The Home Emergencies Handbook: what to do in the first ten minutes, who to call, and who pays
For anyone looking after a UK home, owned or rented, who wants to know what to touch, what to leave alone and who to ring. Ten chapters walk round the house in the order trouble arrives: the stop tap, gas valve and consumer unit; leaks and burst pipes; a boiler that stops; a tripped fusebox; a smell of gas or a carbon monoxide alarm; damp and mould; storm damage; drains, sewers and floods; what a landlord must fix and when; and the claim and the tradesperson at the end of it all. Each chapter has a checklist and a who-to-contact table. An A4 PDF, read on any device.
- 146 A4 pages in 10 chapters: know your home, leaks and burst pipes, boiler and heating failures, electrical faults, gas leaks and carbon monoxide, damp and mould, storm damage, flooding and drains, renters’ rights, and insurance claims and tradespeople.
- England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set out separately wherever the rules differ: gas and power-cut numbers, landlord repair and safety duties, carbon monoxide alarm law, Awaab’s Law in England and Scotland’s own damp and mould rules, sewer-flooding payments, and who owns which pipe and drain.
- Every instruction traced to its publisher: GOV.UK and Be Ready, the HSE, the NHS, the gas and water networks, Electrical Safety First, the ABI, the Financial Ombudsman, Shelter, Citizens Advice and the housing bodies of each nation, checked November 2026 and listed at the end of each chapter.
- Instant PDF download, yours to keep. Read it on any device, or print the one-page home information sheet from Chapter 1 and pin it inside a kitchen cupboard.
Secure card payment by Stripe. It downloads the moment you pay, so by buying you ask for it straight away and there’s no 14-day cancellation. Terms of sale.
For personal and household use. Buying for an organisation, tenants or staff? Ask about a licence.
Also in The Emergencies Pack, with 4 more handbooks and files: £29.99 for all 5.
When you would reach for it
At 3am with water coming through the ceiling, when you need the stop tap, the rule about wet electrics and the insurer’s number, in that order. The January morning the boiler shows a fault code, before you pay for a call-out that a tripped switch or a frozen condensate pipe could explain. The day after a storm, with a roofer at the door. And the week a landlord goes quiet about damp, when you want the exact duties and timescales the law gives you.
What it does that a web search cannot
Each emergency has its own guidance from a different body, usually written for one nation, and almost none of it says what to do first. This book puts the first ten minutes at the top of every chapter, then the ownership question (whose pipe, whose drain, whose fence), then the money. It says where official sources disagree, where an official page is out of date, and where no official guidance exists at all, so you know when you are on your own judgement.
Written for owners and renters alike
Renting runs through every chapter, and Chapter 9 draws it together: how to report a repair so that it counts, what ‘reasonable time’ means, access and notice, why to keep paying rent, and the council, tribunal and court routes in each nation, including the end of section 21 evictions in England from 1 May 2026. Owners get the other half: whose pipe and drain is whose, the rebuild figure and the average clause, and what a proper quote and contract look like.
What you’ll be able to do
- Find, test and label your stop tap, gas emergency control valve and consumer unit, and write a one-page home information sheet anyone in the house can follow.
- Shut off a burst pipe, keep water and electricity apart, and work out which pipe is yours and which is the water company’s before the argument starts.
- Run through the checks that explain most ‘broken’ boilers and tripped fuseboxes before paying for a call-out, and know the signs that mean stop and ring the emergency number.
- Act on a smell of gas or a carbon monoxide alarm in the right order, and choose, site and test an alarm to the standard the rules name.
- Tell condensation from rising and penetrating damp, clean a very small patch of mould safely, and know what Awaab’s Law requires of a landlord in England and Scotland.
- Report a repair so that it counts, follow a claim from the first call to settlement, and check a tradesperson, a quote and a contract before saying yes.
Look inside
The cover, the start of chapter 1 and the contents. The free sample has the first chapter in full.
What’s inside
10 chapters across 146 pages. Read it straight through, or go to the chapter you need.
Everything in this handbook comes back to the one-page home information sheet from Chapter 1. If you have read this far, add four lines to it: your insurer’s name, policy number and 24-hour claims line; your buildings and contents excesses; where the policy documents and the inventory are kept; and the numbers of a plumber, an electrician and a roofer you have already checked. Then put the sheet back in the cupboard, take a photo of it for every phone in the house, and go and do something else. The point of being prepared is that you rarely have to think about it.
When not to buy this
If you rent a flat and your landlord answers the same day, much of this book is their job: what you need is the home information sheet, the emergency numbers, the habit of reporting in writing, and contents cover of your own. Everything it draws on is published free by GOV.UK, the HSE, the NHS, the gas and water networks and the others its sources name. Buy it if you want those pages read together, in the order an emergency happens, for all four nations. It is information, not advice, and nothing in it replaces 999, the gas emergency line, a Gas Safe registered engineer or a registered electrician.
Questions
I rent. Isn’t most of this my landlord’s problem?+
Most of the repairs are, and the book says so in every chapter. What stays with you is the first ten minutes (where the stop tap is, what not to touch, who to ring), the duty to report problems, and your own belongings. Chapter 9 covers how to report a repair so that it counts, what you can ask for while you wait, and the council, tribunal and court routes in each nation.
Does it cover Awaab’s Law and the Renters’ Rights Act?+
Yes, as they stood in November 2026: the Awaab’s Law timescales for social tenants in England since 27 October 2025 and what Phase 2 adds from 30 November 2026; Scotland’s version from 6 October 2026, which covers private landlords too; the end of section 21 evictions in England from 1 May 2026; and what is still only a proposal, such as Awaab’s Law for private tenants in England. Wales and Northern Ireland have their own sections.
Will it tell me how to fix things myself?+
Only the things the official sources say a householder can safely do: turn off the stop tap, reset a tripped switch, repressurise a boiler by the manufacturer’s guide, thaw a condensate pipe from the ground, clean a very small patch of mould. Everything else it hands to the right person and shows you how to check them: a Gas Safe registered engineer, a registered electrician, an approved plumber, a vetted tradesperson. It also says plainly: do not go up on the roof.
What exactly do I get?+
A PDF ebook, A4, 146 pages, that you download straight after paying, to read on any phone, tablet or computer or to print. It isn't a printed book and nothing is posted. We also email you a link to your downloads.
Does it work in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?+
Yes. Where the rules or services differ between the four nations, the file says so and points to the right official service for each.
Will it go out of date?+
It names the official service to check rather than printing fees or amounts that change. If we update the file, your download link gives you the current version.
Can I get a refund?+
Because it downloads the moment you pay, the 14-day cancellation period doesn’t apply to digital files you’ve asked to receive straight away. If a file won’t open or something is wrong with it, email us and we’ll sort it out.
Secure card payment by Stripe. It downloads the moment you pay, so by buying you ask for it straight away and there’s no 14-day cancellation. Terms of sale.
For personal and household use. Buying for an organisation, tenants or staff? Ask about a licence.
The Home Emergencies Handbook is general information. It is not legal, financial or medical advice. Written by Tom Calder for PreparedBritain, an independent publisher not affiliated with HM Government.
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