§ Mr. David MartinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will announce the final details of the new right-to-repair scheme for council tenants.
§ Sir George YoungI have today laid before the House the Secure Tenants of Local Housing Authorities (Right to Repair) Regulations 1994—SI 1994/133—which will introduce an improved right-to-repair scheme for council tenants from 1 April 1994. Copies of the regulations and an explanatory circular are being sent to all housing authorities in England.
This citizens charter initiative will give council tenants the right to have certain urgent repairs carried out at no cost to themselves, and will provide a simple and reliable way of getting the work done when the council fails to complete a qualifying repair within a specified period.
The improved right-to-repair scheme will be far more effective in ensuring that councils get repairs done quickly at no cost to the tenant. Where the scheme fails to work, tenants will be compensated for the inconvenience caused to them.
The regulations set out which small urgent repairs, costing up to £250, are included in the scheme, and how long councils will have to complete them. If a repair is not carried out within the specified period the tenant will be able to ask the council to instruct a second contractor to complete the repair, with the cost being met by the council.
If the second contractor fails to complete the repair within a second specified period the tenant will be entitled 480W to compensation of £10, plus £2 per day for every day that the repair remains outstanding, up to a maximum payment of £50.
The repair times in the regulations will apply to all new contracts let after 1 April 1994. Transitional arrangements will apply for councils whose existing contract have longer repair times. However, all councils must comply with the repair times in the regulations by 1 April 1996.