This section tells you about:

• your rights under the national home improvements compensation scheme
• our compensation scheme (which goes beyond the national scheme)

The Tenant's Charter for Assured and Secure tenants issued by the Housing Corporation sets standards of performance for all housing associations. In 1998 the Housing Corporation issued a revised Tenants Charter, which included a Right to Compensation for Improvements. This right was introduced as part of the Citizens Charter Scheme.

As a tenant, you have the right under this national scheme to claim compensation for certain improvements that you have made to your home, which have been done with our permission.

Compensation can only be paid if the improvements have been approved by us and your tenancy has ended.

The national compensation scheme

Written applications to carry out improvements should be sent to us.For contact details click here.

Permission to make improvements

You must get our written permission before you start to make any improvements. You may also need planning permission from the local council. Our permission will usually be given, unless:

• the cost of the improvement is outside the scheme limits, does not fit in with the rest of the property, would be expensive for us to maintain, or is one that we would be doing ourselves fairly soon
• it is not one of the qualifying improvements
• some other "non qualifying" improvements could be carried out under our own scheme

Estimates for the work

Once we give you written permission, you must get three genuine estimates from suitably experienced companies, send copies of them to our Property Services Department, and tell us which one you want to accept and why. We will then write to you to confirm which estimate you should use. Only at this point should you instruct the contractor to start work. You must advise us when the work is completed and send us a copy of the final bill.

When the work is completed

When the work has been completed we will come and inspect it. In some circumstances we will not carry out repairs to improvements under this scheme, for example, if it is still under manufacturer's guarantee.

What improvements can I get compensation for?

Under the national scheme you can only get compensation for qualifying improvements, which were started after 1st December 1994, and for which you have had written permission. If the improvement costs less than £500 to carry out it would not be included in the scheme.

You can claim compensation for:

• costs of materials (but not for appliances like cookers or fridges)
• labour costs (but not your own)

You will need to supply an invoice to show how much the improvement cost.

What are the qualifying improvements?

Only certain improvements which cost more than £500 will qualify under this scheme. For details click here.