The States revealed yesterday that it was changing the long-standing policy that saw departing tenants made to pay to remove worn carpets and other floor coverings.
The States has also been criticised in the past for leaving incoming tenants to foot the bill for re-carpeting properties when they moved in, and for a perceived wastefulness that saw old floor coverings thrown away. But now the taxpayer will be paying for it.
Jeff Guilbert said the previous policy had always been an anomaly.
‘It’s a step in the right direction, as they are now closer to the same condition that private landlords would have to provide,’ he said.
‘Like them we often rent properties “unfurnished”, and, although it’s not written in law, the bare minimum we would provide is carpets and curtains.’
New rules that applied to the private rental sector were brought in earlier this year and Mr Guilbert once again questioned why they did not apply to States housing.
‘Anything private landlords have to do should also apply to the States,’ he said.
‘Why have rules for one and not the other?’
The change in rules on floor coverings is the result of work started during the last political term by the Employment & Social Security Committee, which has been handed over to the new Committee for Housing to progress.
‘This is an area the previous committee agreed needed resolving, so I am really pleased to see the new Committee for Housing putting a solution in place,’ said ESS president Tina Bury.
‘Private renters and Guernsey Housing Association tenants are generally not expected to provide their own floor coverings when moving into a new property, so this levels the playing field and brings the States in line with standard practice as a modern landlord.’
This change is expected to be introduced early next year.
The Housing Committee is looking for suppliers of floor coverings to give it some guide prices.
The response and contractor availability will direct the start date.
‘I know that Deputy Bury and the previous members of her committee felt very strongly that it was no longer acceptable to expect tenants to move in to properties without floor coverings and be expected to take out loans or rely on family or charitable support,’ he said.
‘So I’m delighted that my committee can oversee the next stage of this important policy development.’
The States said it had never been the policy to remove all floor coverings from States properties and existing flooring in a suitable condition would be left in situ, after being professionally cleaned where necessary.
In 2022, 120 States properties were vacated for various reasons and in around a quarter of homes the existing carpets were assessed to be in an acceptable condition to be left in place. That would still have meant 90 houses would have needed re-carpeting at a total estimated cost of anything between £100,000 and £300,000.
Mr Guilbert questioned this. ‘Anecdotally I’ve heard of people trying to give perfectly good carpets to charity shops in the last year that they were being told to remove,’ he said.
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