Proving House Repair spending is necessary

Slonvinton

I have been saving for house repairs for many years.

I mentioned this in a recent DWP complaint, about something else but tangentially relevant to savings, and was advised to get proof the repairs were necessary.

Im not sure how to do this. I have some single glazed windows I think need replacing, the roof tiles are disintegrating and the house is in dire need of rewiring.

The rewire is the most dangerous so Im starting with that. Im not sure if they will be ok with an electrician from local charity looking over it and writing a letter or if I need some sort of certificate. I thought the charity were organising a certificate but in the letter the electrician says that a detailed inspection wasnt necessary as its very obvious the electrics are very old and in dire need of replacing. Will that be enough for DWP though?

Given that I have other repairs I want to do to keep the heat in (windows) and damp out (roof) and cant risk them saying I only spent money on the rewire to reduce my savings (which I imagine is what they will say if they decide its not a valid thing to spend money on).

Of course even if I get them to accept this there is the issue of what evidence I need to replace single glazed windows etc

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

The best option for this would be to have a certified electrician complete an EICR. (Electrical Installation Condition Report). This report highlights any areas of wiring that are unsafe and must be replaced. The DWP could not argue that.

They could argue replacing single glazed windows with double. Keeping heat in is not actually a fault that requires a repair. Only if the windows were cracked or smashed or the frames rotten would they definitely be considered as necessary.

If the roof is actually leaking inside then that would be considered a necessary repair.

Of course, DWP might not request any proof, but personally I believe it would be safest in this case to have some hard evidence that they can't possibly argue.

Slonvinton

It really seems a complete minefield trying to maintain a house!

By the time Ive saved enough for the roof it probably will be leaking; for now as far as the roof goes its more capacity to save in future (unhindered by them pretending I still have what I spend on the rewire) thats relevant rather than actual savings.
Its probably best I dont think about the state of the roof too much given that I cant afford to do anything about it yet LOL. But realistically I imagine the tiles have to be porous already, given the state of them, so the biggest issue is getting it done before the structure of the roof is impacted by the damp (if that happens it will probably be outside the scope of what UC allows in savings).

Its really disheartening to think I might be stuck with single glazed windows as its making it impossible for me to afford to heat the house. But what you are saying is what I fear too… it makes me wonder how far we are from them adding up everything we spend on luxuries like netflix, cars etc (not that I do either of them, but you get my point).