Decent Homes
What is a Decent Home?
The Decent Homes Standard is set by government to ensure that all housing association homes meet certain minimum standard.
There are four criteria that we consider when planning our Decent Homes Improvement works. These determine whether or not a home is considered ‘non-decent’.
Is your home decent?
Would your home would fail the Decent Home Standard when assessed against the below criteria? Click on the links below to find out.
1. Is your home in an unreasonable state of repair?
To fail this means one or more of the key components (e.g. external walls/roof/windows/ doors/boiler) must be old AND in poor condition or two or more of the other building components (e.g. kitchen/bathroom) must be old AND in poor condition.
2. Is your home without reasonably modern facilities or services?
To fail this means your home must lack three or more of the following:
- a kitchen less than 20 years old
- a kitchen with adequate space and layout
- a bathroom less than 30 years old
- a bathroom and toilet in an appropriate location
- adequate insulation against external noise
- adequately sized and well laid out common areas in flats
3. Is your home without efficient heating and insulation?
To fail a property would not provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort i.e. efficient heating and effective insulation.
Every 5 years we carry out a stock condition survey. This tells us whether our homes are decent or not and what works may be required. We then prepare a programme of works including new kitchens, bathrooms, windows and roofs. We will let you know in advance when these works will be carried out and will consult with you and give choice of materials and colour where possible.
Cyclical Works
What are Cyclical Works
Cyclical work is the maintenance and upkeep of a building. It also includes the servicing of certain elements in the building which we are legally required to do, such as your annual gas safety test. Some works are done on an annual cycle and some on a 5 to 7 year cycle. They include:-
gas safety test,
Fire equipment servicing
Water tank testing
Tree pruning
communal decorating
Communal decorating is usually carried out every 5 to 7 years. We survey each property and do the work when required. We will write to you if work needs to be done to your home. We will also consult with you, where possible, on colour choices.
We aim to make all our scheme dementia friendly. This could include, for example:
Colour Schemes
Lighting
Signage
Floor Coverings
If you wish to carry out improvements, alterations or additions to your home you must obtain our written permission before you start any work. We will expect you to submit detailed information of what you wish to do, accompanied by plans if necessary and ensure you use a qualified experienced company to do the work. We will also need to inspect the work to ensure it is to a good standard
What types of improvements, alterations or additions do you need to notify us of?
Click here for further information. (include text below)
- installing a satellite dish
- erecting a television aerial
- installing cable TV
- erecting a garden shed
- erecting a greenhouse
- adding or upgrading fencing
- adding or extending to the property in any way, this includes lean-tos and conservatories
- fitting wood, wood-effect or laminate flooring
- tiled, vinyl or sheet flooring
Will we refuse permission?
We will not unreasonably withhold permission. When we give permission it will be conditional on the work being carried out to a certain standard and you carrying out the work at your own expense. You will also have to carry out any future maintenance of the improvement at your own expense.
You may need to obtain other approvals before you start the work, for example some work requires building regulation approval or planning permission. Some work can only be carried out by a competent and registered person, for example gas or electrical work.
Major Repairs
This refers to large scale repairs or improvement projects. The amount of money involved is considerable and we therefore have to plan ahead where possible so that these works can be budgeted for.
