Former home of Jane Austen needs urgent repair work THE former home of Jane Austen in Hampshire is set for “urgent” repair work. A grant of £85,000 has been awarded for repairs at the house in Chawton - where the author lived for eight years. It comes as the site was found in need of urgent work including stripping and re-hanging the existing roofing tiles on the house, replacing leaking windows and stabilising the structures of other heritage buildings on the site. The total cost of the work is estimated to be in the region of £170,000, it has been revealed. But £85,000 will come from Hampshire County Council as the authority awarded a grant to the Jane Austen’s House Museum.