Supporting Community Led Housing

D2 Housing management and

maintenance

COMMUNITY LED

HOUSING TRAINING

What are the constituent parts of

housing management and maintenance?

• access to empty homes

• rent/service charge collection and arrears

• the repairs service

• tackling anti-social behaviour and neighbour nuisance

• complaints and disputes

• other tenancy/leasehold matters

• health and safety

• leasehold management

Housing management and maintenance

• understanding housing service provision

• rental/leaseholder/shared/mutual

• Registered Provider?

• the housing management environment

• ways that schemes can be managed

• understanding how service users can be involved in

service delivery

• understanding of landlord statutory and regulatory

responsibilities

Housing management environment

• What are the perceptions of housing association

management?

• What are the perceptions of community-led housing

organisation management?

Housing management environment

• Housing associations – most are large scale

organisations

• rarely localised service delivery

• framework of policies and procedures governing

centralised service provision

• increasing risks alongside required rent reductions have

had an impact on housing association service delivery

Housing management environment

• Housing associations – the best have various structures

to involve their tenants in decision-making; tenant

scrutiny systems to review service delivery; tenants and

staff working in partnership; understand the lifeline role

they play

• the worst are akin to the national utilities with an

emphasis solely on digital communications

• this may be changing post Grenfell – Together with

Tenants

Housing management environment

• Registered Provider associations & CLH organisations

subject to the regulatory framework

• a defined service standard framework governed by

policies & procedures

• does this produce quality?

• the regulator focusses on governance & viability and is

“light touch” on CLH organisations

• Registered Provider CLH organisations often have

flexible arrangements – unregistered co-ops more so!

CLH housing management generalisations!

• CLH organisations can be good at dealing with complex

issues at a local level in a real way and with consensus

• And this can often make them very effective

• But sometimes lack the formal framework within which

larger organisations operate

• Can mean - if things go wrong – they really go wrong!

• Bureaucracy and performance management

• Dealing with personal interest

• Understanding that systems need to deal with extremes

• Understanding legal liabilities and duty of care

• Managing problems when everyone knows

CCH Management guidance

• checklist of areas to

consider

• excellent organisations

and dysfunctional

organisations!

• checklist of

documentation and

records

CCH policies guidance

• Governance

• Membership

• Housing management

• Repairs & maintenance

• Staff management

• Policies & procedures

Access to empty homes

How can members be involved?

• Setting the policy

• Publicising empty homes

• Arranging prospective member community events

• Managing the voids process

• Carrying out allocations interviews and home visits

• The lettings process

• Induction

Access to empty homes

• access dependent on tenure and funding

• market based approaches dependent on income levels

• can be terms in leases & covenants

• public grant for rented homes usually requires local

authority nominations - negotiations re. local lettings

agreements/founder members

• balancing housing need with co-operability

• anyone can participate but … the thirds model!

• may not be a high turnover

• publicising access systems fairly – dealing with brother of

my cousin’s mate’s wife

• those deciding need to know how – keep records – and

be able to justify decisions

• formalities – Right to Rent checks

Lettings process

• lettings process – an opportunity to start relationship

between the organisation and the member

• a lot of formalities set out in a checklist

• tenancy agreement and welcome pack – information

about repairs, rent payment, fire safety etc

• share payment

• CORE form for RPs

• amenities connections - heating/hot water systems

• forthcoming planned maintenance

• gas & electricity safety certificates

• energy performance certificates

• moving in surveys

• follow up visits – buddying systems

Repairs

How can members be involved?

• Setting the policy

• Reporting repairs

• Arranging repairs

• Inspecting repairs

• Overseeing repairs

• Managing voids

• Grounds maintenance

• Arranging/interviewing contractors

Repairs scenarios

1 The CLH organisation’s electrical contractor has said that all the fuse boxes are obsolete and not up to current safety standards and that the CLH organisation needs to replace them all.

2 The CLH organisation’s chair is saying that she needs to have her garden slabbed because her health is such that she can’t maintain it herself.

3 A couple of CLH organisation members are saying it would be nice to have picket fences installed around the front gardens.

4 Repairs satisfaction reports show that one member is unsatisfied with all the repairs carried out on his home.

Repairs scenarios

5 A tenant regularly loses their front door keys and contacts the repairs officer to get in.

6 The local council has told the CLH organisation that a tree on the CLH organisation’s property needs to be attended to. The CLH organisation doesn’t have a tree surgeon on the contractor list, but one of the members is willing to shin up and saw the offending branches off.

