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CAPITAL WORKS, MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS AND CAMDEN COUNCIL STREET PROPERTIES In a past CASP survey a large number of council tenants and leaseholders expressed dissatisfaction about the way repairs and capital works are carried out to our homes. Following this, the CASP Committee did a formal presentation to Camden's then Director of Renewals and Camden's then Executive Member for Housing. Throughout it's presentation the Committee were quick to highlight the following areas - the need for an end to shoddy workmanship and unaccountable contractors and the need for genuine resident involvement. The Association also continues to ask why for so many years have our homes been starved of proper investment and maintenance - is this why so many properties today need urgent captal works and why families have been forced to live in sub-standard housing conditions? Camden is now moving towards a new 'partnering' arrangement to help deliver its capital programme. Whilst it would seem sensible to employ contractors with a proven track record (if this is indeed the case!) CASP has been critical of the consultation process carried out by Camden Council prior to the introduction of the new system. Camden states that it aims to deliver a better value for money service to both rent payers and leaseholders, however, many of us remain concerned about how the new arrangement will translaate into a better service, especially for tenants and residents who live in Camden Street Properties. On 25th June 2008 Camden's Executive approved the award of partnering contracts to Lake House and Apollo contractors to deliver Camden's housing capital programme. It also states in a recent council report entitled 'Resident Involvement - Partnering' (November 12th 2008) "Partnering requires a strong focus on quality which in turn requires equally strong focus on the resident experience. Residents need to be placed at the heart of the process and encouraged to be actively involved from before works start on site through to completion" The CASP Committee met with relevant officers in January 2009 to again discuss 'partnering' in more detail. The Committee was quick to ask how Camden proposes to involve tenants and residents of Camden's street properties in the process? Discussions are now continuing about how best to achieve this - we intend to keep members informed of any progress! IF ANY CAMDEN COUNCIL STREET PROPERTY TENANT OR RESIDENT WOULD LIKE TO CONTACT THE ASSOCIATION ABOUT AN ISSUE INVOLVING CAPITAL WORKS AND THEIR PROPERTY / AREA, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE ASSOCIATION. To view the Camden Council Major Works Information Booklet, please click on the link below; http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=471644 The following links may also be useful: Housing Repair and Camden Council http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/housing/council-tenants-and-leaseholders/housing-repairs/ Major Repair Work and Camden Council
Investing in Camden’s Homes – Decent Homes Years 2 and 3, Integrated Reception Systems Years 2 to 4 (HASC/2009/11)
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In December 2007 the Council’s Executive approved the housing stock options appraisal and the Investing in Camden’s Homes strategy. This strategy has 3 strands: · Introduce the Investing in Camden’s Homes programme – focusing on decent homes, mechanical and electrical and health and safety works · Explore estate regeneration options on selected estates · Sell a limited number of empty properties and secure £110m in capital receipts 1.2 Year one decent homes works are on-site and this report recommends schemes for inclusion in years two and three of the Decent Homes programme. 1.3 In March 2008 the Executive Member for Homes and Housing Strategy approved an approach to the installation on Integrated Reception Systems (IRS) prior to the digital switchover in 2012. Delivery of this programme is underway and this report recommends schemes for years two to four of the IRS programme.
Table 1 – Investing in Camden’s Homes – allocations to date 2.2 In March 2008, decent homes schemes to the value of £27m were approved by Executive. This report recommends decent homes schemes that have a total value of £112m, bringing the total value of approved schemes to £139m. 2.3 Table 2, below, sets out an expenditure profile for 2008/09 to 2010/11 which will be reviewed in detail by the Capital Delivery Team and partner contractors and any amendments incorporated into the capital programme first review.
