Housing Minister Grant Shapps launched the new Tenant Cashback scheme, aimed at giving social housing tenants more control over repair budgets for their homes.
Landlords responsible for England's more than 4 million social homes spend an average of £1,000 per property annually on repairs.
Tenant Cashback will allow residents to take more control of their repairs budgets for their homes. For example, they can decide to carry out their own DIY, or commission it locally and keep any savings made.
With maintenance and repair costing £4 billion a year, the Government claims that the scheme could see more money spent locally to the benefit of small businesses.
Community groups will also be able to take on repairs in a particular street or neighbourhood, helping out those who cannot take on the responsibility themselves. Tenants will be able to pool their resources, creating a 'Community Cashback' account which could be used to fund improvements to the local area for the benefit of all residents.
The Government wants all landlords to offer their tenants the chance to manage more of their repairs budgets. It will consult on bringing forward changes to Regulations to give all tenants the option to request it from their landlord.
No tenant will be obliged to take on any more responsibility than they choose and the scheme will not place any new cap on maintenance budgets.
Comment
Chartered Institute of Housing
Sarah Webb, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) said:
"This is an interesting idea that could increase tenants' collective ability to influence the performance and cost of their landlord's repairs services.
"Where tenants are unhappy with services, requests to opt out will send a strong message to landlords. Where tenants see that their community could gain new services by reducing repairs costs, they may be encouraged to help cut these costs.
"However, many tenants will prefer their landlord to arrange repairs because it will be easier and faster, and some will feel strongly that a repairs service is a core part of their tenancy agreement.
"The scheme poses challenges for landlords too. For example, it must not encourage tenants to forgo repairs - who will pick up the cost of a major repair which arises because minor repairs were not done in time or to a high enough standard?
"Lenders will expect property to be well maintained, and landlords will have to find ways to provide assurances that the value and quality of property is safe if repairs are beyond their control."
National Housing Federation
The Chief Executive of the Federation,David Orr, appeared on Radio 5 Live to welcome the launch of a pilot scheme which will offer cash incentives to tenants who carry out minor repairs on their homes. The Federation was also quoted in the BBC website coverage of the story.
Mr Orr said:
"We think it's an idea which is well worth testing and we welcome the fact that there will be a rigorous pilot before the plan is introduced across the board."