Before applying for a grant
Disabled Home Assistance grants are only available to you if you are already receiving, or are applying for a Disabled Facilities Grant. The grant has two purposes.
Firstly, it can be used to carry out essential repairs of up to £3000 to enable the disabled grant works to proceed. These may be such things as updating electrical wiring to allow a stairlift to be fitted, or repairing a leaking bathroom roof where adaptations are being carried out.
Secondly, it can be used to ensure that you are not in 'fuel poverty'. Assistance of up to £3000 is available to bring your property up to an energy efficient standard for insulation and heating. This will only be offered where no other assistance such as Warm Front Grants is available. (The Council can give you information on other Energy Efficiency schemes).
It is possible to receive both the repair and heating/insulation parts of this grant simultaneously. In this case the combined grant maximum could be £6000.
Applying for a grant
This grant is only available to persons eligible for a Disabled Facilities Grant. The officer from the Private Sector Housing Team at the Council dealing with your Disabled Facilities Grant will also consider whether help should be offered through a Disabled Home Assistance Grant for essential repair work related to the Disabled Facilities Grant and/or improved energy efficiency. However please note that these grants are discretionary and will depend on the amount of funding available at the time of application.
You will only be eligible for grant if:
Disabled Home Assistance Grants are subject to the means test, but this will have been carried out in connection with the Disabled Facilities Grant.
Dover Care and Repair may already be helping you with your Disabled Facilities Grant, if so they can help you with the Disabled Home Assistance Grant.
If you have not already had contact with an officer from the Council's Private Housing Team, you should telephone Environmental Health at the Council who will arrange an appointment for an inspection of your property to be carried out. If the property is eligible for assistance, the Council will then prepare a schedule of the work that can be included in the grant. If you disagree with the extent of the work you may appeal to the Council giving the reasons for your disagreement. Once the extent of the work is agreed, the schedule will form the basis for the grant.
If your grant enquiry is successful, you will be given a grant package that will consist of:
You should normally submit your application within 3 months. The grant
offer will expire in 6 months if a valid application has not been made
within that time. In addition to the completed documentation, the application
should include at least two independent builders' estimates (unless not
required by the Council), any other relevant reports such as damp surveys
or structural reports and any other supporting information which the Council
may require or that you may want to submit.
The grant calculation
The Council will examine the estimates that you have provided, to ensure that they have been prepared by bona fide builders that are not related to you, and that the prices are reasonable for the amount of work to be undertaken. The builder must include his full name, address and VAT registration number. VAT will be included in the calculation if appropriate. If the Council has requested any reports, the reasonable costs of these will be included. Fees from Care and Repair or any other surveyor or architect may be included if previously authorised by the Council in writing. The grant will usually be based on the lowest quotation that you have submitted.
Eligible grant work
Eligible works will only be those that are identified by the Council as being items necessary for the satisfactory completion of the Disabled Facilities work or for agreed heating or insulation work.
Approving and carrying out the work
Subject to the necessary funding being available, the Council will give you a decision on your grant as soon as possible and in any case within 6 months of receipt of a complete, valid application. You or your surveyor will be responsible for finding out from the Council's Building Control department if Building Regulation Approval is required for any of the works and obtaining permission if necessary.
You can start the work as soon as you receive the grant approval, but any work started before the approval will not be grant funded.
You must complete the grant works, to the satisfaction of the Council within 6 months of the approval. This will only be extended if you request an extension in writing giving your reasons, and the Council approves a time extension also in writing.
You must use one of the contractors whose estimate you submitted with your application, unless the Council gives consent for a change in contractor. (If you choose to use the more expensive contractor, you will need to pay the excess costs over the grant yourself).
It is your (or your surveyor's) responsibility to give your contractor the order for the work. You will be issued with a card on which you should notify the Council of the date of commencement of work. An officer of the Council may wish to inspect the work whilst it is being carried out, but will not be supervising the work nor acting as your surveyor.
If whilst the work is being carried out, additional work is found, that could not reasonably be foreseen when the estimates were submitted, the grant may be increased up to the grant maximum subject to submission of estimates. However you would need to obtain permission from the Council before undertaking any additional works that you wished grant funding for. Any unforeseen works which were not agreed by the Council in advance, or which were above the grant limit would need to be funded by you.
Grant payment
Grant will only be paid when the Council is satisfied that the work has been completed to its satisfaction and in accordance with the grant approval. No payment can be made in advance. You, however, will be responsible for ensuring that your builder meets the standard that you require.
Grant will only be paid on provision of an acceptable invoice, demand or receipt of payment for the works. An invoice will not be accepted if it is for work or services provided by you or a member of your family. Where you or a relative carry out the works, only invoices for materials of services bought in will be acceptable.
The Council may pay the grant in full on completion of the works or by instalments as the works progress.
'Request for Interim Payment' and 'Request for Final Payment' forms will be issued to you with the approval documents. No payments will be made until a valid invoice is received together with a request for payment form stating that you are satisfied with the work to date. A Council officer will inspect the work before authorising a payment. Payment will be made either directly to your contractor or agent, or to you by cheque made payable to your contractor. If you are not satisfied with the works, the Council may withhold payment if appropriate. The final 10% of the grant will not be paid until all the works are complete and all final paperwork received, including any necessary guarantees and certificates.
Grant Conditions
It is a grant condition that you should remain living in the property for five years from the date that the Council certify the grant works as complete (the certified date). If you should sell the property within the 5 years, the whole of the grant is repayable unless the sale is an exempt disposal. An exempt disposal includes passing the property to your spouse or a member of your family, leaving the property in a will or inheritance, having the property compulsorily purchased, disposing of the property by court order following domestic breakdown or a number of other reasons.
You must inform the Council if you intend to sell the property within the 5-year condition period. If during the grant condition period, the Council requires it, you must within 21 days give a statement that the property is being occupied in accordance with the conditions.
Details of your grant will be entered on the local land charge register.
If whilst the grant work is being carried out you cease to be the owner, or it is found that you were not the owner when you made the application, any interim grant payments that have been made will need to be repaid.
If necessary, you will be informed of the appeal process and in exceptional circumstances you may not be required to repay all or part of the grant.
Contact Private Sector Housing
Telephone: 01304 872454
E-mail: privatesectorhousing@dover.gov.uk
