Financial help to adapt or repair your home
We provide a range of grants and assistance to people who own or live in private sector accommodation.
Whilst it is primarily the responsibility of homeowners to maintain their own properties, we are able to help vulnerable and poorer homeowners with repairs and improvements, especially where this benefits health or allows people to remain in their own homes.
A specific cash limit is set annually by the Council.
Disabled Facilities Grants
These grants are available to help disabled people to live more independently in their own home. We can provide a grant to pay for works for disabled people who are receiving means-tested benefits or who have a low income according to our financial assessment, they must first be recommended by West Sussex County Council's Occupational Therapists.
To apply, or contact an Occupational Therapist, please contact West Sussex County Council OT Team by calling Adult CarePoint for an assessment of your health needs.
- Telephone: 01243 642121
- Email: socialcare@westsussex.gov.uk
Check your eligibility for a Disabled Facilities Grant online
Use our simple online calculator to check your eligibility for this type of grant. Please note, this is a provisional check, final means tests will be carried out at the application stage by one of Horsham District Council 's officers.”
If you prefer to check by telephone, or would like to discuss this more, please call us on 01403 215641.
What happens next?
Once you have contacted an Occupational Therapist through Adult CarePoint, an OT will contact you to assess your needs, then they will send their recommendations to Horsham District Council Grants Officers. An HDC officer will fill in the application forms with you, discuss the works suggested, and carry out a means test. Quotes are obtained from your favoured contractor, or from contractors recommended by the Trading Standards Approved Buy With Confidence website. HDC officers will discuss all the proposed works and expected time scales with you before any work commences in your home.
What if I don’t qualify for a grant?
If you do not qualify for a disabled facilities grant, your Occupational Therapist will be able to give you advice, and explain how to find reputable contractors who can carry out the works for you under your own private funding.
Minor Adaptions
Minor adaptions to your home may be covered by a grant, these are run by West Sussex County Council. These are not means tested, but there still some criteria to be considered. To apply, see if you may qualify, or if you have any queries about minor adaptions to your home, please contact West Sussex County Council Occupational Therapists by calling Adult CarePoint for an assessment of your health needs.
- Telephone: 01243 642121
- Email: socialcare@westsussex.gov.uk
Repair Assistance
This is available to alleviate serious risks to health and safety. It is available to owner-occupiers who have owned and occupied their property for at least three years. This assistance is subject to a means test. Repair Assistance is offered up to a maximum of £20,000 per dwelling over a ten year period. All Repair Assistance must be repaid when there is a change of ownership.
Minor Repair Assistance
This is available to people over 60 years of age and vulnerable households in receipt of a means-tested benefit or subject to a means test. It is available for small-scale works of repair, improvement and adaptation, to assist people to remain in their home. Minor Repair Assistance is offered up to a maximum of £3,000 per dwelling over a five-year period, and is available to both owner-occupiers and sometimes tenants. Applicants must have occupied the dwelling for at least one year prior to an application. All Minor Repair Assistance must be repaid when there is a change of ownership.
Empty Property Grants
These are available to landlords to bring empty property back into use. These grants will normally be 50% of the cost of the eligible works, up to a maximum of £10,000. For properties to be eligible they must be in need of repair or improvement and have been empty for a minimum of twelve months. The conditions on Empty Properties Grants will be dependent on the cost of the works, and will involve letting the improved property to a tenant nominated by the council for five years at a rent equivalent to Housing Benefit. Full details can be found in our Housing Assistance Policy.
Read our Housing Assistance Policy
Heating and Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency improvements are addressed primarily by promoting nationally available grants and discount schemes. Free and independent advice is available to all residents through the designated officer of the Council.
Moving Home Assistance
Where a person owns their own home and qualifies for a Disabled Facilities Grant but their existing home is unsuitable and a move to different accommodation would be a better alternative to adaptation, financial assistance up to £10,000 is available towards the cost of moving. Such assistance would be by way of a grant, and would be repayable should the property be sold within five years of completion of the move.
Park Home insulation grants
Living in a Park Home (i.e. residential Mobile Home) can be an attractive proposition. However, the average thermal efficiency of a Park Home is low and the heating can end up being costly to run.
Park Home sites are often positioned in rural locations and may not have access to the gas network. Consequently many rely on electricity and LPG for their heating requirements, which is expensive.
We have participated in two pilot projects to try a new form of insulation fabricated in panels which are attached to the outside of the homes, vastly improving their insulation. Both trials took place in the autumn of 2010, and information gathered so far has indicated a reduction in heating costs and an increased feeling of warmth.
We are keen to help more owners insulate their Park Homes and has a limited budget to be able to offer financial assistance to Park Home 'permanent' residents who are on means tested benefits, or just above this level of income, to help insulate their mobile homes.
Further information
To find out more about any of the grants, please call our team on 01403 215641 or email ehl@horsham.gov.uk