Agenda and minutes

Eastcote Lane Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Harrow Weald Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Kenmore Park Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Woodlands Community Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Harrow Federation of Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations

Weald Village Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Member:-

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Forum;

(b)               all other Members present.

Agenda Item 7 – Information Report – Rent and Housing Finance Overview Workshop, Agenda Item 8 – Resident Services Manager’s Report and Feedback from other Council Led Resident Involvement Activities, Agenda Item 9 – Information Report – Housing Complaints Handling and Agenda Item 10 – Information Report – Head of Asset Management’s Report

Councillors Bob Currie and Mano Dharmarajah declared non pecuniary interest in the above items in that they attended monthly meetings of the Eastcote Lane Tenants’ and Residents’ Association.  They would remain in the room whilst the matters were considered.

Councillor Kairul Marikar who was not a Member of the Forum declared a non pecuniary interest in the above items in that she was a Council tenant.  She would remain in the room whilst the Forum considered the matters before them.

Agenda Item 8 – Information Report – Resident Services Manager’s Report and Feedback from other Council Led Resident Involvement Activities

Paddy Lyne declared a non pecuniary interest in that she was Vice-Chair of the Harrow Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB).  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2012 and of the special meetings held on 26 September 2012 be taken as read and signed as correct records.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2012 be taken as read and signed as a correct record and that the minutes of the special meetings held on 26 September 2012 be taken as read and signed as a true record, subject to the following amendments to the list of representatives from the following Associations which were in attendance:

deletion of Honeybun Estate Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, Milman Close Tenants’ and Residents’ and Weald Village Community Association.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Executive Procedure Rule 51 (Part 4D of the Constitution).

RESOLVED: To note that no public questions were put, or petitions or deputations received at the meeting.

Report of the Divisional Director of Housing Services

The Divisional Director of Housing Services introduced a report which outlined the proposed approach to a rent and housing finance workshop and which sought ideas for obtaining maximum attendance.  The Divisional Director of Housing Services made the following comments:

·                     the aim of the workshop was to provide basic information regarding the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and the rent options which would help to facilitate detailed and meaningful discussions when the rent options were next considered;

·                     the workshop was proposed to help address concerns raised at the previous meeting regarding the complicated nature of the rent options;

·                     it was proposed that the workshop would commence in the late morning and finish on the early afternoon.  Lunch would be provided and the travel costs of those who attended would be reimbursed;

·                     senior housing managers would be in attendance.

A Member of the Forum commented that more than one session would be required if all the attendees were to understand the issues and rent options.  It was suggested that information about the workshop could be circulated in the Harrow Federation of Residents’ and Tenants’ Association (HFRTA) mail shot to its database of contacts.

The Divisional Director of Housing Services welcomed the offer of publicity for the workshop and advised that it was anticipated that the workshop would be held towards the end of November.

In response to various issues raised by Members of the Forum the officer advised that Councillors would be invited to the workshop and that the workshop would initially be organised as a daytime session.  Attendance would then be reviewed to ascertain whether or not an evening session would be required.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Divisional Director of Housing Services

An officer introduced a report which set out a range of information and provided feedback on various Council led service specific and service wide resident involvement activities.  The officer reported the following points:

·                     there had been increased interest in Right to Buys.  To date, there had been 25 applications and 7 properties had been sold.  This was an increase on the previous year when no properties had been sold;

·                     the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and explanations which had been sent out with the annual service charge bills to all leaseholders had been well received and received positive feedback;

·                     at the start of quarter 2 rent arrears were at an all time low of £394,753.  In August there had been a seasonal increase in rent arrears which was due to the summer holidays and this was historically the case.  The current figure for rent arrears was £446,000.  In addition, the collection rate of 96.14% was higher than at this time last year when it was 95.19%.  The introduction of a third direct debit payment date was being pursued and when the additional date was set it would be promoted;

·                     the feedback from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) project which had involved visiting tenants indicated that tenants were aware of the forthcoming changes with the introduction of universal credit and that they had various concerns.  In addition, most of the tenants visited had a transactional bank account, the majority stated they did not have monetary concerns and all of those visited would prefer to have the direct payment of rent continue.  A report could be submitted to a future meeting of the Forum which included an analysis of the feedback if requested;

·                     the number of completed tenancy audits was ahead of schedule at the end of quarter 2;

·                     there had been an increase in efforts to help encourage tenants to move out of larger properties they were under occupying and during this year 18 tenants had moved as a part of the occupation scheme.  Some tenants had registered to move to the Olympic Park which would be providing supported and disabled adapted properties shortly;

·                     it was proving more challenging to achieve progress regarding tenancy fraud as further investigations were required and tenants were more willing to be legally challenged before terminating the tenancies.  There had been 4 successful cases this year.  A Channel 4 news piece regarding tenancy fraud and featuring the Council was due to be shown on 8 November 2012;

·                     there had been a decrease in the number of complaints received in quarter 2 and of those received 17 had been resolved at stage 1, there were no complaints at stage 2 and one at stage 3;

·                     the proposal to remodel the Sheltered Housing Service was approved by Cabinet at its meeting on 13 September 2012 and it was anticipated that the new staffing structure would be in place by 1 April 2013.  Tenants would be introduced to any new staff and a Service Review Working Group was being established  ...  view the full minutes text for item 147.

