Private Sector Housing Renewal Policy

Assistance Under the Regulatory Reform [Housing Assistance] [England and Wales] Order 2002

Strategic Context

The policy framework for housing and other community-focussed services is continuously evolving. It is the role of services providers, be they local authorities, housing associations or other public and private agencies, to respond to changes in national policy but also local circumstances. This new private sector housing policy primarily marks an initial response to the Regulatory Reform Order on Housing Renewal, which came into force on 18^th July 2002. This Order has important implications for local housing authorities because it repeals existing legislation relating to housing renewal grants for homeowners and landlords, and offers greater flexibility for authorities to respond to issues of housing disrepair in a manner that most effectively addresses local issues.

Since the Order has been published however, other important policy initiatives have been announced including the Deputy Prime Minister's Communities Plan, which offers a vision for creating sustainable communities, whilst radically altering the funding framework for housing investment, by combining Housing Investment Programme [HIP] and Housing Corporation grants for social housing in a new single housing pot, to be administered by a new Regional Housing Board, which will include representatives from the Housing Corporation, the Government Office and English Partnerships.

The Communities Plan has also seen the formal introduction of nine pathfinder Housing Market Renewal Areas, backed by over £500m of investment to provide a catalyst to the restructuring of failed housing market areas. Tameside lies between two of these declared areas: Manchester/Salford and Oldham/Rochdale and will work closely with these local authorities through sub-regional housing and planning groups as well as forming strong links with the new regional board, to ensure that adjacent areas such as Droylsden or areas of housing "which are at risk of changing demand" such as Hattersley and the Ashton Renewal Area, are not adversely affected.

A new Housing Bill was published on 31^st March 2003 for consultation. The Bill sets out legislation in five areas:

To replace the current housing fitness standard with a new health and safety hazard rating
To provide for the mandatory licensing of houses in multiple occupation [HMOs]
To give local authorities the power to license all landlords
To require the seller of a residential property to provide a home information pack.
to amend the right to buy scheme:

The new Supporting People programme which took effect from 1^st April, marks a radical change in the way housing support costs are funded, whilst the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy, the Government’s Standards of Decency for social housing and the Energy White Paper require local authorities and social landlords to ensure homes are adequately and affordably heated.

Whilst these other developments do not directly affect our proposals at this time it shows there is a need to continuously adapt to policy and funding changes such as those above and it is clear that the policy outlined in this report marks just the first step in a series of wide ranging developments in Tameside’s cross-tenure housing strategy and other local strategies which will need to be implemented over the next 12 months.

This revised private housing renewal policy not only aims to assist in the delivery of key housing priorities but in the wider strategic objectives identified by residents, the Council and its partners in the new Tameside Community Strategy 2003-6. After extensive consultation with local people Community Strategy which is produced by the Tameside Strategic Partnership, has been built around six key themes:

Supportive Communities
A Safe Environment
A Prosperous Society
A Learning Community
A Healthy Population
An Attractive Borough

Whilst the Tameside Community Strategy aims to improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the whole Borough, the Tameside Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy, focuses on improving services and quality of life in those areas which suffer greatest levels of deprivation and social exclusion. In addition to the Housing Partnership and the Housing Strategy, there are a number of other ‘thematic partnerships’ in Tameside, and various strategies including the crime and disorder reduction strategy, the Unitary Development Plan and the Economic Development Plan, which all assist in meeting Community Strategy objectives.

This Policy recognises that it is the responsibility of home-owners to maintain their properties and the assistance set out below is to provide help for those homeowners who have difficulty in meeting this responsibility. However, assistance should be seen as only being available once and the Authority will endeavour to advise people on how to maintain their homes and expect them to do so following any help given.

Forms of Assistance

Adaptations for Disabled People

Assistance for the provision of adaptations will continue to be only available following a recommendation from Social Services. Minor adaptations costing less than £500 will be provided at no cost to the disabled person via existing arrangements. The vast majority of adaptations at a cost in excess of £500 will be met by the Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant, which has been unaffected by the introduction of this Regulatory Reform Order.

However, there are circumstances where the Authority will wish to provide assistance beyond that already covered above and will now form part of this Policy.