Table 2 – Proposed expenditure profile – Investing in Camden’s Homes 2.4 The full £139m for decent homes has not been cash-flowed across 2008/09 to 2010/11. This is to reduce the risk of accelerating decent homes expenditure too quickly following the delayed start to year one. In particular the Capital Delivery Team will be looking to embed process improvements and lessons learnt following the commencement of year one schemes, taking into account resident and member feedback. 3. YEAR TWO AND THREE DECENT HOMES SCHEMES 3.2 The Council submitted a set of targets to Government in June 2008 for the delivery of its decent homes programme. These targets are summarised in the table below:
Table 3 – Decent Homes LAA Targets as at June 2008 3.3 As the table indicates, the Council is seeking to address 6,223 tenanted unit failures during 2009/10 and 2010/11 through the delivery of works to properties. This will be achieved through decent homes works, works to void properties, the remainder of the Raising the Standard programme and mechanical and electrical works. 3.4 Decent homes failures are pepper-potted across blocks, streets and estates. In the case of internal failures, these are extrapolated from a 10% sample. When building the detailed programme of works it is therefore necessary that we carry out property-by-property surveys. 3.5 This process can lead to a greater number of properties receiving works and the overall budget that has been allocated reflects this. In the case of external works the budget also has to include capital outlay to cover works to leasehold units. 3.6 In selecting year two and three schemes the following criteria were applied: · An approximately equal split between the North and South contract areas · Prioritisation of properties classed as “failing now” by the Savills database · Up to one-third of properties to require both internal and external works · Estates that could be considered for the second phase of estate regeneration, for example, those with potentially high investment needs or that could benefit from place shaping 3.7 The list of schemes in Appendix 1 meet these criteria and include: · Up to 5,621 tenanted units to receive internal works · Up to 1,981 tenanted units to receive both internal and external works · Up to 825 leasehold units to receive external works 3.8 By including a greater proportion of properties that require internal and external works, the recommended year two and three schemes include a greater proportion of street properties than year one. Of the 8,427 properties included, 1,974 (23.4%) are street properties. 3.9 A number of properties that require internal works only will have received external works through the Raising the Standard programme. Carrying out internal works to these properties will ensure that they become fully decent homes compliant and key components have a substantial remaining life. Conversely many properties requiring both internal and external works, in particular street properties, could require a significant amount of work and information from property level surveys will need to be reviewed to ensure costs can be met. 3.10 It is anticipated that works will start on site in May 2009. The chronological ordering of schemes will be agreed with the appointed contractors, taking into account requirements such as leaseholder consultation and crossover with mechanical and electrical works. Once chronological ordering has been agreed, dates will be loaded onto the on-line database (www.camden.gov.uk/csp). Development of years 4 and 5 of the programme 3.11 Development work will commence on years four and five once the schemes in Appendix 1 have been approved. It is intended that a report will be submitted for Executive to consider in Spring 2010. This report will need to take account of a range of factors, including progress on generating resources through the sales programme and the outturn costs of delivering schemes in years one and two. 4. DEVELOPING THE CAMDEN STANDARD 4.1 Consultation on the investment strategy showed that tenants and leaseholders supported the development of an investment strategy that prioritised works to decent homes elements – e.g. wiring, windows, kitchens and bathrooms – and improvements to mechanical and electrical infrastructure such as lifts and district heating. 4.2 Tenants and leaseholders also indicated that a “repairing” approach would be acceptable for some elements, e.g. kitchens and bathrooms. The caveats to this being that any work should be of a high standard and the Council should avoid the false economy of repairing components beyond their useful life. 4.3 Workshops have explored this further with residents and suggest that the following approach to internal works is viable when considering what can be delivered within available budgets: Priority One Health and safety works and works to remedy disrepair Priority Two Key components – internal wiring, central heating boiler Priority Three If required – repair or replacement of kitchen, repairs to bathroom 4.4 Further to the strategic consultation outlined above, residents will be consulted at scheme level as the programme is delivered. A report detailing the approach to resident consultation and decent homes works was submitted to District Management Committees in December 2008. 5. INTEGRATED RECEPTION SYSTEMS 5.1 It is the Government’s intention to cease analogue TV and radio transmissions and switchover to digital transmission by 2012. This involves the switch off of the analogue terrestrial network that has been in place since the 1930s and its replacement with an all digital terrestrial network. 