Decent Homes Scheme - Rights?

poppysarah

Budget and p*ss poor management from local councils.

Ours is awful. one estate has been done up three times and it was only after a comment from a person on this street that the councillor went and chased up why these hadn't been done once.
In the end the only choice they got was what colour of front doors and the kitchen was an appallingly low standard of kitchen fitted. They got new boilers and new roof though too.
It's only because you know someone in a different area you see just how vast the differences are and that other places get done up many times and some not at all.

Ask your parent's local councillor to find out why only some things are being done. It might be that the wiring is deemed safe in the majority of properties - if it isn't in your parents then someone needs to be alerted to this.

Serious faults shouldn't wait for a program of refurbishment.

gRoberts

The wiring isn't a cause for concern as such, but that said, nor was the wiring in my house, yet they replaced it.

I live just under a mile away from my parents, we're both part of the same council/borough.

It's due to the bad xmas and dodgy icelandic bank issues that they are suffering. What concerns me is that the council should be helping the old and vulnrable.

My parents are not frail and old but they are both recovering from either a major operating or chemotherapy. They complained over 4 months ago about the huge drafts being thrown around the house.

Even after the consultant wrote a letter demanding that something is done about it, they just shrugged their shoulders. I assume a consultant can make a council's life hell if they are not seen to taking care of the ill.

FATBALLZ

Aren't they allowed to do the work themselves? They must be saving a fortune due to the cheap rent. Shelling out a paltry £100 or so for a decent door must be preferable to complaining and kicking up a huge fuss and apparently damaging their health over a prologned period of time just to get a freebie.

gRoberts

lol given the nature of this site, surely, free is better then cheap?

As said, they are getting the doors etc fitted, but they should be getting a combi boiler and new radiators as well, which will replace their current system that has to be left on constantly to actually be of any use.

Anyway lol Clearly, there's not much we can do but wait and see.

Thanks everyone!

poppysarah

Your wiring was fine - but they wasted money replacing it now... That's what council's do... so your parents miss out.

Local councillor should have a contact number somewhere but it's in the run up to election so it's hit or miss if they'll help. If they think you'll vote for them they might chase it up.

Your parents might be entitled to a heating grant under various benefits rules - but they should have this looked at by a benefits specialist.

Do they have all the insulation? If the council aren't doing this then they should almost certainly qualify for a discount/freebie under some scheme or other. The insulation will make the difference to the quality of life.

And to be honest unless the consulatant has visited them at home or had occupational health (Health visitors? Or whoever does home visits to check the house is suitable for sick people to return to) has made an assement there's probably little the council can be forced to do.

If your parents have only noticed the drafts 4 months ago that was probably during the coldest spell of weather we've had for a long time?

FATBALLZ

wrangler5 wrote: »

Talk about missing the point. You can't just do whatever you like with council properties.

talk about missing the first 8 words of what you quoted.

What about asking the council if they can fund it themselves or if they can do the work themselves? Thought i'd raise the question as if somebodies health is as stake surely that comes before money.

squinty

The main problem here is that the Decent Homes Standard is not a list of works that applies to each property, but merely a standard which all council properties should meet by December 2010. Even then it is not a high standard.

Why do you think your parents should be provided with a new combi boiler? There is nothing in the decent homes standard that says this is a requirment - it does talk about a reasonable degree of thermal comfort, but this can still include solid fuel heating etc.

If your parents have helath problems that could be improved by improvments to thier home, they should not rely on the decent homes work to provide them with this. Most councils do invest a lot of money in adaptations for people with disabilities - look on the councils website for details, but intitial contact may be via the Occupational Therapists section in Social Services rather than housing.

Just to respond to some other points made by earlier posters:

The council will still put the rent up - no, the council will follow a government formula to calculate rents - the is littel or no local say on this.

You can carry out your own improvments - Yes this is true, but you do need permission from the landlord who may impose conditions. If you plan to replace a door the council may insist on a certain standard.

P**s poor managment / Icelandic Banks - welle maybe. However it is more likley that the council are in negative subsidy. This means that the council pay money each year to central govt - many councils pay in, a few (mainly large Metros and London) recieve payments out - but the books are no balalnaced, more is paid in than paid out. An extra tax on council tenants meaning some local priorities cannot be funded.