors across London and Surrey. The contractor you need to contact will depend on your address.
You will have been told the name of the contractor you need to contact for gas servicing and heating repairs when you first became an resident with Optivo or Southern Housing.
K&T Heating
- Telephone: 0800 888 6626
- Email: optivo@ktheating.co.uk
Swale Heating
- Telephone: 0800 500 3181
- Website: swaleheating.com
Not sure who to contact? You can check who your heating contractor is by logging into our online service MyAccount.
SUSSEX:
BSW Heating
- Telephone: 0800 206 1369
- Website: bsw-heating.com
MIDLANDS:
Direct Heating Solutions
- Telephone: 0800 0471 014
- Email: Optivo@directheatingsolutions.com
If you are living a home previously managed by Optivo you will need to contact our Customer Service Centre using your local number.
Find your local number
Gas service and safety checks
It’s a legal requirement that Southern Housing service and safety check the gas appliances in your home, every year. This is to make sure they're safe and working correctly.
It's essential for your own safety to allow us and our contractors access to your home so we can carry out this work.
We'll write to you to confirm your gas service and safety check appointment. If the appointment date and time isn’t convenient for yourself, please contact your local contractor to rebook (contact details above). Flexible appointments are available to make sure we complete the service on time, and at a time which is convenient for you.
Just moved in ?
When moving into a home, with a gas supply, you will need to contact your local gas contractor and arrange for your gas supply to be turned on and tested.
This will enable your heating and hot water to function.
Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
The law about smoke and carbon monoxide alarms within your home changed in October 2022. You can read more about this here.
We are in the process of checking that all our homes have the necessary smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. We are aiming to complete this by July 2023 This may be done as part of your annual gas service and safety check. Or we may arrange for other contractors to come and check your alarms.
If you have a faulty smoke or carbon monoxide alarm, please report this to us.