The Division provides advice to the Housing Management Division with regard to the ongoing planned maintenance programme and manages all planned maintenance work of the Housing stock. This is undertaken by means of a number of contracts with private sector companies covering activities such as: thermal insulation, disabled adaptations, TV aerial installation, gas servicing, lift maintenance, structural repairs, kitchen renewal, window renewal and electrical testing and rewiring. The planned maintenance programme is currently targeted at ensuring that the Council meets the Government's Decent Homes standard.
As part of its desire to link increased spending to better outcomes, the Government established a target to:
"ensure that all social housing meets set standards of decency by 2010, by reducing the number of households living in social housing that does not meet these standards by a third between 2001 and 2004, with most of the improvement taking place in the most deprived local authority areas".
A decent home is one which meets all of the following four criteria:
Criterion A: Is above the current statutory minimum standard for housing.
The current statutory minimum standard for housing is the Fitness Standard. Dwellings that are defined as unfit under current legislation automatically fail this criterion and therefore also the decent home standard.
The fitness standard will be used for the immediate future. However, it should be noted that the Government intends to replace the fitness standard with a standard based on the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), developed and piloted by the Legal Research Institute at the University of Warwick. The HHSRS is an evidence based tool for assessing the risks to health and safety of housing condition and design, and is seen as the basis for the replacement of the current fitness standard under the Housing Act 1985. This would require changes to legislation.
Requirements of the Current Fitness Standard:
A dwelling is fit for human habitation unless, in the opinion of the local housing authority, it fails to meet one or more of the requirements below and by reason of that failure is not reasonably suitable for occupation:
Criterion B: Is in a reasonable state of repair
The second criterion of a decent home is that it must be in a reasonable state of repair. Dwellings which fail this criterion are those where either:
Each of the parameters used in this definition is described below.
Building components
Building components are the elements that make up a dwelling. They comprise structural parts (e.g. the wall structure, the roof structure); other external elements (e.g. roof covering, chimneys); and internal services and amenities (e.g., kitchens, heating systems).
Key building components are defined as those, which, if in poor condition, could have an immediate impact on the integrity of the building and cause further deterioration in other components. They are the external components plus internal components that have potential safety implications. If any of these components are both old and in such poor condition that they need to be replaced or require a major repair now, then the dwelling is classified as not being in a reasonable state of repair and therefore, not decent.
The key components are:
The other components are those that have a less immediate impact on the integrity of the dwelling. Their combined effect is therefore considered. A dwelling is therefore defined as not in a reasonable state of repair (and hence not decent) if 2 or more of these components are both old and in such poor condition that they need to be replaced or require major repair now.
"Old and in poor condition"
Key components must be "old" and in poor condition to render the dwelling non-decent on grounds of disrepair. Components that meet one or other of these criteria would not, in themselves, cause the dwelling to fail the standard. This is so that the decent home standard can be used as an investment planning tool - it is more likely that landlords will be able to predict component failure after the component has reached a certain age than predicting early failures. It is not reasonable to suppose all early failures can be predicted.
A component is defined as "old" if it is older than its expected or standard lifetime. The component lifetimes used in the definition of a decent home are the same as those used in the calculation of the Major Repairs Allowance (allocated to Local Authorities to finance newly arising programme renewals to their stock in the long term). They were finalised following consultation on the methodology proposed to use in calculating and allocating the Major Repairs Allowance in November 1999.
Component lifetimes differ for different components and by type of dwelling and those used in the definition of a decent home are shown in the table at appendix A.
Components are defined as in poor condition if, at the time of inspection, they need major work - either full replacement or a major repair. The definitions used in this classification are attached at appendix B.