7 A committee member is telling the committee that their cousin is a really good plumber/handyperson and the CLH organisation should get him on the contractor list.

8 A member has got a solicitor to write to the CLH organisation to say that a repair has not been done sufficiently to comply with the co-op’s legal responsibilities.

Repairs systems

• day to day response repairs

• planned and cyclical maintenance

• gas servicing

• voids repairs and management

• services and grounds maintenance

What are the parts of a repairs service?

Repairs systems

• timescales and quality

• reporting and identification systems

• contractor lists

• monitoring and inspections

• health and safety and duty of care

• reporting system

• asset management

• for new build – the defects period!

Asset management

• ensuring that money is available to replace key

components in the home

• eg. roofs, rewiring, driveways, kitchens etc

• what components need including?

• how often do they need replacing?

• how much will it cost?

• build cost inflation and professional fees for programme

delivery

• involving members

Life cycles & costs example

Asset management - houses

Asset management - flats

Asset management - summary

Rents

How can members be involved?

• Setting the policy

• Setting rents/service charges

• Managing rent collection

• Rent officers

• Formal action to debtors

Rents and service charge systems

• methods of collection

• agreed policies on non-payment action

• objectivity regarding rent arrears issues

• approval of major tenancy action at committee level in

some cases

• cases reported objectively without names but some

people will know who they are

Complaints scenarios

• A CLH organisation member is complaining that the CLH organisation did not take into account their views in allocating the home next door to them and that they have allocated the property to a young person who will make loads of noise.

• The chair of the CLH organisation called round to drop off some papers to X, another committee member who lives in a shared house. X wasn’t in, but the chair insisted that Y, another member who was in take the papers to pass on to X. Y has now made a complaint that X’s visitor has been harassing them.

Complaints scenarios

• A member gets home from the pub at 11.30pm and, in a drunken stupour, decides to engage in some “DIY” on the plumbing. Perhaps not surprisingly, this results in a substantial leak. The member rings the CLH organisation repairs officer and demands, in a hostile fashion, that the repairs officer gets someone round immediately. The repairs officer suggests that the tenant turns the water off and drains the water tank, and also questions how the leak occurred. At this point the member is abusive, and regrettably, the repairs officer becomes equally abusive. Nonetheless, the repairs officer agrees to arrange a repairs contractor to come out. The next day, the member makes a complaint that the repairs officer was abusive.

Complaints scenarios

• A member, A, has complained to the CLH organisation Chair that their next door neighbour, B, who is a governing body member, is bringing band equipment into their house in the early hours of mornings. B, who as well as being a governing body member is a musician, and he has responded to the Chair that he has to bring his equipment into the house when he gets back from gigs. He also says that A’s kids make lots of noise in the morning, when he’s still trying to sleep, before they go off to school.

Complaints

• management complaints

• anti-social behaviour

• neighbour disputes

• internal complaints about governance and code of

conduct issues

can overlap in a community-led housing organisation and

its important to separate these things out

• Members, staff, contractors, others can complain

• Receiving complaints – obtaining a formal record

• Receiving complaints via third parties

• Formally acknowledging receipt of complaint

• Formal or informal?

• Taking early action to get problems resolved

• Investigation – by someone not involved in the complaint

• Interviews with the involved parties – members/officers

• Seeking to find out what the complainant wants

• Examining documentation and other evidence

• Taking action within the CLH organisation’s jurisdiction

• Complaint outcome - formally stating CLH organistation’sposition

• Maintaining confidentiality to those who need to know

Principles of complaints handling

• Registered Provider requirement

• A staged process with time limits for action

• Minimum of two stages – investigation and review

• Review panel of people independent to the complaint

• Procedures sometimes include appeals to the committee

and/or general meeting

• Review outcome is the end of the CLH organisation’s

procedure

• Learning from complaints issues raised

• Once the CLH organisation has given its final view - the

tenant can refer complaints to the Housing Ombudsman

Service (currently via a designated person)

Management complaints

• Registered Provider requirements

• A statement on anti-social behaviour

• Defining anti-social behaviour – “conduct which is capable of causing a nuisance or annoyance to any person, which directly or indirectly relates to or affects the CLH organisation’s operations and using or threatening to use the CLH organisation’s homes for an unlawful purpose”

• Members responsible for their families, friends and visitors and ASB can also affect members or their families, friends and visitors

Anti-social behaviour

• any kind of criminal behaviour

• harassment, hate incidents and hate crime

• graffiti and vandalism

• damaging another person’s possessions or property

• racial harassment and/or other hate related behaviour

• alcohol abuse and drunken behaviour

• nuisance from pets and animals

• excessive noise

• dumping rubbish, fly tipping and littering

• misuse of communal areas

• problems caused by vehicles

• any breaches of tenancy conditions

• domestic disputes and domestic violence

• other activities that can cause nuisance.

