Your council home does not come furnished. However, assistance may be obtained from the Tendring Furniture Scheme which is a charity that collects donated furniture to pass on to people on very low incomes. You can contact them on 01255 476068. For white goods and donated furniture that has been refurbished, the Tendring Reuse Employment Enterprise sell these refurbished items at low cost to the general public, particularly benefiting those who are disadvantaged.
At the start of your tenancy, you may be given a Housing Decoration Voucher. This is a one-off voucher that you can use in selected local DIY stores to buy decorating materials (such as wallpaper and paint). The voucher must be used within 3 months of issue and only decorating materials can be purchased with the vouchers. You will then be responsible for all future decorating costs during your tenancy.
If you have moved to your property through a mutual exchange, we will only carry out a gas and electric check at the start of your tenancy and you will not be eligible for a Housing Decoration Voucher. So, when you view the property, please make sure you are happy with its condition before you agree to the exchange.
Together with members of our Tenants Panel, we have produced a leaflet called " Looking after your garden" that provides guidance on what we expect from you in relation to any garden area let with your tenancy.
If you live in a house, bungalow or ground floor flat with access to your own garden, you can keep one dog or cat, or one of each without asking our permission. This is subject to the terms in our leaflet below "keeping pets in your council home". You are not allowed to keep, either in your home or in any communal areas that you share with other tenants, any animals that we think are a source of nuisance or distress to other residents. To apply to keep pets please read our leaflets below and use our downloadable or on line application to keep pets.
Keeping dogs in your council home
Keeping pets in your council home
Application to keep a pet in your council property
Housing Paw Prints 2023 Certificate
If you live in a flat or maisonette, you must ask our permission before obtaining any pets.
Think for a moment what you would do if you lost all your belongings as a result of a fire or flood. Would you be able to afford to replace them? Without insurance, the answer could be no.
Some tenants believe we automatically insure their furniture, fittings and other belongings against fire, theft, vandalism and water damage. This is wrong. Unfortunately, they only realise this after the damage has been done.
As your landlord, we are responsible for insuring the structure of your home, which includes the provision of main services such as gas, electricity and water. This means that, following an incident such as a flood or fire, our insurers would make sure these are returned to the condition they were in before the incident. For further information, email us at housing.services@tendringdc.gov.uk.
However, you are responsible for your belongings and, in general, these will only be covered by our insurance if we are legally responsible for the damage. In any other circumstances, you would have to meet the cost of replacing your furniture, electrical equipment or other possessions. As well as this, if you had a chip-pan fire, for instance, and your neighbour suffered any losses, you could be financially responsible for these.
We would therefore strongly advise you to take out a suitable household contents insurance policy. Policies offer different types of protection at different costs, so it is always best to shop around to find the one that best suits your needs before making a final decision.
We have a duty to collect all rent due for our dwellings as the income is vital to fund other housing services. We will always take all reasonable steps to try to resolve tenancy or rent arrears problems. However, if all else fails, the Council will apply to the Courts to repossess a property. The most common ground for eviction is non-payment of rent, although it is possible for tenants breaching any other aspect of their tenancy agreement to be evicted. Once a Possession Order is obtained from the Courts any application to vary the terms of the order or to obtain a stay of execution must be made to the Court itself rather than Tendring District Council.
If tenants are facing a Possession Order, it is advisable to seek independent legal advice. Tenants can contact a solicitor directly or the local Citizens Advice Bureau can offer free advice. Tenants should contact us to inform us of any changes in their circumstances once a Possession Order has been issued.
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