What is the Decent Homes Standard?

In 2000 the government set a 10 year target that all council housing must meet the Decent Homes Standard.

This standard describes a decent home as one that is warm, weatherproof and has reasonably modern facilities. There are four requirements that each home has to meet:

1) It has to be fit to live in

2) It must be in a reasonable state of repair

This standard includes basic elements of a well maintained home such as good windows, roofs and electrical wiring.

Homes which fail the standard have one or more key building components that need replacing or two or more other building components that need replacing.

3) It must have reasonably modern facilities

Homes that fail the standard are those which don't have three or more of the following:

• a reasonably modern kitchen (30 years old or less)
• a kitchen with adequate space and layout
• a reasonably modern bathroom (40 years old or less)
• an appropriately located bathroom or wc
• adequate insulation against external noise (where external noise is a problem)
• adequate size and layout of common areas for blocks of flats

4) It must have a reasonable degree of thermal comfort

This means that your home must have both effective insulation and effective heating

You can download a copy of the government's decent homes definition and guidance from this page.

What is the York Standard?

We are going above the government's decent homes standard with the York Standard.

If a home fails to meet the decent homes standard we will look at modernising the whole house rather than replacing the individual elements only, to reduce the level of disturbance and decoration to our customers.

This means that some internal facilities may be replaced sooner, such as:-

• a kitchen (20 years old)
• a bathroom (25 years old)

The majority of work is carried out through our  Tenants Choice Modernisation scheme and includes central heating, kitchens, bathrooms, rewiring and re-roofing.

We met the government's decent homes target in 2010 but we are continuing with our Tenants Choice programme to improve homes as and when they fail to meet the four decent home's criteria.

How do I find out about the Tenants Choice scheme?

The amount of modernisation work we can carry out each year through the capital programme is set by the levels of government funding we receive each year.

We decide the order homes are improved by looking at the property condition and the government's decent homes standard.

If you would like to know if your home is due for any upcoming improvement works please contact Asset Management on telephone number: (01904) 553712 and we will direct your enquiry to the appropriate surveyor.

A copy of the tenants choice programme for 2011/12 & 2012/13 can also be downloaded from this page.

Alternatively, you can email the team at housing.assetmanagementadmin@york.gov.uk

Planned maintenance

External painting and repair programme

All homes receive external painting and repair on a 7 year cyclical basis. This includes repairing and repainting windows, doors, fascia's, soffits, gates and fencing.  If you have Upvc windows they will be checked to ensure that they are operating properly. 

If you would like to know if your home is due for any upcoming works you can contact Asset Management on telephone number: (01904) 553712 and we will direct your enquiry to the appropriate surveyor. Alternatively, you can email the team at housing.assetmanagementadmin@york.gov.uk

A copy of the external painting programme can also be downloaded from this page.