The government has laid down in law that "everyone is entitled to live in a home that is warm, weatherproof and has reasonably modern facilities."
We are working to ensure that our homes meet the Decent Homes standard by 2010.
You will already have been written to with details of the years in which your particular home will be surveyed for both internal and external work.
Only work needed to bring your home up to the Decent Homes standard will be done on your home.
For enquiries about Decent Homes works in you property you can telephone the service manager, Martin Donnelly on 01223 458436.
Special needs
If you have special needs, as a result of a disability for example, we will talk about this with you.
New baths fitted as part of this work will have twin gripped handles and a non-slip surface.
We are working closely with the Home Aid team to try to make sure that any special needs are met.
If you have a permanent and substantial disability you can apply for an adaptation to be done to your home.
The standard
For your home to meet the Decent Homes standard it must:
- meet the statutory minimum standard for housing
- have reasonably modern facilities and services
- be in a good state of repair
- have reasonable thermal insulation
Statutory minimum housing standard
A home will meet this criterion if it is free of any serious hazard that will make the property not suitable for occupation.
Hazards that might make your home fail to reach this standard include:
- damp and mould growth
- excess cold or heat
- insufficient lighting
- electric hazards
- fire and burns hazards
- insufficient protection against falls for vulnerable groups such as young children, older people and disabled
Modern facilities
A home fails to meet this criterion if it lacks three or more of the following:
- a reasonably modern kitchen - 20 years old or less
- a kitchen with adequate space and layout
- a reasonably modern bathroom - 30 years or less
- an appropriately located bathroom and toilet
- adequate noise insulation if external noise is a problem
Good state of repair
A home satisfies this criterion unless:
- one or more key building components are old and in poor condition
- two or more non-key building component are old and in poor condition.
A component cannot fail this criterion based on age alone. It must also be in a poor condition that makes replacement or major repair a requirement.
The following table shows the different elements of a house and the minimum age for them to be considered old.
| Element | Minimum age |
|---|---|
| External walls | 80 years |
| Roof structure | 50 years |
| Roof covering (pitched roofs) | 50 years |
| Roof covering (flat roofs) | 20 years |
| Windows and doors | 40 years |
| Chimneys | 50 years |
| Central heating boilers | 15 years |
| Electrics | 30 years |
| Plumbing | 60 years |
| Kitchens | 30 years |
| Bathrooms | 40 years |
| Heating systems | 40 years |
Thermal comfort
A home has a reasonable degree of thermal comfort if it has both efficient heating and effective insulation.
Gas central heating, warm air systems and electric storage heaters are efficient forms of heating as long as they cover all the rooms in your home.
Any other form of heating, such as ceiling heating and open fires, should be replaced.
For your home to have effective insulation it should have sufficient wall insulation (if applicable) and loft insulation at least 20cm thick.
Performance reviews
We are running three main partnering contracts for council housing properties.
These contracts are:
- The Decent Homes agreement with City Services and Apollo
- The housing maintenance partnership with City Services
In order to monitor the performance of the different partnering contracts, a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) have been created.
These indicators mainly cover the following aspects of work:
- compliance with the health and safety regulations
- residents satisfaction
- quality of work
- cost predictability
- time predictability
You can download the latest report here.