DFG grant and extension

omg29 · 18 January 2011 at 6:43PM

Does anyone understand about dfg grants and extensions?
Right occupational therapist has recommended we need a downstairs bedroom and wet room built for our daughter. She has had an arcitect draw up plans. We were told my daughter is eligable for £30,000 towards the extension.
Lady from the home inprovements agency has advised there was a shortfall of £5-10k and that they will be looking to charities to raise the money.This was before xmas have not had any contact friom her with regards to whats the next steps etc.
OT has told me that the shortfall is because of agency fees and arcetect fees.
My question is can we take the grant and not go through the agency to save money. My dh friend has his own building company and has quoted £29,000 for the extension. He isnt one of the list of builders the home improvements agency, but then if we did it alone we wouldnt be going through them.
We understand we wont have the back up of the agency and if anything would go wrong it would be down to us to sort it.

dawnofwar · 18 January 2011 at 7:08PM

We've just had the exact same adaptations that you are looking at. Build finished in Sept 2010 after 3 months. We were also over the £30,000 limit by a small amount.

I think you have to have a little research into whether you would be liable for any costs incurred by the agency and architect up to this point. We were told that if we decided to back out of using the agency we would have to pay about £1000 in fees.

Also, you really need to think about building a contigency budget into this, we had problems with extra drains not on any plans and asbestos that cost us privately!

To be honest, i dont think the agency we had earned their commission. So please take the time to reseacrh ALL of your options.

dawnofwar · 18 January 2011 at 7:13PM

Oh and make sure if you go it alone that the builder knows that some items are non vatable!

ubesco · 18 January 2011 at 9:04PM

omg29 wrote: »

Does anyone understand about dfg grants and extensions?
Right occupational therapist has recommended we need a downstairs bedroom and wet room built for our daughter. She has had an arcitect draw up plans. We were told my daughter is eligable for £30,000 towards the extension.
Lady from the home inprovements agency has advised there was a shortfall of £5-10k and that they will be looking to charities to raise the money.This was before xmas have not had any contact friom her with regards to whats the next steps etc.
OT has told me that the shortfall is because of agency fees and arcetect fees.
My question is can we take the grant and not go through the agency to save money. My dh friend has his own building company and has quoted £29,000 for the extension. He isnt one of the list of builders the home improvements agency, but then if we did it alone we wouldnt be going through them.
We understand we wont have the back up of the agency and if anything would go wrong it would be down to us to sort it.

Does this grant cover for old people (86) as well that are best in bed downstairs and a new shower room?
Who should I contact.

SORRY i HAVE JUST FOUND THE INFO ON THE WEB THANKS FOR BRINGING THIS UP.
hey this looks good!. Father could do with a downstairs toilet and shower and the wife has bad arthritis makes using stairs difficult. An extension downstairs for us would be good as a bedroom and ensuite with french doors to the garden.
Thanks - will see the council in the morning. Being on benefit should help us as well.

Indie_Kid · 18 January 2011 at 9:48PM

ubesco wrote: »

Does this grant cover for old people (86) as well that are best in bed downstairs and a new shower room?
Who should I contact.

He needs to contact the council - physical disabilities team I imagine.

wattdallas · 19 January 2011 at 11:27AM

Hi been there done it all.You could ask social services for the short fall.We did £18,000, though they did put a charge on my home ,so if we ever sell it would only be then that we would have to pay it back.

If your in a council home on low in come you would receive this free.

Please ask your social worker / ot .

Hope you get it sorted soon

omg29 · 22 January 2011 at 1:47PM

Quick update.....have spoken to home improvements agency and our case worker has now said as far as she was concerned our application was still closed( even though i spoke to her before xmas and she had reopened it!)
Had a long chat about the shortfall etc. And said to her that if they havent the funds to adapt the property we should be given a band A on the bidding scheme due to urgent medical need, instead of the band c we were on.( due to use having an adaptable property, but which cannot be adapted due to lack of funds).
She rang housing and had lots of chats with them, i also emailed housing services and ot explaining my case. About an hour later had an email from the manager of the HIA who said she had contacted housing and that the ot report from last month has been reviewed and we have been awarded Band A.
Have had a letter through this morning confirming all this. One thing i cant understand is they have said this priority has been given on the basis we need to move to a fully adaopted house, and if we bid on anything else they will reduce our priority!
The chance of a 5 bed adapted house coming up are slim. When talking to Home improvement agency woman she said if a 5 bed townhouse for example came up,that didnt have a downstairs bedroom, we could still get a stair lift fitted with a dfg.
Just so confused, does anyone know whether i can only bid on adapted homes? Just seem to be going round in circles again, and my daughter needs help now.

32kickstart · 22 January 2011 at 11:15PM

The process differs from county to county. We are under Leeds and are doin g downstairs bedroom and wetroom too + remodelling downstairs for wheelchair access etc. Ours is costing 30K disability grant plus £25k which is being put against our house on land registry. We don't need to find the money now, only if we sell or die! Personally I would go with your brother in law - all he needs to do is register with the council which isn't a long process. The quality of drawings / work under the agency has been poor and the builders are mucking us about - we had no say in them as the cheapest quote is used. We were advised the same thing by a number of people but didn't head the warnings:( Talk with the council and get a detailed description of doing it yourself....much less stressful in the longrun:)

bistokid · 16 June 2011 at 7:58PM

You don't have to use the HIA or the Council's builders list under the legislation.
If you still have no joy, go to the housing ombudsman - they'll intervene on your behalf. The HIA should also do that on your behalf - that's what they get paid for.

DFG grant and extension

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