Repairs and alterations

We want you and your family to feel at home when renting from us.

You can make changes to your home to make it your own. We welcome you to decorate your home however permission is required before you undertake any of the following alterations:

• Decorating the outside of your home
• Putting in extra electrical sockets
• Installing an electric vehicle charging point
• Installing central heating or moving radiators
• Building a shed or greenhouse
• Fitting a new bathroom suite or a shower
• Fitting new kitchen units or replacing existing ones
• Building a fireplace
• Building a garage, lean-to, driveway or hardstanding for a car
• Changing windows, front doors or back doors
• Building a conservatory
• Fitting laminate flooring
• Knocking down or building inside walls to change rooms
• Installing a stair lift or other adaptation
• Putting up a satellite dish or TV aerial
• Install Broadband in a multi-storey property
• Putting up wall tiles and Artex

To apply for permission, please complete our home alterations request form. 

If you have any questions about making alterations to your home, please contact your Housing Services Officer.

If permission was required, but not obtained, and you move out of the property, you may have to remove the installation and put things back to the original state, or be charged to reinstate the property to previous condition before the installation.

Adaptations for elderly or disabled people

To make it easier to manage day to day life, you can adapt or make changes to your home. This can help you continue to live independently and safely at home. For example, if you are finding it harder to move around your home, get washed, use the toilet or prepare meals.  Read more about home adaptations.

Speak to Adult Social CarePoint at Newcastle City Council. They can have a conversation with you to understand your situation. To find out what’s working well and where they can help. They can put you in touch with local services. 

A member of the Occupational Therapy Team may need to visit you to carry out a more detailed assessment and decide with you the best way to help you live independently.

A referral to an Occupational Therapist would be made if:

• You have more than 2 conditions that are impacting on your functioning ability.
• Your situation is unstable and changes from day to day or will change significantly within the next few months.
• Your environment is complex and difficult to adapt.
• You are unable to safely transfer from one seat to another.
• You are unable to safely mobilise independently.

If it is not possible or reasonable to make adaptations then the option of rehousing may be considered.