Watford Borough Council

You may qualify for this assistance if:

• you have occupied and owned the property for at least three years and
• you have not received equivalent assistance from the council within the previous five years and
• your household is "vulnerable", as defined by the government (explained below) and
• the property does not meet the "decent homes" standard (explained below

Vulnerable households

Decent Homes Standard - A home meets this standard if it meets all of the following:

• it does not have any "category 1 hazards"
• it is in a reasonable state of repair: a home which fails to meet this will have either one or more 'key' building components that are old and in poor condition, or two or more 'other' building components that are old or in poor condition
• it has reasonably modern facilities and services: homes which fail to meet this lack three or more of a specified list of facilities
• it provides a reasonable degree of thermal comfort i.e. it has effective insulation and efficient heating

What is this assistance? - This assistance may cover 100% of the cost of eligible work, up to a maximum of £25,000.  This assistance may be a loan or grant, depending on your circumstances.

What are the conditions for this assistance? - This assistance is repayable in full if you do not occupy the property for five years after completion of work. No assistance is available for work done before approval of the assistance.

Borrowing from the council - this assistance will be a loan from the council if:

• the cost of qualifying work is £3,000 or more and
• your "equity" is at least twice the cost of qualifying work.  For example, if the cost of qualifying work is £10,000, your equity would need to be at least £20,000.  (Equity is the value of your property after deducting all loans secured on it)

This loan would be interest-free indefinitely so it does not depend on your income. This loan would be repayable whenever you "dispose" of the property i.e. stop owning it through sale, death or other cause.  This condition is registered at Land Registry.

The high and growing local property prices would generally make this repayment practicable.  The council may postpone repayment if it believes there are exceptional circumstances.

You would be free to repay this loan fully or partly at any time without penalty.  If you have a council loan you would need the council's consent to secure any future loans on your property.

Muslim applicants - as this loan does not charge interest, it may comply with Sharia.

Council grant - this assistance will be a grant from the council if:

• the cost of qualifying work is below £3,000 and
• your "equity" is less than twice the cost of qualifying work or
• you are a tenant with repairing responsibility

Fees - the council's assistance will include all reasonable fees involved in this process.  However the total assistance for fees and works costs cannot exceed £25,000.

Payment - the council pays the assistance (whether loan or grant) direct to the contractor(s).

What is the next step? - Fill in a preliminary enquiry form.  If you seem to qualify in principle, your enquiry will go on our waiting list in points order.  After that the council will look at your property to see whether the property qualifies for this assitance.  If it does you will then need to fill in a more detailed application for assistance.

Further information - the council's Private Sector Housing Renewal Policy gives more detailed information, this can be found in the 'related items' section below. To get more information for applicants over 60 and empty homes assistance please contact Environmental Services team on tel:  01923 226400 or by email using the adddress at the bottom of the page.