Works not eligible for Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant. This may be works not covered within the definition of the Mandatory Grant but which are felt necessary to meet the needs of the disabled person when considering the Social Services Department document "Guidelines for the provision of equipment and adaptations for people with disabilities", or the costs associated with providing works covered by the mandatory grant exceed the maximum grant available.
The disabled person cannot meet the contribution indicated towards the costs of the works, which has been determined by the statutory test of resources associated with the Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant.
The disabled person needs to move house because their existing property is unable to be suitably adapted or the costs of suitably adapting the property exceed an acceptable level.

In all of these cases, financial assistance will only be available from the Authority when they are satisfied that the disabled person is unable to raise those resources themselves or from any other third party.

In practice, this will mean that the disabled person or their parents or legal guardians in the case of a person under eighteen years of age, will have to demonstrate that when taking into account their income and existing housing costs, they are unable to access sufficient funds either from savings, from a recognised commercial lender or via any loan scheme promoted by the Local Authority, which has been developed as a result of the Regulatory Reform Order for the needs of the disabled person to be met in the circumstances outlined above. The ability to access monies from charitable bodies will also be considered.

If the disabled persons home is in the ownership of a registered social landlord and in the absence of other viable options then additional assistance may be given to allow a scheme to be undertaken under item 1 above.

The Authority when satisfied that sufficient monies are unavailable to carry out what is necessary to meet the disabled persons needs as agreed by Social Services in the circumstances outlined in 1, 2 and 3 of this section, then a grant up to a maximum of £25,000 to meet any shortfall will be provided. In the case of 3, where a house move is involved, the grant will be available to cover the costs of moving [legal fees, estate agents fees, removal expenses and stamp duty], any adaptations that would be needed at the new property and a contribution towards the cost of the house, where it is more expensive than the existing property. In reaching a decision about a contribution in the case of a more expensive property, a general principle of not funding an enhancement to the overall accommodation will be followed.

This means that where a Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant has also been approved, the maximum assistance available to any person will be £50,000.

The grant made under this section of the Regulatory Reform Order will be registered as a land charge and will be wholly repayable for a period of five years from the date that the persons needs are considered to be met on sale or transfer of the property.

The Council may not require repayment of grant under this section having regard for the following:

The death of the disabled person.
The deterioration of the condition of the disabled person so that the existing accommodation is no longer suitable to meet that persons needs.

Assistance for the Over 60's,

The Council works in partnership with Anchor Housing Trust to provide a "Staying Put" service for owner/occupiers over 60 years of age. The service provides professional help to owners wishing to carry out repairs and improvements to their homes. In many cases, owner-occupiers falling into this category have substantial equity in their properties, which with appropriate advice they can access to help maintain their home. The Staying Put Service will look to help people use this equity where possible.

Under this policy, the Council may provide funds to support the provision of the "Staying Put" service and may advance funds to a qualifying owner/occupier to enable works to be carried out as detailed below:

An applicant for the advance of funds will be over sixty years old and have an owner's interest and be resident in the property, which is to be the subject of the works.

The advance will be up to a maximum of £5,000 over and above any contribution made by the applicant.

The applicant will be in receipt of a means tested benefit or will be subject to a test of resources, which will be the national test of resources used for Mandatory Disabled Facilities Grant but including any existing borrowing for housing costs which exceed the national allowance already contained within the test. Where a contribution to the cost of the works is indicated by this test, an advance will only be available over and above this contribution, up to the cost of carrying out the necessary works or £5,000, whichever is the smaller amount.

The advance will be registered against the property as a land charge and will be repayable in full upon sale or transfer of the property for a period of up to ten years from completion of the works. The minimum advance will be £500.

Necessary works for which an advance may be made include the following:

All works related to keeping the property wind and weather tight.
Health and Safety Issues such as defective electrical wiring, heating/hot water systems, structural defects including boundary walls and uneven pathways
Provision or replacement of defective basic amenities
Defective windows and doors
All works related to the treatment of dampness
All works related to timber infestation and rot
Repair works following damage which was uninsured or underinsured
Security works including gates or fencing
Other works associated with satisfactory completion of any of the above or supported by the manager of the Staying Put Scheme.

