Millions enjoy TV home makeover programmes - but national backlog of repairs reaches £37bn

A report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation calls for a government-led strategy that develops and goes beyond the measures announced last week in the Housing Green Paper - in order to tackle a £37 billion backlog of home repairs and persuade owners to invest in maintenance. It argues that action is needed now to prevent the national repair bill - including 1.8 million properties that are officially unfit for human habitation - from getting worse. An ageing stock of homes, a growing proportion of elderly home-owners and instability in jobs and personal relationships all suggest that the number of people who find it hard to maintain their properties is set to grow.

House conditions are especially likely to deteriorate in inner city areas of the Midlands and North of England, the South Wales valleys, in former mining areas and in declining coastal resorts. This will place a further barrier in the way of policies designed to regenerate those areas and tackle social exclusion.

Drawing together findings from 14 different research projects in England, Scotland and Wales, Professor Philip Leather of the University of Birmingham concludes that a new framework for renewal is needed, based on a clear understanding of the public sector’s role in tackling poor housing conditions in the private sector.

• National strategies should set realistic targets for eliminating the repairs backlog, increasing the level of investment by owners and replacing substandard or obsolete housing. Objectives should also be set at local level.
• Local authorities, Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), financial institutions, building professionals, home improvement agencies and the construction industry should work in partnership to encourage and facilitate investment by owners in maintenance and repairs. Obstacles that currently restrict the use of loan finance, or the release ofhome equity, to fund repairs should be removed.
• Mortgage providers, home improvement agencies and RSLs should extend their range of existing services, to include small loans for repairs, and savings and insurance schemes to cover regular maintenance or emergencies. Local authorities and RSLs could, if necessary, be given powers to provide the right financial products for owners on lower incomes.
• Home improvement grants - now rationed and means-tested in England and Wales - should be more widely available. This could be achieved by making grants smaller and conditional on owners making their own significant investment in repairs. Alternatively, grants could be replaced by help with the cost of borrowing. Owners unable to sustain the costs of repairs and maintenance could be offered arrangements to part-rent and part-own their properties.
• Better advice and support should be available to help owners identify repairs needs, raise the money needed and find a trustworthy, competent builder to do the work.

The report argues that in the long-term it could be necessary to make more extensive use of powers for local authorities to compel private owners - especially landlords - to maintain their properties to a minimum standard. Broader measures in the housing market that might persuade owners and buyers to pay closer attention to repairs should include a requirement that vendors make a full survey available to potential purchasers and making sellers responsible for latent property defects.

Professor Leather said: “Television programmes that encourage spending on redecoration and home ‘makeovers’ are all very well. But more important is the less glamorous task of tackling serious disrepair - doing the unseen jobs to remedy damp and deterioration. An Englishman’s home may be his castle, but owners need to make sure that castle is not crumbling. Present policies will not ensure that the housing stock remains in good condition. That is why we need a coherent national strategy to tackle the backlog of disrepair and make sure the right measures are in place to renovate older housing and, where necessary, replace it.”