Whilst researching I came across a definition of a decent home and wondered how people felt – does this define a decent home?

In order to meet the Decent Homes Standard – a dwelling must:

(a)  Meet the current statutory minimum fitness standard for housing

(b)  Be in a reasonable state of repair – dwellings that fail to meet this criterion are those where:

• One or more of the key components are old and because of their condition, need replacing or major repair; or
• 2 or more other building components are old and because of their condition, need replacing or major repair.

A building component can only fail to satisfy this criterion by being old and requiring replacing or repair – a component cannot fail this criterion based on age alone.

(c) Have reasonably modern facilities and services – dwellings that fail to meet this criterion are those that lack 3 or more of the following:

• A reasonably modern kitchen (20 years old or less);
• A kitchen with adequate space and layout;
• A reasonably modern bathroom (30 years old or less);
• An appropriate located bathroom and WC;
• Adequate insulation against external noise (where external noise is a problem);
• Adequate size and layout of common areas for blocks of flats.

A dwelling lacking up to 2 of the above is still classed as decent therefore it is not necessary to modernise kitchens and bathrooms if a home passes the remaining criteria.

(d)  Provide a reasonable degree of thermal comfort – this requires        effective insulation and heating.