Report of the Divisional Director of Housing Services

An officer introduced a report which updated the Forum on the changes for complaint handling relating to council landlord services introduced by the Localism Act 2011.  The report included the points raised ay the meeting between the Housing Ombudsman Service and several London Local Authorities.  The officer reported the following comments:

·                     the democratic filter would apply to all landlords of public rented housing and would apply to complaints about the council’s landlord functions;

·                     a complainant would have to wait for 8 weeks after the end of the final stage of their landlords complaint policy, before approaching the Housing Ombudsman (HO) if they had not involved a designated person;

·                     the timeframe for complaints to be referred to the Housing Ombudsman was 6 months.  The referral period for complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) was 12 months;

·                     the introduction of the democratic filter was designed to give the complainant more choice and the HO viewed the role of the designated person as one of a mediator who would be able to make recommendations but not decide the outcome of a complaint;

·                     the Localism Act gave automatic recognition to any MP in England or a Harrow Councillor as a designated person.  A designated tenants panel could be a designated person once it had been recognised by the landlord.  The emphasis would be on the designated tenants panel to make an approach to the landlord to be recognised as a designated person.  Under the Localism Act 2011 landlords were discouraged from actively establishing a designated tenants panel;

·                     a landlord was not able to refer a complaint to the HO, it was only the designated person and the complainant who were able to do so;

·                     it was the view of the HO that a 3 stage internal complaints process was outdated.  The current Corporate Complaints Policy was being reviewed and consideration was being given to a two stage process;

·                     it was intended to reconvene the former ‘Tenants Complaints Feedback Panel’ and nominations for representatives were sought;

·                     a progress report would be submitted to the Forum meeting in December.

During the discussion on this item, Members of the Forum raised a number of issues which officers responded to as follows:

·                     the present complaints process had three stages, with each stage of the complaint being considered by a more senior officer.  If the complainant was not satisfied with the outcome of the internal complaint then the matter would be referred to the LGO;

·                     in some cases the complaints progressed to stage 2 as the service delivered had not met the expectations of the complainant;

·                     the HO did not expect landlords to have panels in place by April 2013.  A designated tenants panel was one of the options to perform the role of the designated person;

·                     any complaints about non-landlord functions and private rented landlords would still be submitted to the LGO and complaints from tenants would be referred to the HO.

Members of the Forum commented that the London Borough of Richmond had a tenant champion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 148.

Report of the Divisional Director of Housing Services

An officer introduced a report which updated the Forum on progress made in relation to Asset Management.  The officer reported the following issues:

·                     the recruitment to the new Asset Management staffing structure was nearly complete and two new staff members were awaiting their start dates.  The post of empty homes coordinator was still vacant and there were temporary arrangements in place until the post was advertised again in January;

·                     the asset management structure now consisted of 3 teams with one responsible for delivery, one for preparing and planning future years investment and one for responsive repairs;

·                     the key priority for asset management was now to deliver services which would involve providing good value for money, improved consultation, the establishment of robust contract management arrangements, adopting a joined up approach with Resident Services and improved communication and partnership working with tenants and leaseholders;

·                     performance information relating to the new contract for the responsive repairs had been delayed and this was partly due to problems with the interfaces between the Council’s and the contractors computer systems.  Early indications were that the new contractors were working well as the number of recalls had fallen and the predicated savings were likely to be achieved;

·                     contractor appraisal panels were being established and these would include tenant and leaseholder representatives and contract surveyors.  The panels would meet on a bi-monthly basis and consider performance, customer satisfaction and complaints.  Updates and feedback from these panels would be included in future reports to the Forum;

·                      a challenge panel for the capital programme had been established which would call in the contractor managers to explain the current status of projects.  The panel was proving to be a success;

·                     an asset management board had been created and the board would receive reports from the contractor appraisal panel and the challenge panel;

·                     the council’s internal auditors had been invited to assess the arrangements and the Forum would be advised of any additional elements introduced as a result of the audit when it had taken place;

·                     the capital programme of £9 million was ambitious and all the work which was carried forward from the 2011/12 programme was currently on site or completed.  £7.7 million of works had been procured and £5.2 million was on site or completed;

·                     there was a need to plan the future capital programme to ensure that it was procured and delivered on time.  It was anticipated that a 3 year outline programme would be submitted to the Forum meeting in February.  Early planning of the capital programme would help to provide more procurement opportunities and a potential reduction in costs.  It was anticipated that more kitchens and bathrooms could be replaced;

·                     consideration was being given to including works to assets which were not homes, such as fences, garages, car parks and options for sheltered housing;

·                     asset management was adopting a 30 year view and it was important to decide how to prioritise future improvements.  It was important that tenants and leaseholders were involved in the process;

·                     progress was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 149.

To note that the next meeting will be held at 2.00pm on Wednesday 19 December 2012

RESOLVED: To note that a special meeting would be held at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 4 December and that the next ordinary meeting would be held at 2.00 pm on Wednesday 19 December 2012.