Housing Finance and Monitoring Group's Terms of Reference

Aim
Principal aims and purposes
Membership
Purpose
Organisation and servicing
Voting and quorum
Code of conduct
The right to be consulted
The right to manage
The right to challenge 

1. Aim

The Housing Finance and Monitoring Group is one of three (3) formal consultation bodies, with whom officers will discuss changes to policy and procedures. These three areas are as follows: Finance, Housing Strategy and Repairs. The areas reflect the Housing Department’s need to improve value for money and reduce debt, to meet the Decent Homes Standard and to engage with stakeholders on our strategy to deliver excellent local services. The focus of the Housing Finance and Monitoring Group will have a slightly narrower focus than that of its sister groups. This reflects the seasonal work programme of the Housing Department’s financial year, as well as the strictures of central government’s funding calendar in respect of the local authority finance regime.

2. Principal aims and purposes

• To work with officers to develop and monitor the Housing Department’s finances and to report these back to those stakeholders who have delegated the members of the group
• To represent the views of all tenants and to ensure that these views fully reflect the diversity of the department's customers, so that department’s financial planning is well informed by their concerns
• To take up matters, within the functional areas of Housing Finance which are either too complex or require greater scrutiny than could be devoted to them at Area Housing Forum or Tenants Council
• Following such scrutiny, to refer such matters back to Area Housing Forums and Tenants Council, with appropriate briefing notes, summarising the issues involved
• The Group will be a consultative body, although it will be able to refer or recommend action to Area Housing Forums and Tenants Council

3. Membership

Each Area Housing Forum will elect three (3) representatives to the Housing Finance and Monitoring Group. The representatives need to be members of registered tenants' and residents' associations and have been delegated to attend their Area Housing Forum by their respective tenants' and residents' association. Membership is only open to tenants and leaseholders in accordance with the rules on proportionality and the numbers of tenants and leaseholders as they are represented across the housing stock. There will therefore be a total of fifteen (15) members in each group referred by the five (5) Area Housing Forums and a further five (5) nominated by Leaseholders Council to meet our leaseholder-specific consultation requirements as enhanced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

4. Purpose

The purpose of the group as mentioned earlier, is more focussed on financial planning, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business planning cycle and the rent setting calendar. The Division Director of Finance and IT has of necessity to follow the financial year and in particular central government’s schedule for local authority finance. With these strictures in mind, the meetings of the group will be set out to cover the following key topics, however this list does not preclude other topics as may from time to time arise.

• Sir Peter Gershon’s report in July (Releasing Frontline Resources)
• Debt reduction strategies in October
• HRA Business Plan and rents in December and January
• Monitoring programme for savings initiatives in April

5. Organisation and servicing

The lead officer for the group will be Bernard Ofori-Atta. The lead officer will chair the meeting.

There will be a minimum of four (4) meetings per year and the aim will be to hold these in July, October, December / January and April or as close to these dates as the lead officer decides. The lead officers with support from central Resident Participation will prepare an annual schedule of meetings and ensure that these dates are drawn to the attention of those elected to attend, at the beginning of each calendar year and annually thereafter. The dates will be available on the Events Diary on Lambeth Council’s website.

The lead officer will request Area Housing Managers via their Forums, to nominate three (3) representatives from each Area Housing Forum. Those nominated must, throughout their period as elected representative, be from tenants' and residents' association who are properly registered with the Housing Department.

6. Voting and quorum

The minimum number for a quorum is five (5) members with at least three (3) Area Housing Forums being represented by their delegated members. If a quorum is not met by ten (10) minutes following the advertised time of the meeting and officers have sent out papers to arrive five (5) working days in advance, then the meeting shall be adjourned for two (2) weeks.

Appendix A

Code of Conduct

To ensure that the Housing Finance and Monitoring Group meetings are conducted in a spirit of equality and informality, in which minority groups and their opinion can be heard, the following code of conduct should apply to Housing Finance and Monitoring Group meetings:

