Service Family Accommodation

The new housing contract is LIVE!

By the time this edition of Army&You lands on your doormat, the new allocations and repairs/maintenance contract for Service Family Accommodation (SFA) will be up and running. So what differences are you ...

Planting in an SFA garden…

The plants need to be low maintenance, grow to a suitable size for the garden, suppress weeds from early on and mature relatively quickly. The aim is that for the average two years that someone puts in a new bo...

Taking pride in the patch

When the UK went into lockdown again last winter, keen gardener Marina Colville, based in Shrivenham, hit on an idea to form a voluntary group, DE Gardeners, which could improve soulless Service Family Accommod...

Find your growth mindset

Whether you’ve got a garden, back yard, shared space or a balcony, getting outside in the fresh air and connecting with nature gives you a boost and can improve health and wellbeing. AFF’s green-fingered Regio...

Moving money

So, you’ve made the decision to move to your own home but how does this affect your allowances? Here are some of your most commonly asked questions… Do I get removals and Disturbance Expense (DE)? Generally, ...

Moving unboxed

You should: Take out a suitable, standalone removal insurance policy covering ‘new for old’. You may pack personal items. Check your policy to see what’s covered. Undo difficult fastenings. Defros...

Renting out your home

As we know, army life often means your plans for the future can quickly change. If you buy a home but find in the future you need to let it out because of a posting, a number of banks and building societies wil...

A touch of patch pizzazz

Not many of us want to be stuck inside a world of magnolia, but when it comes to tarting up our army quarters, there are limits to what you can achieve during the inevitably short time you live there, all while...

The big SFA switch

As you may have heard, new Service Family Accommodation (SFA) management, and repair and maintenance service contracts will be introduced across the UK next year to replace the current National Housing Prime co...