Decoration Allowance Policy - Section 6
6. Decoration Allowance
6.1 A decoration allowance may be awarded in any of the following circumstances:
- Example 1: when a new tenant moves into a property where the standard of decoration is below a reasonable standard as defined by the Moray Letting Standard (see Section 7);
- Example 2: following any response repair work carried out by the Council where the decoration has been extensively damaged (see Para 6.2), at the discretion of the Area Housing Manager (see Section 9); or
- Example 3: following any planned maintenance or improvement work carried out by the Council and it is deemed necessary for a decoration allowance to be given, for example, following the installation of a new heating system (see Section 11).
6.2 For the purpose of awarding any allowance, extensive damage may mean partially stripped rooms, badly torn wallpaper that would prove unacceptable to live with, walls poorly painted where extensive work is required to correct, and so on.
6.3 No allowance will be awarded where a tenant has caused damage or has neglected the interior decoration of the property.
6.4 A tenant's request for a transfer to another property may be suspended from offers for a minimum of three months if the current decoration of his/her tenancy is not of a reasonable standard (see Allocations Policy).
6.5 A decoration allowance will not be awarded:
- to deal with obvious damage that has been caused by an existing tenant as this will be dealt with under the rechargeable repairs policy;
- to change the interior decoration of a property because it is not to the incoming tenant’s personal taste (unless the decoration is a strong colour that would prove costly to change, for example black);
- to act as payment after an incident a tenant should have been insured for; or
- where a new tenancy is beginning as a result of mutual exchange.
6.6 No decoration allowance will be awarded for a room where the Council, or its contractor, has completed decoration.
6.7 Tenants being awarded decoration allowances will be given information on when the vouchers can be collected, retail outlets where they can be exchanged, and the conditions attached to their use.