Issue - meetings

To consider the report regarding the changing landscape for housing and property services.

The Housing and Property Director, D Fenton advised the Committee that the report provided members with an overview of the Consumer Standards in which registered providers were obliged to adhere to and the council would need to be plan for and resource accordingly. There was emphasise on tenants involvement and empowerment as well as health and safety and part of this included informing members of the changes and their responsibilities under the new landscape, including the national context and local context.

It was noted that all local authorities were now to be regulated by the regulator of social housing.  The regulator produced a regulatory framework that housing associations and now councils must adhere to and were included in the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulatory-standards#our-approach

The regulations were now in place, and it was normal practice for organisations to undertake a mock IDA to help understand the gaps and assist in developing an action plan.  Officers would be looking to commission this shortly and present a report to the relevant committee later in the year. There were significant areas of work for the housing teams and members would be kept informed of the progress.

The Committee made comments and asked questions on the following

·         How much would this cost the council? At present it was not known, although the housing team were scoping out the requirements.

·         Would leaseholder be included? This was specifically for tenants although there were changes for leaseholders which would be brought to members attention.

·         Compliance could be very detailed; would members be supported in order to understand the impact of these regulations? The Cabinet would be receiving a briefing concerning Building Safety and Construction (Design and Management) CDM regulations and various officers had completed training in these regulations in order to assist members.

·         What was an IDA? It was noted that an IDA was an In-depth Assessment, which would be carried out by the regulators from social housing.

·         Does the council have to comply with all the regulations? Yes.

·         Had these regulations been developed following the Grenfell Tower disaster? Yes.

·         It was noted that the Housing Regulator and Housing Ombudsman would be very strict with authorities on compliance going forward. 

RESOLVED:

That members noted the changing landscape for housing and property services.