Improvements to your home

If you are a secure tenant you have a legal right to carry out certain improvements to your home. You will require written permission from the Council for all alterations before you start work. In some instances
you may also need the authority of the planning and building control officers.

The Council will not refuse any reasonable request for you to carry out improvement works. However we do require you to adhere to certain conditions to ensure you do not unduly disturb your neighbours.

 

It is always sensible to talk to your housing officer before you begin any improvements. The following are examples of when this is essential:

• Changes to gas, electricity or water supplies
• Erection of an outside aerial or satellite dish
• All structural alterations including work to floors, ceilings and internal walls
• Paving over gardens for car parking space
• Alterations to fitted units
• Replacing your windows

 

 If you wish to carry out improvements to your home, you should write to your housing officer who will respond to your letter within 10 working days.

The Council will grant permission in all reasonable cases and will inform you of the reasons if it has to refuse. If you disagree with the decision you should write to the Service Review Team.

• The alterations do not comply with building regulations, or planning permission has been refused
• The alterations have altered the number of bed spaces available in the property
• The future maintenance costs of the work would place an unreasonable burden on the Council
• The work restricts reasonable access to gas, electric or water supplies and sewerage systems

• Internal painting and decorating of your home
• Repainting externally with existing colours. Check with the local housing office if you wish to alter the colour, as this may not be appropriate
• Insulating your loft with approved materials
• Putting up a garden shed or greenhouse in your back garden provided it does not interfere with your neighbour’s property nor requires planning permission (if you live in a flat, this will always require permission)
• Replacing internal or external doors (they should be fire resistant and you may not remove any doors permanently)
• Plumbing in a washing machine, unless you have a shared communal boiler
• Replacing a fence. If the fence is more than two metres high at the side and rear and one metre high on the street frontage you need to get planning permission.

It is always advisable to check with your housing office before beginning works of any kind.

All agreed improvements become the property of the Council and therefore you must leave them behind. There is a compensation scheme which your housing officer can tell you more about.

If you wish to remove any item that has been installed you must get agreement from the housing office, reinstate what was previously there and make good any damage. If you fail to do this, the Council will carry out necessary remedial works and charge you the full cost for doing so.

While you or a successor to the tenancy remains the tenant, the Council cannot increase the rent based on improvements you carried out.

Most of the time, when the Council does improvement works there is no need for tenants to move out. The Council’s contractor will endeavour to make sure that all supply services are maintained and that disruption is kept to a minimum.

On some occasions it may be that the work required is so extensive that you need to be rehoused, sometimes only on a temporary basis. If you are asked to move, we will provide another home for you. This means you will always retain a secure tenancy. When considering what offer to make you, the Council take into account:

• The needs of your household, including the size and any special adaptations which you had in your home and which you still need
• The distance from the accommodation to the place of work for you and your household
• The distance from your children’s school
• The distance of relatives who you rely on for support.

We will make every effort to consider these issues but any offer will depend on the availability of accommodation at the time. It may not always be possible to satisfy all of your needs.

If the Council asks you to move so that your home can be improved, modernised or knocked down, or for major works to be carried out, you may be able to get compensation.

You can get a home loss payment to compensate for the permanent loss of your home if you have lived in your home for at least 12 months.

A disturbance payment helps to compensate for carpets and curtains which will have to be changed to fit in to your new home. The payment takes into account the age and condition of items you cannot reuse and includes other necessary expenses such as the removal and reconnection of cookers, refrigerators or telephones. You may get a disturbance payment whether or not you get a Home Loss Payment. You are only entitled to the Home Loss or Disturbance payment if you have to move out of your property.

The Council will pay removal expenses if you have to move so that repairs can be done to your home and you cannot get a disturbance payment. These expenses help to pay for your reasonable household removal costs, such as redirection of post, plus disconnection and reconnection of household appliances.

When we offer you alternative accommodation, we will send you a leaflet telling you how to apply for financial compensation.

Decorations to the outside of your home
The Council is responsible for decorating the outside of your home every six to 12 years and will carry out repainting when necessary. You will be notified when decorations are due and in some cases will have a choice for the colour of your front door.

Internal decorations
As a tenant, you are responsible for the internal decoration of your home and are expected to maintain the property in good order.
In certain circumstances, the Council will issue vouchers to cover part or all of the cost of redecorating. To qualify for consideration, you must fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Aged 65 or over
• Suffer from a disability and be in receipt of housing benefit
• A single parent and in receipt of housing benefit
• Not living with an able-bodied adult aged between 18 and 65
• Not be in rent arrears

Digital and analogue television, and digital radio can be received in most blocks of flats using the Council’s Integrated Reception System (IRS). If the IRS system has been installed in your dwelling you will see a box fixed to the wall in the living room marked Satellite TV / Radio. A Sky box or any of the free-to-air digital TV boxes / DAB radio receivers may be connected to this outlet without the need for a dish or external aerial.

If you live in a dwelling that is not fitted with an Integrated Reception System (IRS) you can receive connected to a normal TV aerial. However to receive digital TV via satellite you will need a satellite dish.
You may not put up a satellite dish without permission from your local housing office. You may also need planning permission.

If you put up a satellite dish without the correct permission we will write to you and ask you to take it down. If you refuse to do so, we may take it down for you and charge you the cost of doing so. You will also have to pay for any repairs that are needed after the dish has been removed. Many properties in the borough can now be connected to cable TV.

No. You are strongly advised to take out a comprehensive household insurance policy to cover your furniture and other possessions against loss through fire, theft or other accidents. The Council is not usually responsible for losses of this kind.
The Council runs its own home contents insurance scheme.

You can rent a garage or a store shed. If you would like to rent one, please contact the Garage Team. Their details are in the Contacts section. Sydenham tenants should contact their housing office.

• You will not normally be allocated a parking space
• You will be expected to park with courtesy to your neighbours
• Some estates run a parking permit scheme. The conditions of these differ across estates. For example commercial vans may not be permitted. Your housing officer will provide you with more details
• Vehicles over five metres long cannot be parked on estates