Renting with F&A Housing
Most of what you need lives in the app — paying rent, reporting a repair, seeing your inspection photos and messaging your property manager. Here's how it all works, and the basics worth knowing in any home.
How things work
Three things you'll do most, all in one place.
Paying rent
See what's due and what you've paid, with a clear record of your balance. No guessing, no chasing.
Reporting repairs
Report a fault from your phone with a photo. You can follow the job through to completion — you'll know who's on it.
Inspections
Routine inspections are logged with photos and notes, so there's a fair, shared record of the home's condition.
Day-one essentials
Whether you're moving into a home managed by F&A Housing or any UK rental, these are the things every tenant should know on day one. If you rent from us, your in-app welcome page also has the property-specific details (locations of the fuse box, meters, and so on) — sign in and check it.
If something's seriously wrong
- Smell of gas: open windows, leave the property, then call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Don't switch lights on or off, and don't use a phone inside.
- Major water leak: turn off the water at the stopcock (often under the kitchen sink, sometimes in the hallway floor or front of the house). Then message your property manager.
- Fire: get out, stay out, call 999.
- No power on the whole property: check the consumer unit (fuse box) — flipping a tripped breaker back up usually solves it.
The consumer unit (fuse box)
The consumer unit is a grey or white plastic box with rows of switches, normally out of the way — under the stairs, in a hallway cupboard, in a meter cupboard, or just inside the front door. If a circuit overloads, one of the smaller switches flips down; flip it back up to reset. If it trips again immediately, something on that circuit is faulty — unplug things one at a time to find it. The bigger main switch at one end kills all power to the house.
Gas
If your home has gas, there's a meter (usually outside or in a cupboard near the front of the house) and a yellow shut-off lever next to it — on when parallel to the pipe, off when perpendicular. If you smell gas, don't try to find the leak yourself: open windows, leave, and call 0800 111 999. To find your supplier, use Find My Supplier with the meter's MPRN.
Water
There's a stopcock somewhere in the property — usually under the kitchen sink, sometimes in a hallway floor recess or near the front of the house. Turning it clockwise shuts off the cold water supply. If you have a sudden major leak, finding and turning this off is the first thing to do. Find your supplier with the Water UK supplier finder.
Heating
Most UK rentals have a combi boiler — a wall-mounted unit, often in a kitchen cupboard or utility room. If you have no hot water or heating, check the thermostat is set high enough, there's mains gas/electricity, and the boiler's pressure gauge sits in the green band (typically 1.0–1.5 bar). If pressure is low, the boiler manual explains how to top it up — or just message us.
Council tax, bins & suppliers
On an Assured Shorthold Tenancy you'll usually be liable for council tax — set up an account with your local council (search "council tax your postcode"); a single occupant may get a 25% discount. Bin schedules vary by council, so search "your council bin day". When you move in, set up accounts with the gas, electricity and water suppliers for your address — take meter readings on day one so you only pay for what you use — plus broadband and a TV licence if you need them.
Damp or mould?
Don't paint over it or ignore it — report it. We treat every report through a fast, structured process. Read how we handle damp and mould, or report it straight from the app.
If you rent from us
Sign into the F&A Housing portal and open the Welcome / how things work tile on your dashboard. We can record the exact location of the fuse box, gas meter and stopcock for your specific property — with photos, so you don't have to guess.