Agenda item

Report of the Director of Property Management

This report is about the Council’s Fire & Building Safety Charter commitments to working with residents to keep them safe in their Council homes, and the progress that has been made since the Charter was adopted in July 2021. The report explains how we have been doing and where we need help from residents to make improvements.

Deputation from CASP

Petra Dando, Chair of Camden Association of Street Properties (CASP), took the meeting through her deputation statement as set out in the supplementary agenda.

Officers agreed to meet representatives of CASP to discuss the issues that they raised in their deputation statement.

ACTION BY: Director of Property Management

The Chair then thanked Petra Dando for attending the meeting.

Consideration was then given to the report of the Director of Property Management.

Gavin Haynes, Director of Property Management, then took the meeting through the report and he along with Melissa Dillon, Resident Safety, Engagement & Governance Lead, and Dominic Johnson, Head of Resident & Building Safety, gave the following key responses to questions:

·       All Council homes received an annual gas safety check, and they would also receive an electrical test every five years.

·       The suggestion of having a ‘building safety day’ on estates when gas safety, electrical checks, Fire Risk Assessments and the stock conditions survey were, as much as possible, all done on the same day was a good one and officers would consider this proposal in the future. This would be especially helpful in seeking to deal with low rates of access at particular blocks.

·       The Fire Safety Building Charter annual report would be circulated to all residents this quarter. Also, 4 newsletters had been circulated to tenants and residents regarding the fire safety issues regarding communal areas. Housing Neighbourhood Officers would also be visiting every home to discuss their housing issues and, as part of that, there will be conversations about keeping their homes and communal areas fire safe. There would also be another housing newsletter going out this autumn regarding fire safety and communal areas. Another Council leaflet would also be circulated regarding fire safety and communal areas, and the information would be on the Council’s website, along with an e-newsletter which would be available to those with a Camden Account.

·       As part of the changes to the repairs contact centre, instant translation messaging was now available. This enabled tenants and residents to be able to ask questions and receive responses in their own languages in real time. Officers were also seeking to ensure that all relevant documents were able to be accessible to all its tenants and residents.

·       Officers were not able to access some of the TRA Halls because the key holders were not available. A lock change programme had been put in place for those TRAs halls the Council still needed to access. For those halls where there was no longer a TRA, a lock change would be undertaken and the keys would now be held by the Tenant Participation Team who would make them available when necessary.

·       The Repairs Teams had staff who would go out and do communal area and smoke alarm checks in street properties. This was an on-going process and officers would be discussing with CASP how this could made to work better.

·       Regular quarterly checks of street properties were undertaken due to historical reasons, and this process would identify any actions needed regarding smoke detectors and ensuring communal areas were kept clear.

·       Items now found in communal areas were labelled and it was made clear that in future, if they were not removed then the Council would do so and they would then be disposed of. This approach would ensure that the Council did not have the added burden of storing the items for long periods. Appropriate clear communication was always given to tenants and residents and enforcement action would be handled sensitively.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.