We understand that being able to personalise your home to suit modern family life is important.
As part of our ongoing commitment to modernise outdated policies and give Service families more freedoms to personalise their homes, we’re making it easier for families to make self-funded permanent changes to enhance their homes should they wish to.
We’ve streamlined our processes and introduced two categories of permanent enhancements that families can make to their military home:
Green category permanent enhancements – these can be carried out immediately by either a family themselves or a tradesperson if preferred. There is no longer a requirement to notify DIO or Pinnacle about making these enhancements. Any enhancements will instead be recorded by your Housing Officer during the Move-Out appointment. We have some top tips for families for making green permanent enhancements to their homes.
Green category permanent enhancements examples include installing shelves, curtain poles, blinds and shutters, coat hooks and battery powered doorbells.
Amber category permanent enhancements – these must be carried out by a qualified tradesperson due to the intrusive element of the works. Families will need to notify DIO/Pinnacle of any amber permanent enhancements they wish to make prior to work starting so they can be given the appropriate installation and safety guidance.
You can notify DIO/Pinnacle about this via their new simplified Permanent Enhancement Process.
Amber category permanent enhancements examples include fitting electric vehicle charging points, external power supplies, external taps, patios and garden decking.
Service families can now also leave both green and amber permanent enhancements in the property at point of move out, without the need to revert it back to its previous condition providing the work is of sufficient quality and has the required paperwork.
Find out more and read the full list of green and amber permanent enhancements on our Permanent Enhancement FAQs page.
These changes are being delivered through our SFA Consumer Charter which is transforming living conditions in military homes, and follows the Strategic Defence Review commitment of more than £1.5 billion extra in funding for Armed Forces family housing.
Share your Patch Hacks
We’d love to see how you’ve personalised your SFA home to reflect your personal style. Whether that’s using the new Defence Homes Colour Palette or getting creative with temporary or permanent enhancements.
As part of Patch Hacks we’re sharing how families are personalising their SFA on our corporate channels to help inspire other military families.
If you’d like to share what you’ve done to personalise your home, tag or message us on our Instagram or X account or fill out our form and we’ll get in touch.