Agenda item

Cllr. Markham and SB gave an overview of the progress so far of setting up the ALMO ‘Northampton Partnership Homes’. The interim Managing Director of Northampton Partnership Homes is Gerald Davis, and soon this position will be put out for recruitment.

TM told the forum that he sits on the board for the ALMO. One concern he felt was whether the ALMO would lose its independence in the future, and if the ALMO was taken in house. Cllr. Markham advised that it is written into the agreement that this could not happen without a whole stock options appraisal.

AT asked who will deal with funding for new builds, and who would apply for this. Cllr. Markham advised that during the options review, members, employees and tenants all made a decision across the board that they would stick to the Northampton Standard for homes. In order to do this in 10 years, any money for new builds would need to be sacrificed. During the final 5 years of Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH), there will be opportunities to then fund new builds. However, NBC administration has applied for funding for 100 new homes - if we are not successful with this bid, the building of the 100 new homes will still go ahead as it is understood how important an issue this is.

AT asked whether Repairs services are going to be ‘in house’ or contracted out. Cllr. Markham advised that currently staff members are tupeing across to NPH, and Repairs services will remain ‘in house’. If this changes, this will be a decision of NPH.

AT asked about rent collection and inspections. Concerns were raised that homes could get run down, and would not be discovered until things get drastically wrong. When NPH are managing the properties, it was asked whether there will be yearly visits/inspections. Cllr. Markham advised that the authority has looked into this, and it all comes down to resources. The first step to tackle this issue has been to change the allocation policy; anyone who has left any properties in the past in an unfit state, will not be reallocated. This policy will transfer across to NPH, but they may choose to change this, and have more inspections etc. DB advised that there are tenancy audits and targeted inspections that take place for those who haven’t accessed repair services 2-3 years or where it has been identified that fraud may take place i.e. 1 bedroom flats etc. Also, since March this year NBC have operated flexible tenancies, whereby there is a 12 month introductory period, which then runs for 5 years. There are regulations for this and no later than 6 months before the period expires, the property must be checked. NBC has decided to instead check 12 months before end of tenancy, which allows officers access to check the state of the property.

Cllr. Markham advised that through tenants/residents meetings, officers encourage people to come forward with concerns over neighbours houses, or concerns over fraudulent activity, which has been successful. NBC have a duty of care and will investigate all cases flagged to them.

DH felt that there are issues with this however, as there is a risk that the person who reports could become a victim. The forum discussed the difficulties with this. However, DB stressed that when things do start to go wrong, it is important that issues are nipped in bud.

SM spoke to the forum about Private Sector Housing, the other side of Northampton Partnership Homes. NBC have brought in selected licensing – mandatory licensing for 3 storey buildings – and is proactively working around shared houses going forward. As well as enforcement when things go wrong, Housing are also getting better at prevention work, talking to landlords about how they manage their tenancies.  Cllr. Markham said that private sector housing is a great need due to the waiting lists of social housing. NBC have seen great progress in last 18 months with the National Landlords Association. It has been introduced that landlords have 16 weeks to get license in place for the properties they let which are HMOs, which will cost £325 per property. This is not a measure to punish bad landlords and to penalise, but to instead regulate the business. The local authority is also looking to go to a 1-5 rating system. This will determine properties that will rent and those that won’t.

Cllr Markham advised that tenants will be able to contact NPH. All tenants’ day to day enquiries will go to NPH, but tenants, as citizens of Northampton Borough, will still ring NBC about council tax etc.

DH asked about tupe transfers and the possibility of redundancy once transferred over. Cllr. Markham advised that the local authority has had to look at finances, adjustments to terms and conditions of staff and redundancies. These changes to terms and conditions would have happened even without the transfer to NPH.