Dutch municipalities and the quality of the owner-occupied housing stock

Owners are responsible to maintain their own dwellings in an adequate manner. In practice however all kinds of constraints occur. Lack of financial means and insufficient (technical or practical) knowledge are the most important barriers. Because the quality of owner-occupied housing exceeds the individual interest; there are also general concerns to consider. Qualitative seriously substandard owner occupied dwellings can have negative effects on streets and neighbourhood. That is why Dutch municipalities pay more and more attention to the quality of the private housing sector. They observe that the physical quality of parts of the older owner-occupied stock is far from satisfying and partly seriously substandard. Apart from the maintenance situation, energy saving is an important other reason for municipalities to show an interest in the private housing sector, because of its large energy saving potential. Municipalities are coping with the question if and (if yes) how they can kill these two birds (quality and energy improvement) with one stone. On the basis of studies in several municipalities the question will be answered how municipalities can effectively intervene to improve the (physical and energetic) quality of owner-occupied housing.