Tolerable standards in housing

Help to bring your home up to tolerable standard

If your home does not meet the Scottish Government’s tolerable standard, you may be able to get advice and a grant to help with the cost of improvements. We can support you when there is a serious issue that affects your health, safety or access to basic facilities.

What support you can get

Environmental Health Services can: 

• give you advice on what the tolerable standard requires
• assess your home to see if it falls below the standard
• offer a grant to help with improvement work

If you qualify, you can get:

• 25 percent off work costing up to £5,000
• 35 percent off work costing more than £5,000

You must pay the remaining cost yourself.

When you may qualify

You may get a grant if an independent report or our inspection shows that your home has one or more of the following issues:

• risk of collapse because the structure is unstable
• unsafe or inadequate drinking water supply
• no internal toilet, and you need one installed for the first time
• problems with foul drainage, including upgrading a cesspool
• significant rising damp inside the home that means it does not meet the tolerable standard

When we cannot help

We cannot offer a grant if:

• this is not your only or main home
• you have lived in the property for less than two years
• you bought the home knowing it needed major work to develop it
• you removed standard facilities yourself
• the property is used for commercial purposes