The Renewal & Grants Service provides help and assistance to private homeowners throughout the city. We work mainly with owner-occupiers. The Private Sector Housing Group in Regeneration & Culture work more with private sector landlords and tenants.
Our private housing renewal strategy has two main elements:
- High level area based work undertaken in our declared areas
- Lower level activity provided through the rest of the city
The Government’s clear policy is that everyone who buys a home has an obligation to keep the property in good repair. Homeowners should knowingly take responsibility for that from the time of purchase and not expect assistance. However, intervention may be needed to assist owners who do not have the resources to remedy defects themselves, perhaps because they have unexpectedly encountered problems, or to deal with local needs on a strategic level.
Unimproved housing in Leicester
Much of our current work is connected with Government target PSA7. This target is about ‘Decent Homes’ which was a standard first applied to social housing. The target is to increase the proportion of vulnerable households who live in decent homes.
The national average is that some 63% of vulnerable households live in decent homes but in Leicester the figure is more like 50%. Work is currently in progress to establish our baseline more accurately.
In our declared areas (Renewal Areas and Home Improvement Areas) we aim to make a significant impact on a neighbourhood by assisting vulnerable and low-income owner-occupiers to carry out comprehensive improvement of their homes through Home Improvement Grants to achieve the Decent Homes Standard. Home Improvement Grants average £13.5k with a range of £5k to £20k (maximum grant). These grants are means tested and are subject to ten-year conditions
We also encourage private landlords to make any necessary improvements to their properties.
In addition to assisting individual homeowners in our declared areas we also carry out more general environmental improvements, such as providing new front walls to properties on main roads; brick cleaning of terraced streets; improving shared alleyways where in poor condition; and rebuilding dangerous retaining walls affecting more than one property.
Devana Road Group Repair Scheme including block improvements
The lower level activity available through the rest of the city is provided through our Citywide Home Maintenance Service. We aim to encourage and enable low-income owner-occupiers to invest in home maintenance. A range of services are available, including advisory schedules, builders’ lists, organising group contracts and loan advice. As part of this, small grants (Home Maintenance Grants) are paid. A two-year rolling programme ensures that each Ward is visited in turn. Home Maintenance Grants are limited to £2,100 each, with the potential for two grants to be paid simultaneously towards different types of work.
Home Maintenance Grants are targeted at owner-occupiers who receive one of the main means tested benefits and to older people (over 60 years of age) who are not in full time employment and who have low levels of savings. A property will not necessarily be improved to the Decent Homes Standard on payment of a Home Maintenance Grant.
We are also involved in providing a range of other services, sometimes in conjunction with a range of partners, such as the Police and the Health Service. Examples are:
- Home Handyperson Service
- Fire Safety Advice
- Energy Efficiency Advice
- Burglary Reduction schemes
- Prevention of slips, trips, falls and other accidents in the home
All of our clients who benefit from any type of grant aid are offered assistance through our Home Improvement Agency Service. We are able to help with all stages of the process including getting builders’ estimates and then overseeing the work carried out. A grant eligible fee is charged for this service.