FAQs

The Customer Care department is here to help resolve any defects you have in your property.

A defect is a fault that occurs in your property.

An emergency defect would be an issue that immediately exposes you to a risk.

A repair that is needed due to damage, neglect or general wear and tear. This includes damage caused by storms, accidents or poor maintenance of the property.

Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 immediately.

New-build homes can contain up to 5,000 litres of water in the concrete, mortar, screed and plaster. The home needs to dry-out and, as it’s lived in and heated, water evaporates causing timber and plaster to shrink. This can cause small cracks to appear.

As per the NHBC guidelines, Lovell would only address settlement cracks that are wider than 3mm (e.g. you can fit a pound coin into them). Smaller cracks are considered decorating cracks and it is the homeowner’s responsibility to address these as and when they decorate. If the cracks at your property are larger than 3mm in width, please contact the Customer Care Team.

Woodwork naturally absorbs a high quantity of paint, so the first painting may not give such a satisfactory finish as later painting. Your internal walls will have been painted with a light coat; this will allow moisture to work itself out. After 9-12 months the walls will be dry enough for re-decoration.

We recommend that you wait for at least a year to redecorate your property. When you do re-decorate, any small shrinkage cracks in the plaster work can be filled with decorator’s filler and made good.

You may also notice that you have condensation forming on cold surfaces such as windows. Modern homes are designed to minimise drafts and stop heat escaping but this can also stop water vapour escaping, leading to increased condensation. For more information on this, please see the condensation advice in your home owners guide.

You will need to contact the manufacturers directly. Their details will be in the manuals section in your home owners guide. If you are unsure of this, please contact Customer Care.

If the leak is very severe, please turn off the water in your property using the stop tap and call Customer Care immediately.

We strongly recommend that you do not use you loft to store items.

If your radiator feels cool at the top but warm at the bottom it’s probably because there is air in them and need bleeding. For advice on how to bleed your radiator, please check your home owners guide.

Please check the manual to see if this error is due to low pressure. If it is due to low pressure, you will need to top up the pressure. A guide of how to do this is in your home owners guide. If low pressure is not causing the error code or if you are unsure, please contact Customer Care.

Patio doors and windows can expand due to high temperatures meaning you are unable to close them. This is likely to be because the UPVC has swollen. Your windows and doors are not are not broken and do not need replacing. This is a perfectly natural occurrence. Where heat has affected your uPVC frames, the issue will disappear once temperatures return to normal. When the sun sets, your windows and doors will retract, returning to the normal size and position.

Should you really need to intervene, you can cool down your uPVC doors/windows by spraying the outside with water, or by patting it down with a cold, damp cloth. This will help the material to shrink back down to size, so that it’s once again within its normal working.