Examples of ASB

• hate incidents/harassment - where the

complainant believes they are being

harassed or targeted because of who they

are - verbal insults, harassment, bullying or

intimidation, physical attacks, spitting, hoax

calls, hate mail, online abuse, graffiti,

damage to property, malicious complaints

• hate crime - any offence which has been

aggravated by prejudice against a group

protected by law from such prejudice

• racial harassment – particularly seen as

important post the Stephen Lawrence case

Specific areas

• domestic violence and abuse - in 2016/17,

equivalent to an estimated 1.2 million female

and 713,000 male victims – Home Office

guidance and definition

• engaging with the Police and IDVA

(independent domestic violence advocate)

• engaging with MARACs – Multi-Agency Risk

Assessment Conferences

• DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour-

based Violence) Risk Identification Checklist

• actions to support victims and their children

Specific areas

• safeguarding adults and children – the Care Act 2014 places responsibilities on housing organisations which are set up to house vulnerable people – but gives proportionate responsibilities to all housing providers

• a child – anyone under 18

• a vulnerable adult - anyone aged 18 years or over who needs care services because of a physical or mental disability or illness, a learning difficulty, a reduced physical or mental capacity due to older age, a dependency on alcohol, illegal drugs or medication

• a duty to report abuse; work with relevant agencies; check personnel; share data where appropriate; use of photos and film

Specific areas

And some other issues

• transfer and exchange requests

• breakdown of joint tenancies

• improvement requests

• resident damages and recharges

• subletting and taking in lodgers

• squatting and unauthorised occupation

• abandoned properties

• succession

• temporary absences

• tenancy/lease breaches

• the Pets Policy!!!

• managing leasehold

Leasehold management

• leaseholders are legally tenants and a lot of the previous information applies

• leaseholders have legal rights in relation to their service charges and costs for works

• eg. consultation/challenging costs/tenders/ contractors etc

• keeping records of all activities relating to leaseholder services

• provision of notices

• right to representation

• enfranchisement issues

• mutual home ownership and leasehold

• commonhold tenure

Legal responsibilities

• the property owner is usually responsible

• can delegate responsibilities in leases and agreements,

but owning organisation is usually still responsible

• fire safety issues – awaiting the results of inquiries but

responsibility a key issue

• governing bodies need to be aware of what they are

responsible for

Health and safety - possible

consequences

• hopefully none because nothing happens!

• however if there is something that the governing body

should have done or known and someone dies or is

injured …

• sanctions for organisations and individuals could include

fines, imprisonment and disqualification

• most guidance is aimed at health & safety at work, but

the general principles apply to duty of care to

“customers” (i.e. members and/or residents) and others

worked with

• identify and manage h/s risks; access and follow

competent advice

Fire safety

• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the FSO)

came into force in October 2006

• houses – limited requirements

• purpose built blocks of flats

• renovated flats

• standard blocks of flats up to 3 storeys

• tower blocks, communal rooms, shared housing, flats

above or linked to commercial premises?

Fire safety

• inside flats not covered in the FSO, but all dwellings

need working smoke alarms

• compartmentation & stay put

• preventing fire in communal areas

• adequate means of escape

• influence by social & lifestyle factors – working with

vulnerable people

• fire risk assessment required by law

• done by someone who knows what they are doing, but

the community-led housing organisation is liable

• for most schemes, a review is needed every two years –

with a new risk assessment done every four years

Fire safety

• no smoking in common parts

• safety to protect against arson

• “zero tolerance” or “managed use” – items in common

parts – maintaining escape routes and combustible

materials

• periodic inspection and 5 yearly testing of fixed

electrical installations

• maintenance of heating and ventilation

Fire safety

• engaging with members – escape routes, fire

prevention, security, actions to take in the event of fire,

staying put, fire safety measures and safeguarding

them, changes in their flats, testing smoke alarms

• an emergency plan (a fire action notice disseminated

to all residents)

• training for non-residents

• hazards caused by building works

Sorry – but there’s a bit more

• asbestos register and management

• gas safety

• legionella

• hazardous substances

• CDM regulations

• health & safety at work – lone working – the

organisation’s duty of care to its staff

• duty of care to service provider staff