How PfH Can Help Social Tenants Carry Out Their Own DIY

Housing Minister, Grant Shapps, has declared that tenants should be rewarded for taking care of their homes and performing routine maintenance and DIY tasks on the property. It’s believed that housing associations and councils spend £1000 per property each year on repairs when, in reality, the tenants could do the work themselves.

The “Tenant Cashback Scheme” would allow tenants to ask their landlords for the opportunity to perform the maintenance themselves – or pay someone locally to do the work and keep any savings made for themselves.

The government stated that no tenant would be obliged to take on more responsibility than they wanted to, and there would be no new cap on maintenance budgets.

The concept is to be tested by two housing associations: Home Group and Hastoe Housing Association which manage properties in various areas. When this rigorous pilot has been carried out, the scheme will be rolled out across the board.

Landlords will be responsible for administering the scheme, including agreeing with tenants how much cash is to be shared and ways to ensure it does not lead to fraud.

One concern for tenants is reimbursement of costs. Not all tenants are able to pay up-front for materials and wait for their invoices to be settled due to lack of available finances.

One sure way of alleviating this type of financial pressure on tenants is offered through the PfH Decorating Vouchers and Materials Agreements.

The B&Q Decorating Voucher scheme puts the landlord in control, whilst giving the tenants access to a wide range of decorating products through a redeemable paper voucher scheme. Tenants can visit their local B&Q store and obtain the materials they need without being out of pocket.

If decorating vouchers are provided for tenants, this deal is an easy way to generate additional savings for the organisation. There are no barriers and no work or disruption in switching to it. B&Q has agreed to offer an additional 0.5% discount to all PfH Members throughout the term of the contract, taking the overall discount to 14% to Members.

The PfH Materials Agreement is offered in six lots covering Plumbing, Building and Electrical Materials; Managed Stores; Aids & Adaptations; and Heating Spares.

The Materials Agreement is available for both Registered Providers and contractors. PfH account cards will be given to the PfH Member and/or their contractor as a means of identifying that they are eligible to procure via the PfH Materials Agreement and access the negotiated pricing therein. The materials purchased can then be allocated to the tenants in need.

Nominated suppliers are also willing to work in conjunction with Members to deliver tenant training initiatives. All the awarded suppliers have agreed to work with PfH Members to determine how best to add value for tenants by offering basic DIY training.

For further information on the Decorating Vouchers Agreement, please contact Samantha Grimes on sgrimes@procurementforhousing.co.uk

If you’d like to know more about the Materials Agreement, please contact Kimberley Meachin on kmeachin@procurementforhousing.co.uk