If you are a secure tenant you have the right to carry out improvements to your home. You must obtain the Council’s written consent to do this, which cannot be unreasonably withheld. In certain circumstances, when the tenancy comes to an end, you have the right to compensation for certain qualifying improvements made to the premises by yourself.
If you are a Durham County Council tenant, you have the right to carry out improvements to your Council property, such as fitting a new bathroom suite, replacing kitchen units or building a new fireplace. However, you must first ask for permission and you must carry out any work to the guidelines that we give you. Permission will not be unreasonably refused, but may be subject to certain conditions. We will only refuse permission if the work would cause us expense, make it difficult to let the property in the future or give rise to complaints from other residents.
If you are a Durham City Homes tenant and wish to apply for permission to carry out your own alterations, please get in touch using the contact details provided below.
If you are a tenant of East Durham Homes or Dale and Valley Homes and would like to obtain further information about carrying out improvements to your home, please get in touch with the organisation direct using the contact details provided below.