Criterion C: Has reasonably modern facilities and services
The third criterion of a decent home is that is must have reasonably modern facilities and services. Under this definition a dwelling is considered not to provide reasonably modern facilities and services if it lacks three or more of the following:
During the consultation on the formulation of the MRA allocations, it became apparent that, in addition to replacing kitchens and bathrooms when they had ceased to function effectively, tenants and landlords wanted to replace them in advance of this to provide more modern facilities. This is reflected in the definition of a decent home by including as 2 elements of the modern facilities criterion, the need for the kitchen and bathroom to be reasonably modern (less than 20 and 30 years old respectively).
Criteria D: Provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort
The revised definition requires a dwelling to have both efficient heating and effective insulation. Efficient heating is defined as a high efficiency gas or oil central heating system with controls, or electric storage heaters/LPG.
Effective insulation means 50mm of loft insulation or cavity wall insulation where the heating system is provided by gas or oil central heating. Where dwellings are heated by electric storage heaters or LPG, the insulation required is 200mm loft insulation and cavity wall insulation. The insulation is only a requirement if there is a loft or cavity that can be insulated.
Appendix A: Component lifetimes used in assessment of the disrepair criterion of a decent home.
The following table shows the component lifetimes used to assess whether a dwelling is in disrepair. Dwellings which fail this criterion are those where either:
These lifetimes are the same as those used to calculate the Major Repairs Allowance and were agreed following consultation with Local Authorities in November 1999.
| Lifetimes used | Houses and bungalows |
All flats in blocks of below 6 storeys |
All flats in blocks of 6 or more storeys |
| Wall structure | 80 |
80 |
50 |
| Lintels | 60 |
60 |
60 |
| Spalling brickwork | 30 |
30 |
30 |
| Wall finish | 60 |
60 |
30 |
| Roof structure | 50 |
30 |
30 |
| Roof finish | 50 |
30 |
30 |
| Chimney | 50 |
50 |
N/A |
| Windows | 40 |
30 |
30 |
| External doors | 40 |
30 |
30 |
| Kitchen* | 30 |
30 |
30 |
| Bathrooms* | 40 |
40 |
40 |
| Heating - central heating gas boiler | 15 |
15 |
15 |
| Heating - central heating distribution system | 40 |
40 |
40 |
| Heating - other | 30 |
30 |
30 |
| Electrical systems | 30 |
30 |
30 |
Notes on the above table:
* Kitchens are assumed to require replacing on grounds of repair every 30 years, bathrooms every 40 years. Therefore the age criteria in the disrepair category are set at 30 and 40 years respectively. These lifetimes were agreed following consultation on the Major Repairs Allowance. However, it is clear that social landlords and tenants prefer these amenities to be replaced more frequently, to enable them to be maintained at a reasonably modern standard. Thus different ages are required for kitchens and bathrooms under the "reasonably modern amenities and services" criteria (20 and 30 years respectively).
Appendix B: Definition of "in poor condition" used in the disrepair criterion of a decent home
The following table sets out the definitions used within the disrepair criteria to identify whether building components are "in poor condition". These are consistent with EHCS definitions.
During a stock condition survey, the surveyors should assess the extent to which individual building components require immediate work. Their judgement should be used to assess whether the components should be classified as in poor condition or not. The general line used in the EHCS is that where a component requires some work, repair should be prescribed unless:
Definition of 'in poor condition' |
|
| Wall structure | Replace 10% or more or repair 30% or more |
| Wall finish | Replace / repoint / renew 50% or more |
| Chimneys | 1chimney need partial rebuilding or more |
| Roof structure | Replace 50% or more or strengthen 30% or more |
| Roof covering | Replace 50% or more |
| Windows | Replace 2 windows or more |
| External doors | Replace 1 door or more |
| Kitchen | Major repair or replace 3 or more items out of the 6 (cold water drinking supply, hot water, sink, cooking provision, cupboards, worktop) |
| Bathroom | Replace 2 or more items (bath, wash hand basin, WC) |
| Heating | Major repair to boiler; distribution system or gas fire |
| Rewiring | Major repair to electrics required |
E-mail: propertyservices@dover.gov.uk
