Stock assessment management overview

Under current legislation, it is an implied term of every tenancy that the social landlord will keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property and maintain in working order the installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity and sanitation. These obligations also extend to taking appropriate safety measures for these installations, underpinned by a regular and certificated testing programme. By conducting a stock condition survey, social landlords are able to collect representative data from across their housing stock in relation to the Decent Homes Standard, and further about the property in general. All the information gathered is then used to identify and inform future replacement and upgrade programmes. Capital investment initiatives use the stock condition survey to target properties in most need of modernisation and improvement, and typically are conducted every five years, with three distinct focus areas:

Property Condition - This aspect is used to assess the age and condition of the major elements of each dwelling, such as the kitchen and bathroom, ascribing an estimate of the renewal year to each item.
Energy Audit - The energy efficiency of each dwelling is assessed, including the identification of any potential improvements that will impact on the year-on-year running costs.
Health and Safety Risk Assessment - Highlighting any potential risks to the occupants of the dwelling, as well as to visitors, with all major concerns being identified and raised on the tenant's behalf.

Additionally, to identify the existence and potential health risk of asbestos within a social landlord's housing stock there are two types of targeted survey available:

Management Survey - The purpose of this standard survey is to locate the presence, extent and condition of any suspected Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) in the property.
Refurbishment / Pre-Demolition Survey - A much more extensive activity, involving intrusive, investigative and destructive means to establish the presence of asbestos behind surfaces and building fabric.

The results of each asbestos survey will inform the creation and ongoing maintenance of a formal register, detailing where asbestos has been located, removed, or presumed to be present. Cloned data recorded against the housing stock may only be used where there is high confidence demonstrated through extensive surveying across similar property types i.e. a representative portion of dwellings included in the survey confirm, as far as is reasonably practicable, that there is consistency in the range of ACMs employed in their construction.

Separate help articles have been combined into logical sections and cover each key aspect of stock assessment management, including: