Consultation on the standards

Currently, our investment programme is based on the Decent Homes+ Standard. This is above the Decent Homes Standard. It means that we plan to replace items in your home, like kitchens, bathrooms, central heating, and windows and doors, sooner than we would under the Decent Homes Standard.
Because we plan to replace these items more often, this costs more money. The Decent Homes+
Standard also doesn’t consider key priorities that you have told us are important to you, such as the
refurbishment of communal areas, external fencing and path replacement.

We’re proposing moving from the Decent Homes+ Standard to the Decent Homes Standard.
This will reduce the number of replacements we plan to make through planned repairs, and instead free
up our budgets to spend on the priorities you have told us about, like communal areas and fencing.

There are several benefits that we think
customers will see as part of this change:
• We will reinvest the money we save to ensure that the areas outside your home are maintained to a fantastic standard. This means you can feel proud of the inside your home and the neighbourhood outside it
• We will be able to tell you more clearly when you can expect work(s) to be completed on your home, this will include being able to tell you which year planned investments are due
• The Decent Homes Standard means we will replace items on their due date or earlier based on annual assessments of their condition
• We will share with you which year each of the main parts of your home will be renewed over the next ten years, so that you receive clear and consistent communication relating to any planned works in your home.

The new approach means you will get
these items replaced when the Decent
Homes Standard says we will replace or
even earlier based on their condition.
The only exception is roofs, which will
be determined on condition.

Please don’t worry. We will ensure that the condition of your home is not adversely affected.
We will do this by having thorough regular surveys on the condition of your home. Anything that we identify as needing replacement will be added to our programmes early if necessary.
Please remember that if any work needs to be done in any areas of your home, for example a broken tap, this will be fixed by our regular repairs service. The Decent Homes Standard move only relates to a complete refurbishment/replacing of key features within your home.

We plan to spend money in the following areas:
• Refurbishing our entrances, lobbies and stairways to flats
• A programme to upgrade wooden facias with uPVC
• Better maintain our external areas, including the renewal of fences, paths and our roads that provide access to either your homes or car parking sites (where applicable)
• Improving garage sites, including
refurbishing garage roofs and doors and resurfacing site areas (subject to site survey)
You have also told us that we don’t share our long-term investment programmes with you. The proposed changes will allow us to do this. This means you will receive clearer and more consistent communications from us, leading to significant improvements in customer service.

The proposed move to the Decent Homes Standard will include all planned work at the current dates.
If customers refuse this work, then they will remain in the programme until this is completed. We will carry out works when a part of your home reaches the ages given in the Decent Homes Standard, or earlier if the condition of this part requires earlier replacement. This will apply to all parts of your home except the roof covering. We will always ensure that any works meet regulatory obligations.

If the move to the Decent Homes Standard is approved, we will produce a 30-year programme that will be visible on our customer app, MyLHP, and our website. Replacements will be made in line with this programme or in advance if condition surveys highlight the necessity.
This 30-year plan is established using existing data on our customers’ homes, so every element of the work can be traced by individual addresses for the duration of the plan. This means that we can then create more detailed five-year investment programmes that can be shared with you.

We don’t envisage these changes having any impact on your rent. Following consultation during the
summer of 2022, the government announced in November 2022 that social and affordable housing rents will be capped at 7 % for 2023.
This will obviously have an impact on our income and the funds we can put back into our homes and
communities. The change to the Decent Homes Standard and the associated savings we will make
will negate any associated financial impact that comes from the government’s decision on the social
housing rent cap.