Welcome To Wirral

Of Wirral’s total private sector stock, just over 10% (12,500) of these homes are privately rented, and the rest are owner occupied.

Wirral Council has the responsibility to:

• Work with the Council's Strategic Housing Service, other organisations and Wirral residents to address housing, health and social issues, and to reach all parts of the community with this service.
• Respond to changes in legislation, and provide national statistics.
• Respond to complaints and requests for assistance about housing related matters and statutory nuisance. This includes providing information to support the maintenance and improvement of housing standards, plus encouraging and enforcing legal standards for housing where appropriate.
• Survey and monitor the private housing stock – house condition surveys are used to inform the private sector renewal policy, support bids for funding, and to inform the Council about whether regeneration activity is necessary (such as demolition, clearance or improvement areas).
• Ensure private sector homes comply with the Government’s Decent Homes Standard.
• Provide the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy (link to PS12) to encourage the maintenance and improvement of property towards ensuring housing is safe, in good repair, energy efficient, affordably warm and has adequate facilities. This is achieved by the schemes detailed in the above policy, which include advice, assistance including grants in certain cases, referrals to other agencies and enforcement.
• Ensure private rented properties, particularly houses in multiple occupation, meet minimum legal standards.
• Provide grants for essential adaptation to properties for disabled people (this is carried out following referral from an Occupational Therapist).
• Encourage energy efficiency improvements in dwellings to achieve national home energy conservation targets by having actions in place to encourage and assist in affordable warmth being achieved in all dwellings in the Borough, and having an affordable warmth strategy in place.
• Encourage housing to improve environmental awareness in relation to recycling and saving resources such as water, gas and electricity
• Inspect houses to identify if overcrowding exists. The statutory standard is contained in the Housing Act 1985 (as amended) and inspections are made on request.
• Ensure site conditions are maintained at mobile home and caravan parks.
• Inspect houses and provide accommodation certificates. (Accommodation certificates are sought by individuals requiring a visa application to enter the U.K. One of the requirements of a successful visa application is: "there will be adequate accommodation for the parties and any dependents without recourse to public funds in accommodation they own and occupy exclusively." - The Environmental Health service will, on request, visit a property and make this assessment.)
• Deal with empty properties to encourage their re-occupation and discourage blight..