Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Andrew Purves and Wolfram Westendorf.

Other Forum members not present included George Ambrose, Billy Byatt and Dane Cummings.

There were none.

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 22^nd November 2022.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting of 22^nd November 2022 and the actions arising from those minutes.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 22nd November 2022 be approved as an accurate record subject to amending bullet point 2 on page 2 under the Minutes section from “a number of Leaseholders had tested the facility on the Camden Account which provided information about Planned Major Works and had reported back that it worked for them” to “a number of Leaseholders had tested the facility on the Camden Account which provided information about Planned Major Works and had reported back how it worked for them, including the uncertain scope of the prediction of Major Works." 

a.    2023 survey (The Chair to update following meeting with Head of Tenant and Leaseholder Engagement 3 Mar 23)

b.    Fire safety/ master key (verbal update from the Chair following meeting with Cabinet Member for Better Homes and Director of Property Management on 14 March)

c.     Major works resident engagement process (verbal update from the Chair)

Consideration was given to matters arising from the minutes of 22^nd November 2022 meeting.

In response to a Forum Member’s question about whether Liferay (the platform which stored all the Camden Account information) had access to all Leaseholders details, the Head of Leaseholder Services commented that she would check with the Council’s IT department and provide a response.

ACTION BY: Head of Leaseholder Services

Star Survey

The CLF Chair informed Leaseholders that she had a conversation with the Head of Tenant and Leaseholder Engagement about the Star Survey of tenants due in 2023. He had indicated that although there was no requirement for local authorities to run the survey for Leaseholders, Camden would however go ahead with a survey of Leaseholders. This would be carried out by a third-party organisation called Housemark which had been commissioned to undertake a telephone survey of leaseholders in autumn 2023. The results would be benchmarked against other London Boroughs and there was confidence that the results would not be distorted. The survey of about 700 residents would take place in the autumn. A similar sample size would be used for Leaseholders.

The Chair indicated that the Leaseholders Forum would create a Working Group to compile questions to be used as part of the survey. Leaseholders commented that it was good that the survey was being conducted by a third party and that it would be useful to have comparable data with other boroughs.

Responding to questions from Forum Members, the Head of Leaseholder Services commented that Local Authorities were legally required to ask tenants specific questions and although Camden was not legally required to consult with Leaseholders, it was going to. The survey was not about establishing who was living in the property it was more about determining tenant satisfaction with services provided by the landlord. The Head of Tenant and Leaseholder Engagement was leading on this project and would want to see it through before he left the Council. It was noted that the report from the 2019 Survey was circulated in the December Leaseholders’ Forum News Update by the Communications Member.

Master Keys for Street Properties

The Chair reported that she had several meetings with the Director of Property Management and the Cabinet Member for Better Homes to discuss the issues relating to Master keys for street properties. It was noted that there were 1700 Street properties and a requirement for the Council to carry out quarterly fire safety checks, the initial proposal was a blanket approach to enable access by replacing all keys of street properties with master keys. There had been discussions around how this could be resolved with one proposal being that residents could sign up to text appointments by providing a mobile number they could be contacted on. This would reduce costs, those residents that did not want to provide a number could have a master key fitted. There were suggestions that this could be put through a consultation process, it was pointed out that this would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Billy Byatt to talk through his diagram.

This item was not considered.

a.    Report on LH information action points (following 2019 LH survey)

-       Correspondence management system

-       Camden Account

-       Information for leaseholders on Camden website

b.    Proposal for recharging LH for energy costs (Vice Chair to brief Head of Leaseholder Services)

Consideration was given to the Head of Leaseholder Services Update report.

The Head of Leaseholder Services informed the Forum that 2 reports had been included on the agenda as part of this item. The first report was an update on Camden Leaseholders Satisfaction Survey carried out in 2019 and the action plan developed to address the main areas requiring improvement and increase leaseholder satisfaction this was on pages 39-46 of the agenda. The other report was a Leaseholder Services update report on pages 47-49 of the agenda. She highlighted that:

·       With the Chair of the Leaseholder Forum, they were overseeing the Action Plan. A small project group had been developed to deliver the action plan.

·       Updates on the action plan would be provided at each Forum meeting.

