Millions of pounds worth of repairs revealed by homes survey

MILLIONS of pounds worth of repairs could be necessary to bring some private homes in Rother up to standard, a survey has revealed.
By The Newsroom
Published 28th Jan 2008, 14:33 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:21 BST

Private sector house condition surveys are conducted on a regular basis by local authorities. The 1985 Housing Act placed a duty on local authorities to look at the condition of homes in their area in terms of their statutory resposibilties to deal with unfit housing and to provide assistance with housing renewal.

The last Rother survey in 2001 resulted in the authority obtaining 400,000 of additional Private Sector Renewal funding form the Regional Housing Board.

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Without the evidence produced by that survey Rother would not have been considered for the funding.

Monday's Rother cabinet meeting will receive a presentation by Ed Diment, service line manager (housing research) for Capital Project Consultancy Ltd. which undertook a random survey of 900 privately-owned homes in Rother last year.

Cabinet members will be told that the survey work was slowed because a high percentage of householders did not wish to take part.

The survey indicated that three per cent of privately-owned homes in Rother could be unfit '“ 1,130 homes. The 2001 figure was 3.8%.

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It is estimated that 5,230 homes (13.7%) had at least one Category 1 hazard.

The cost of remedying all Category 1 hazards is put at 2.2m, an average of 1,116 per home.

The cost of improving homes with Category One hazards to a standard where no further work would be needed for 10 years is put at 13.6m.

The cost of comprehensive repairs to all homes is put at 167m.

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At estimated 13,100 homes (34.4.%) could be "non-decent." Of this, 9,200 would fail because they don't meet thermal comfort standards.

Rother meets a Government target that says 65% of vulnerable occupiers should be in decent homes. The next target set is 70% by 2010-2011. To meet this target, an additional 260 homes occupied by vulnerable people would need to be brought up to standard.

The survey showed that there are an estimated 1,400 (3.7%) homes in Rother district with a household likely to be in the fuel poverty category. The national figure is 10%.