5.2 Integrated Reception Systems (IRS) are seen as the best solution for properties currently served by communal television aerials as they: · receive both satellite and terrestrial signals · deliver ‘free to air’ channels · help the Council enforce its policy of removing residents’ satellite dishes from the outside of blocks · do not tie residents into a particular subscription service · “9-wire” IRS systems can receive two satellite signals and can cater for the broad range of community languages in the borough 5.3 Following extensive consultation with residents, in March 2008 the Executive Member for Homes and Housing Strategy approved the installation of 9-wire IRS systems across those properties currently benefiting from communal aerials (report reference – HASC/2008/28). 5.4 The March 2008 report contained a list of blocks that would receive IRS systems through the first year of the programme. In Appendix 2 a list is provided for years two to four of the programme, installation of IRS at these blocks is subject to survey. It is estimated that by the end of the programme 22,533 of Camden’s tenanted and leasehold properties will be connected to an IRS system. 5.5 Resources to pump-prime the IRS programme were approved by Executive in July 2007. The capital costs of installation will be recovered from leaseholders through a major works service charge and recovered from tenants through a weekly service charge once installation has taken place. 6. COMMENTS OF THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE 6.1 Resources for this programme are included in the existing Housing Capital programme of £591.2m. The anticipated profile of spend set out in the report (paragraph 2.2) amends the HASC capital programme profile as follows:
Table 4 – Housing Capital Programme – 2008/09 to 2014/15 6.2 This report brings forward spending plans from future years. There are sufficient capital resources in the existing programme to fund expenditure to 2010/11. The Executive should note that the resourcing of the future programme depends on £94m of capital receipts to be generated and £100m to be generated through Estate Regeneration. Failure to generate these resources will lead to the programme being delayed or stopped.
7. COMMENTS OF THE HEAD OF LEGAL SERVICES 7.1 Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 imposes a repairing obligation on the Council to keep in repair its tenanted properties. (The Council’s standard right to buy leases contain a similar provision.) The obligation is: (a) to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes) (b) to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for the supply of water, gas and electricity and for sanitation (including basins, sinks, baths and sanitary conveniences, but not other fixtures, fittings and appliances for making use of the supply of water, gas or electricity), and (c) to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling-house for space heating and heating water. 7.2 The Council must carry out repairs within a reasonable period of time of being notified of the disrepair or becoming aware of the disrepair e.g. by inspection of premises. What is a reasonable period depends on the nature and seriousness of the item requiring repair (e.g. in the case of a serious roof leak or a winter failure of the heating system a reasonable period may be only a few days or a week at most). In practice steps should be taken to remedy any item of disrepair promptly to avoid claims. 7.3 If the Council breaches its repairing obligations tenants and leaseholders can sue the Council for damages and an order for works of repair to be completed. The Council has to date paid out thousands of pounds in compensation and legal costs to tenants / leaseholders and their respective solicitors for breach of the Council’s repairing obligation. It is noted that works to remedy disrepair are given "Priority One" in paragraph 4.3 of the report, though repairs to the kitchen and bathroom are only accorded "Priority Three", and it is emphasised that any and all disrepair notified in respect of, or found in, a property must be remedied promptly as any delay may lead to a claim. 7.4 Pursuant to section 105 of the Housing Act 1985 the Council is required to consult with those of its secure tenants who are likely to be substantially affected by a matter of housing management to which this section applies. For the purposes of this section, a matter is one of housing management if, in the opinion of the landlord authority, it relates to the management, maintenance, improvement or demolition of dwelling-houses let by the authority under secure tenancies. This section applies to matters of housing management which, in the opinion of the landlord authority, represent a new programme of maintenance, improvement or demolition, or a change in the practice or policy of the authority, and are likely substantially to affect either its secure tenants as a whole or a group of them who form a distinct social group or occupy dwelling-houses which constitute a distinct class (whether by reference to the kind of dwelling-house, or the housing estate or other larger area in which they are situated). It is noted that consultation with tenants and leaseholders has taken place (as illustrated by paragraph 4.1) and will also take place locally prior to individual schemes being delivered. REPORT ENDS List of appendices Appendix 1 Proposed Schemes – Years 2 and 3 – Decent Homes Appendix 2 Integrated Reception Systems – Years 2 to 4
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