·       More useful information for leaseholders had been completed and uploaded on the leaseholder section and published on the Council’s website. A Camden Account guide had been developed and uploaded on to the website with a link from the Camden Account.

·       Explanation of major works bill breakdowns were being developed and once finalised and reviewed these would be updated on the Council’s website. In the meantime, the Bill of Quantities and billing breakdown were available on the Camden Account. Leaseholders were asked to check this out on the website and to come back with any questions/clarification they might require.

Responding to a question about those residents/leaseholders that do not have access to technology, the Head of Leaseholder Services said that the Service Charge guide on the Council’s website could be printed off and sent in the post if it was requested. She noted that 80% of Leaseholders used the Camden Account.

The following responses were provided to further questions:

·       Page 47 of the agenda highlighted that 5,666 email enquiries were received between April 2022 and February 2023 of which 5,041 (92%) were responded to within 10 days.

·       Page 48 of the agenda highlighted that from July to December 2022 the Council received 8,304 calls from leaseholders, 70% of the calls related to day to day and Major works service charges. Most leaseholders had indicated that they would rather speak to somebody than look for the information on the website.

·       A major problem with the Leaseholder email inbox was that a lot of the emails were not for Leaseholder Services and were more to do with anti-social behaviour complaints.

·       A major issue highlighted from the satisfaction survey was that emails were not responded to, it was noted that a solution to this could be that information was made available on the Council’s website directing where people needed to go for the information required.

A Forum member pointed out that on checking the Camden Account it provided an invoice but did not provide details of the work carried out. The Forum Member was asked to send the Head of Leaseholder Services an email which would be forwarded to the officer managing the Camden Account to deal with.

Another Forum member highlighted that the biggest problem occurred  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive an update from the Repairs Working Group.

The report of the Repairs Working Group, appended to the Agenda, was not discussed.

a.    progress with the Repairs Operations restructuring and how this is working in practice

b.    progress in dealing with the problem of contractor missed appointments

c.     progress with trialling a new repairs tracking/workflow system and confirm May 2023 remains target for implementation

Consideration was given to the Head of Repairs and Operations Update.

The Head of Repairs and Operations reported that:

·       the restructure of the department was still ongoing, progressing on to its final stages. The Forum was informed that as soon as the recruitment drive was completed the names of those officers appointed to the new posts would be made available.

·       The Universal Master Key Project sat within the Director of Property Services Team.

·       From the Repairs Service perspective, a large amount of work had gone into dealing with damp and mould issues.

·       There was now a damp and mould team in place to deal with the increasing number of cases that had been reported.

·       The team was continuing to work with residents to deal with damp and mould issues across the borough. The data provided on damp and mould cases appeared to show that 82% of cases were very low risk, 17% moderate cases which required ongoing mitigation work. There had also been a number of cases where people had to wait a bit longer due to the high volume of reported cases.

·       A significant issue highlighted was the increased number of missed contractor appointments, where the contractor had not turned up for an appointment.

Responding to a Forum members question on why a contractor would not turn up for an appointment without cancelling, the Head of Repairs and Operations said that this could not be defended. He also noted that there had been a reduced workforce due to Brexit and the significant impact this had, had on the construction industry coupled with increased sickness absences.

The Repairs Working Group informed the Forum that at its next meeting with the Head of Repairs and Operations they would include on the agenda for discussion-

·       Gem Contractors missed appointments and what can be done to improve the situation.; and

·       an update on the trialling the new repairs tracking and workflow system

           Action By: Repairs Working Group/Head of Repairs and Operations

Responding to further Leaseholder Forum member questions the Head of Repairs and Operations commented that:

·       The costs charged by the supply chain were built into the tolerance provision and there were certain measures used across the cost price index as the business still needed to function and generate costs. It therefore either required a reduction in the workforce or providing a reduced service.

·       The Asset Management Service was the overarching service which was all part of the Property Management Division. The 5-year stock condition cycle was carried out by Asset Management which fed into other areas services.

He would:

·       follow up on the Street Property main pathway which was slippery and the front garden which was sinking.

·       Provide an update to the Forum on the outcome of the meeting with Gem regarding improvement in attending repairs appointments.

           Action By: Head of Repairs and Operations

The Head of Repairs and Operations and Head of Leaseholder Services were thanked for attending the meeting.