Residence management or an external contractor?

Residence management is the main contact at a residence for both administration and many practical tasks on site. There is no separate general caretaker service. Depending on the issue, residence management handles it directly or coordinates cleaning, security or an external specialist. The relevant contacts are in the tenant portal, your personal correspondence or the local notice.

Residence management is the official route for your tenancy agreement, length of stay, notice, approvals, payment details and personal contractual matters. On site, it also checks items such as lighting, doors, locks, radiators, water connections and communal areas. It may carry out smaller jobs such as changing a light itself. For specialist repairs, such as heating work, it usually commissions a qualified contractor. Report ordinary damage through the tenant portal wherever possible: the ticket documents the case and shows its status. A separate direct email does not offer this tracking and can be more easily overlooked in an inbox.

Communal areas may be cleaned by in-house staff or external companies. A security or lock service is responsible only where it has expressly been commissioned and named locally. Neither replaces residence management, the police or the fire and rescue service.

Outside normal hours, external companies may handle urgent technical damage. Use only the contact currently displayed for your residence or named in your documents. These companies often work under an individual or framework contract; calling them is not automatically free of charge.

For a genuine technical emergency within the landlord’s responsibility, the landlord bears the call-out costs. This does not provide a blanket promise of payment for a false alarm, a non-urgent call-out or damage you caused yourself.

Your room is private living space. The standard agreement permits the landlord or its representative to enter for an important reason, such as necessary work or an inspection. An appointment must normally be announced in good time; danger may require immediate action. Your own agreement is authoritative. ¹⁾

If you are locked out during normal hours, contact residence management first. Outside these hours, Welcome tutors may be able to help under the local procedure if they are available. If that is not possible, use the locksmith designated for the residence. You generally bear the cost of a self-caused lockout yourself.

Report a lost key, chip or transponder to residence management immediately so that blocking, replacement and any security measures can be arranged. Locking systems differ: with some electronic or digital systems, the key or transponder’s access authorisation must occasionally be loaded or refreshed at a designated station. Follow the local information in good time so that an expired authorisation does not lock you out.

• residence, building and exact location,
• description and urgency,
• when it began or occurred,
• machine or system number, if available,
• photographs, where safe,
• existing ticket number when following up.

1. Residence management or the portal assigns urgency and responsibility.
2. Residence management inspects the damage on site or asks for further information.
3. An external specialist is involved where expertise, spare parts or a framework contract are required.
4. An appointment is normally agreed for access to your room; immediate danger may require action at once.
5. Additions and follow-up questions should stay in the same case so that its history and responsibility remain clear.

Referral to a specialist does not automatically mean that the original report was wrong. Residence management remains important, particularly where an appointment, access, responsibility or costs must be clarified.

First check the ticket number and route used. Add a factual update to the existing case stating how long it has been open and whether the problem has worsened. If an ordinary fault becomes urgent, also use the current urgent technical route displayed locally. For immediate danger, call the emergency services.

The head of the responsible housing department is the specialist line manager above residence management. This is a possible escalation route if a serious matter remains stuck despite documented attempts to resolve it with residence management, or requires a formally superior decision. A short, ordinary processing time for a non-urgent defect is not a reason to involve the head of department. In immediate danger, use the emergency route rather than organisational escalation.