If you are a homeowner or private tenant and your home is need of repair, improvement or adaptation, you may be eligible for financial assistance to help meet the costs.
Types of financial assistance
We can offer the following types of financial assistance:
Home Trust Loans
Home Trust Loans are for owner-occupiers whose properties need essential repairs, improvement or adaption and who do have the funds to carry out the work.
Subsidised loans of between £1,000 and £25,000 can be offered through our partner, Parity Trust.
Mandatory and Discretionary Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG)
Find out more: Help with adapting your home.
Hospital Discharge Grant
Grants of up to £5,000 are available for Elmbridge residents currently awaiting discharge from hospital but are unable to return home due to unsuitable conditions.
This funding can be used towards major or minor works to a property which are necessary to fix disrepair, improve a home or provide adaptations to enable a patient in hospital to return home.
Relocation Grant
Grants of up to £5,000 are available where it is assessed that adaptation works required to a disabled person’s home are uneconomical, or are considered unreasonable and/or impracticable considering the age and condition of the home.
The relocation grant may be offered to assist with reasonable moving costs associated with moving to a pre-adapted or more easily adaptable property. These costs may include removal expenses, legal costs and valuation costs.
Minor work grants
Grants of up to £5,000 can be offered to homeowners and private landlords, subject to funding being available, to fix category one hazards or to keep a property from serious disrepair.
The type of work that could be funded includes repairing faulty heating or electrical systems and the treatment of damp, rot and timber infestation.
Energy efficiency grants
Grants of up to £2,000 can be offered to homeowners and private tenants, subject to availability, but applicants are expected to look to other sources of funding first. Go to energy efficiency for more information.
Empty property grants and loans
If you own a home in Elmbridge which has been empty for 12 months or more, we may be able to provide you with financial help to carry out improvements and repairs and bring the property back into use. Visit empty property grants and loans for more information.
How to apply
Contact pshousing@elmbridge.gov.uk for more information, or if you are interested in applying for a grant or loan.
Our Care and Repair Elmbridge (CARE) service can assist you with applying for a grant or loan if you are aged seventy or more, disabled or on a low income.
What we consider
To make the best use of our resources and to help as many households as possible, we make sure that financial help is targeted at those who do not have other funding options available to them.
As a general principle, any request for financial support will be considered against the following:
- Can the cost of the works be met through private finance (e.g. through the applicant’s own resources or through a commercial loan)?
- If this is not possible, is a Home Trust Loan an appropriate option?
- If a Home Trust Loan is not suitable, then an application for a grant will be considered.
Purpose of the funding
The financial assistance available is designed to:
- make homes healthy and safe to live in by dealing with serious hazards identified through the Housing Health and Safety Rating System
- tackle serious disrepair
- help properties meet the decent homes standard
Funding conditions
There are terms and conditions attached to any financial assistance provided by us or the Parity Trust. Please note that we will not provide financial assistance retrospectively, i.e. where the work has already been completed or where it has started before written agreement to provide a loan or grant has been given.
More information is available in our Private Sector Housing Financial Assistance Policy.
