Improving your home

When you contact us to ask for permission to do any improvement work, we will let you know if we need to do an asbestos survey. This survey is for your safety. We can only permit the work once we have completed this survey on your home. You will then receive a copy of the survey to pass on to the responsible contractor.

When you ask for permission, you must tell us who will be undertaking the work and prove they are qualified and insured. All building, wiring and plumbing work should be done by skilled tradespeople. For instance, a Gas Safe registered gas engineer should install gas appliances; an NICEIC registered electrician should carry out any electrical works to the property.

To comply with building regulations, a member of a Domestic Installer Scheme must complete specific jobs such as a rewire or partial rewire of a property or replacing a consumer unit. We will also need a copy of any certification provided by the contractors.

If you fit a carpet in your new home, you are responsible for ensuring the internal doors open and close properly over the new carpet. Before fitting any fixed flooring such as laminate, wood, ceramic or vinyl tiles, you must ask us first. Laminate floors are unsuitable in some properties because they cause a noise nuisance to neighbours.

Once a fixed floor has been installed, should any repairs need to be carried out, we will not be responsible for reinstating any restored flooring that may have been uplifted during repair works.

We may require access to your property to inspect the completed work to ensure it has been carried out to a high standard and complies with the appropriate legislation. If the work still needs to be completed satisfactorily, we will discuss what you must do to bring it up to standard.

If you fail to do the necessary work to put it right, we may have to carry out the work and recharge the costs.

You will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance and repair of any improvement you have or have been carried out on your behalf. If we grant written permission, there may be additional responsibilities you will need to adhere to, which we will set out in the permission letter. If you decide to end your tenancy, we may ask you to reinstate your property to its original state.

If you are adapting the property to meet the needs of someone with disabilities, we may be able to help. 

We also offer a tenant match funding scheme to help you to improve your home. You can apply for up to 50% of the cost, subject to certain conditions, with a maximum contribution of £500 from us. Your application must be approved before starting any work. Once the works are complete, you must notify us so that we can inspect the work. You also need to provide us with a copy of your paid invoice. Following this, we will reimburse you within 14 days.

You can apply for funding for any improvement work to your property that exceeds the repair and maintenance work we must do as your landlord.

Currently, we grant match funding for the following works:

• Installing an electric shower over the bath
• Extra lighting or plug sockets
• Additional kitchen cupboard space
• Fencing.

Further improvements may be added to this list from time to time or considered on a discretionary basis.

To qualify for the scheme, you must:

• Be up-to-date with your rent payments
• Have not received any formal notice or injunction for breach of tenancy from us in the last two years
• Put the full details of the work you intend to carry out in writing and provide quotes.

In some circumstances, and subject to a demand for the scheme, more than one application will be considered in the same 12-month period; we will assess this individually.

We will assess applications on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to budget availability.

There is a right to a compensation scheme for tenants who have improved their homes and are ending their tenancy. If you have changed your home and are moving on, please contact us to see if you are due any compensation.

You can find DIY information, help and advice including explainer videos  for common repairs here.