Agenda item

A report of the Head of Landlord Services.

The Head of Landlord Services submitted a report presenting the Board with the council’s draft new tenancy agreement for its secure and introductory tenants. (Item 7 on the agenda).

The Landlord Services Manager attended the meeting to assist with the discussion of this item.

The Board were advised that:

(i)            The agreement defined the relationship between the landlord and tenant.

(ii)          It was good practice to revise the agreement regularly in line with changes in legislation and/or accepted good practice.

(iii)         The changes made to the agreement were aimed to try and rectify problems that had emerged when the existing agreement was in place.

(iv)         The changes proposed to the new agreement fell broadly into 2 categories.  Firstly, changes regarding the format of the agreement to aid with navigation around it and make it more coherent. Secondly in terms of actual changes proposed to the agreement, including clauses that were not in the existing agreement as well as expanding and clarifying existing clauses.

(v)          Due to the fact that the new agreement was a contract and by definition needed to be legalistic, a simple guide had been written attempting to draw out the most important elements and providing a tool for people signing up new tenants.

(vi)         A format for people with learning difficulties would be produced as the document needed to be accessible.

(vii)        There was a rigorous consultation process set out in the Housing Act 1985 enabling the Council to apply the agreement retrospectively to existing tenants.

In response to questions from the Board it was explained that:

(i)            The breakdown of payments in section 2 included all possibilities for payments within the gross rent.  In the case of some properties this may include water rates.

(ii)          With regard to service charges in section 3.7, the purpose was to give the landlord the ability to apply variable service charges if they wished to do so in the future.  Currently service charges, where levied on tenants, were fixed whereas leaseholders had variable service charges levied: they were billed for charges expected to be incurred in the coming year and then, following an adjustment exercise once the actual costs were known, invoiced for the actual cost of the services and then either charged or refunded as appropriate against the previous estimates. This way, leaseholders paid for the exact cost of the services provided.

(iii)         The bin storage maintenance charge included the cost of cleaning.

(iv)         Legally, if a schedule of potential service charges was not in the agreement, then such charges could not be made in the future.

(v)          The ‘Sinking Funds’ referred to money put aside for equipment and amenities that needed replacing in the future so that an additional charge did not have to be levied.

(vi)         There was no hidden intention for additional charges.  There was a need to project the future of where circumstances might change, and provision for potential changes needed to be made.  As such potential charges needed to be listed in the agreement.

(vii)        A reasonable approach needed to be taken in cases where Council tenants inherited another property.  In some cases, it may not be reasonable for them to move, for example if the property was too far away from support networks.

The Chair clarified that Charnwood Borough Council was not responsible for the payment of pest control, this was the tenants’ responsibility.  She added that a Universal Credit financial officer could include this in an assisted living assessment and that there were also charities that could help to pay for this.

Actions:

1.    Head of Landlord Services to make the word ‘may’ more prominent on point 3.7.4.

2.    The word ‘future’ to be added to charges in Section 8.

3.    The reference to Household Pets on page 23 of the agenda pack to be amended to show that it is in Section 6.16.

RESOLVED that the Board note and commend the policy to cabinet, subject to agreed amendments being made.

Reason

To acknowledge the Board’s consideration of the policy.