AQW 201/16-21

Mrs Jo-Anne Dobson
Ulster Unionist Party
Upper Bann

Tabled Date: 27/05/2016
Answered On Date: 13/06/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities why Northern Ireland Housing Executive tenants who have subsequently purchased apartments and continue to pay service charges to the Housing Executive are not entitled to the same level of assistance from the Housing Executive, including access to grant aid schemes, as other tenants who reside in non-apartment properties.

Answer:

The Housing Executive has advised that when it sells an apartment to a former tenant, the exterior of the building remains its responsibility to maintain. As such, leaseholders would not require grant aid or assistance for work to the exterior of the building.

Each leaseholder is obliged to pay a service charge which covers their proportion of the total annual cost for the upkeep of the block in which the flats are situated. These costs are calculated in five separate elements:-

Itemised repairs (including running costs);

Non itemised repairs

Management costs

Improvements (Planned Maintenance)

Insurance

The leaseholders may continue to access grants under the Home Improvement Grants and/or the Affordable Warmth Scheme with applications being considered subject to the eligibility criteria of the particular scheme. However, the work considered for grant aid will be restricted to the interior of the dwelling.