1. Housing Finance and Monitoring Group meetings should include provision for the involvement of under represented sections of the community and it is therefore important that all of those participating are given the opportunity to express the views of those they represent and are treated with equal courtesy.
2. Issues discussed should be purely of a strategic nature and issues of a nature that are pertinent to or impact on any delegate or the estate where they reside should not be raised. This would be unfair to officers and indeed other delegates. Such matters should be taken through the appropriate channel or raised with the appropriate housing officer.
3. All participants at Housing Finance and Monitoring Group meetings have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a way that does not cause offence to others to participate in the meeting.
4. This includes the use of abusive language, racist, sexist or other derogatory remarks or actions, behaviour that intimidates people who are speaking or wish to speak and preventing people from expressing their views through interrupting or talking while others are contributing to the debate and discussion. The views of disabled delegates will be specifically sought on choosing meeting venues.
5. Delegates should be particularly sensitive to the needs of those who may not be used to speaking in public or whose first language is not English.
6. Delegates who consider that this code of conduct has been broken should raise it with the chair either at the time or immediately after the meeting.
7. The lead officer will judge whether the person has breached the code of conduct. If there has been a breach those present will have the discretion to suspend the person(s) responsible from the meeting. If the matter is raised between meetings, the Executive will decide appropriate action, including suspension, to be ratified at the next meeting. Future participation by the person(s) concerned will be dependent upon a commitment being given to the Chair that such behaviours will not be repeated.
8. Child Care: This allowance is discretionary, and is payable to reimburse claimants for actual expenditure incurred (at up to £6 per hour) for the care of children or dependent relatives whilst undertaking consultation activities or representing their Area Housing Forum at these groups. The money is not available for a carer from the claimant’s own household and a receipt showing the hours, cost and full contact details of the party providing the care is required for reimbursement.
9. Interpreters will be made available on the same basis as childcare but with at a rate of not more than £15 per hour.

Appendix B

New rights were given to leaseholders under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (the 2002 Act) that received Royal Assent in May 2002. The commencement of the Act took place in three stages.

The first commencement order was made in July 2002. The second commencement order, which introduces the key provisions of the 2002 Act, was introduced on 30 September 2003. The third commencement came into force on 27 September 2004.

These rights which are now in force, affect local authorities and registered social landlords. They include:

1. The right to be consulted about long-term contracts and qualifying works (section 20)

Section 151 of the 2002 Act replaces and modifies the existing section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

The new section 20 gives leaseholders rights to be consulted before landlords enter into long term agreements (where one contractor is appointed to carry out works, provide a service, etc for a period of more than a year) where the costs per leaseholder are more than a prescribed amount and before entering into a contract to carry out works costing more than the prescribed amount. The current prescribed amount for long term agreements is £100 for any service charge payer: for qualifying works under a long-term agreement or otherwise it is £250 for any service charge payer.

Failure to consult before entering into long term agreements or before carrying out specific works, and which would cost any leaseholder more than the prescribed amount, will result in the landlord being unable to recover more than the prescribed amount from any leaseholder. However, a leasehold valuation tribunal (LVT) has the discretion to dispense with all or some of the consultation requirements in a particular case where they consider it reasonable to do so. This might include minor procedural shortcomings which did not disadvantage any leaseholders and, in the case of specific works, where works needed to be carried out in an emergency.

The detailed consultation requirements are set out in new Regulations that came into force on 31 October 2003 - The Service Charges (Consultation Requirements)(England) Regulations 2003 - SI no. 2003 No.1987.

2. The right to manage

The new Right to Manage, contained in Chapter 1 of the 2002 Act (sections 71-113) will not apply to local authorities as arrangements are already in place for local authority tenants to set up Tenant Management Organisations to manage local authority owned property. It will however apply to all social and private sector landlords.

The new rights enable a simple majority of leaseholders to take over the management of the property. The main change to their existing rights is that there will be no need for leaseholders to prove that the landlord or Management Company is at fault before having the right to take over management of the property.

In order to qualify for the new right the following conditions must be met: 

• The building must contain at least two flats and at least two thirds of the properties in the block must be held on long leases
• The right must be exercised by a private company limited by guarantee that complies with the prescribed memorandum and articles of association issued by the Department
• The membership of the company must represent at least 50% of the flats in the building, except where there are only two flats in which case both leaseholders must participate

This provision came into force on 30 September 2003.

3. The right to challenge the reasonableness of service charges

Section 155 of the 2002 Act introduces a new section 27A to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

Under this new provision leaseholders and landlords will have the right to ask an LVT to determine the reasonableness of a service charge, and also the liability to pay the charge. An application can be made whether or not any payment has been made by the tenant, and a matter is not to be taken as agreed or admitted by virtue of a person having paid all or part of the sum in question.

This provision came into force on 30 September 2003.