Mark Prisk Blog - Involving Tenants in Home Improvements

While the Decent Homes programme makes radical changes to tenants’ homes day-to-day, tenants needn’t wait for their landlords to deal with the basic repairs that can make a real difference to their standard of living.  For example, the Tenant Cashback scheme offers residents with an eye for DIY a budget of up to £500 a year to tackle repairs, decorate their homes or hire a skilled professional to do it for them.  Some social landlords have already seen the benefit of the scheme and are training their tenants to take on simple fixes like leaky taps and fitting doors, and I hope that in time, this will be the norm instead of the exception.  And our new Community Cashback scheme paves the way for tenant groups to take over services in their shared spaces, such as gardening, cleaning, and security. They can then re-invest any savings they make into community projects to improve their area.