Works to outbuildings will not generally by included unless they provide fuel storage, WC facilities or further deterioration to them would result in physical deterioration to the main dwelling.

The advance will only be available on one occasion, except at the Staying Put Manager’s discretion, works which were unforeseen at the time of the first advance become necessary because they present a danger to the occupiers or passers by or substantial deterioration of the property would result if they were not carried out.

In the event of the death of the applicant within the ten-year period of the land charge and that person is survived by a spouse or partner who continues to occupy the property, which is then transferred as a result of probate, the repayment of the advance will not be required until or unless another sale or transfer takes place within the ten-year period.

An application from the owner-occupier of a mobile home/houseboat may be considered where it is the applicants only or main residence and has been for a period of at least three years immediately preceding the date of the application in the same locality. Due to the nature of the construction of this type of habitation, the works of repair and/or replacement for which an advance may be made, will be at the discretion of the Staying Put Manager in conjunction with an appropriate officer of the Council.

Safety Net Assistance

Generally it is anticipated that owner-occupiers will take responsibility for their own properties and keep them to an acceptable standard of maintenance. However, it is recognised that circumstances will arise where an owner-occupier is unable to carry out this responsibility due to their financial circumstances and in these cases, the Council would wish to offer appropriate advice and assistance.

If an extreme risk to the health and safety of the occupier or other members of the public exists due to the condition of an owner-occupier property. This will be determined by an appropriate officer of the Council based on the evidence available, which may include advice or reports from relevant professionals.

An advance of monies may be made by the Council to carry out necessary works to remove the risk where they are satisfied that the owner cannot raise sufficient funds in the form of savings, loans available either commercially or via any loans made available under an arrangement developed by the Council as part of its response to this Regulatory Reform Order. In order to satisfy the Council that sufficient funds cannot be raised, it will be necessary to show that such a loan advance will not be made based on the household income taking into account any existing commitments that are housing related and relevant to the property which is the subject of the application.

The advance will be over and above any funds, which can be raised, and up to the amount required to remove the risk.

The advance will be registered as a land charge and repayable upon sale or transfer of the property within five years from the completion of the works. The amount payable will be on a reducing scale as with group repair schemes. The Council may not require payment of grant upon sale or transfer of the property under this section of the Policy having regard for the circumstances as set out in the Group Repair section of the Policy. This element of the Policy would only be applied to owners who cannot receive assistance under any other sections of the Policy.

"Right to Buy" Owner-Occupiers

Owner-occupiers who have previously been tenants and have acquired their property using right to buy procedures may find themselves in a situation whereby modernisation works are being carried out to a block of properties of which they form a part.

If it would be advantageous in completing a satisfactory scheme if they could benefit from the same works because common elements such as walls, foundations, roofs, flues, rainwater goods and associated items are included then an advance of monies may be considered.

The criteria on which this advance will be based is as set out in the above section "safety net assistance".

General

Any assistance provided under this Policy is at the discretion of the Council and subject to available resources.

The costs of appropriate professional fees associated with any works carried out under this Policy may be included as part of any advance made up to a level deemed reasonable by an appropriate officer of the Council.

The cash figures referred to in the body of the report may be varied from time to time to allow for inflation or other factors affecting costs.

Complaints relating to or arising from any issues associated with this Policy will be dealt with in accordance with the Council's Complaints Procedure. Such issues should be addressed in the first instance to the Service Unit Manager [Housing Renewal].

An application which falls outside the scope of this Policy may, if it is felt appropriate by the Head of Service or Service Unit Manager because of the particular circumstances, be considered for assistance in consultation with the Cabinet Deputy [Personal Services].

Advice on how to make an application for assistance under this Policy is available from the following contacts:

Housing Renewal - 0161 342 2259
Properties in the Ashton Renewal Area - 0161 342 2608
Enquiries from people over 60 - Anchor Staying Put - 0161 339 5656

Enquiry details may also be left on Tameside Council's Web Site by accessing the Housing Service.

Page last updated: 7 May 2008