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All Councils and housing associations have to bring their homes up to the
Government's Decent Homes Standard by 2010. |
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The Standard requires all council and housing
association homes to: |
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- Be fit to live in
Your home must be fit for human habitation, structurally stable and
free from serious disrepair and meet basic health & safety standards.
- Be in a reasonable state of repair
Things like windows, external doors, chimneys, gas boilers and fires
and the electrics in your home must be modern and in reasonable
condition.
- Provide a reasonable degree of thermal
comfort
So that your home can be heated to a reasonable level and is
effectively insulated.
- Have reasonably modern facilities
Like a kitchen less than 20 years old with an adequate layout, and a
suitably located bathroom that is less than 30 years old.
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A home will fail the Decent Homes Standard if it does
not meet these elements of fitness, reasonable state of repair and
thermal comfort or if it fails at least 3 of the test on modern
facilities. |
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By July 2005 all Councils must carry our an
Options Appraisal to: |
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- Assess how many homes fail the Decent
Homes Standard and
- How much it will cost to bring them up
to the Standard
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The Government expects Councils to raise any
extra money they need for the Decent Homes Standard
by: |
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- Setting up an Arms Length Management
Organisation (ALMO), or
- Setting up a Private finance Initiative (PFI)
agreement, or
- Carrying out a housing stock transfer to a
Housing Association
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DWA
Housing Digests
(One Of A Series)