 |
Friendly Housing News |
| Current Status
of the Campaign: |
|
Friendly Housing News |
| Current Status
of the Campaign: |
News in order : (latest information is lower down the page)
- 2006: Friendly Housing Action is working closely with John Goodman, Head of Policy and the Regions at Co-operatives UK. On 27th June, John presented a briefing paper on the issue to the Co-operative Housing Group (CHG), a forum set up through the co-operative movement. The CHG brings together representatives from the Confederation of Co-op Housing, the National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations, Co-ops UK, The Co-operative Party, The Co-op Bank, the Nationwide Building Society and the building society movement and agencies who support co-operative and community controlled housing. It is chaired by Andy Love MP.
- Since 1st July 2006, Ceri from Out of Town Housing Co-op in Brighton, a member co-op of CHIBAH (Co-operative Housing in Brighton & Hove) has been in discussion with Des Turner MP, his local MP who also was behind the 2000 Private Members Bill which introduced the HMO licensing legislation, later included in the 2004 Housing Act.
Des said it was never intended to apply to small fully mutual housing co-operatives, which had been overlooked, for which he apologised. He is setting up an urgent meeting with Yvette Cooper, the Housing Minister and also bringing along the civil servant who drafted the original legislation. He will also try to get Shelter to attend, as they were involved too. This meeting is unlikely to happen before late October.
He also agreed to contact Brighton council and ask them not to enforce the legislation until this is sorted out. We will try to get a statement from him which can be used by co-ops dealing with their own local authorities, but feel free to contact him directly if you are experience difficulties now.
- Early September 2006; Des has not been able to track down the civil servant he needs for the meeting but is still trying. He has also not yet contacted Brighton Council and has suggested that we do it. Des has said that he would support an amendment to the law which would exempt all Fully Mutual Housing Co-operatives rather than just owner occupiers and long-leaseholders (25 years or more). This is particularly important to protect so called "short-life" co-ops in rented buildings, probably the most threatened by the legislation.
- October 2006; Baroness Andrews, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, has met with Des Turner, John Goodman and several representatives of housing co-ops to discuss our concerns. The meeting seemed to go well.
-November 2006; Baroness Andrews has written to say that the meeting was useful in broadening their understanding of the implications of the licensing provisons in the Housing Act 2004 on fully mutual housing co-operatives
Here is a full report of the meeting with her:
Friendly Housing Action - HMO legislation & lobbying the baroness...Meeting with Baroness Andrews, Westminster, 17 October 2006 Housing co-op representatives Mike (Some Friends, London), Cath (Cornerstone, Leeds), Nick (Catalyst & Out of Town) & Ceri (Out of Town, Brighton) and John Goodman of Co-operatives UK met Baroness (Kay) Andrews, who is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (that is, junior Minister) at the Department for Communities and Local Government, in the office of Brighton MP Des Turner, with the Baroness' assistant and two civil servants, Robert Skeoch & Tom Quinlan. Robert & Tom are the HMO team - Robert drafted the original legislation. They are now responsible for dealing with landlords & Local Authorities enquiries about implementation and with the ongoing process of reviewing how it's affecting things. The civil servant in charge of registration claimed that they "have evidence from the Scottish Executive that a lot of Housing Associations have... changed their constitutions to be managed by general meeting." We said we would be very interested indeed to see evidence of this. The Minister asked what Brighton Council had said, and Ceri replied that they are "supportive of the campaign to exempt ourselves; but they have to enforce the law as it stands"... Cath added that the new rules are already having an effect in making it harder, or impossible, for new co-ops to get and convert properties. The Minister wants to know what the cost of bringing co-ops' buildings up to the standards would be. She wants to know how many co-ops and how many people are affected. John Goodman has a survey of co-ops that are not Registered Social Landlords in process. We would gather some numbers on costs. The Civil Servant pointed out that the operation of the law is under review and this will be completed in three years. That would seem to be the timescale for getting a change of definition into the law. He also pointed out that the law set up an "Independent Residential Property Tribunal - a system designed to make Local Authorities think twice rather than having blanket policies..." The Minister summed up: her sense was that she should get a survey; look at the Scottish thing; and talk to Local Authorities, reinforcing "the message that we don't expect landlords to do this overnight and we don't expect people in your situation to do it overnight". Conclusion: Reading between the lines of what the Minister said: • If the council approach you, ask "haven't you heard from the Ministry yet?" • If they pursue you for registration or particularly if they issue an order for building work to be done, then appeal to the Tribunal. • Make sure your co-op and all others you know respond to John Goodman's survey. Brighton Council have already said that it'll take them five years to get through the actual capitalist landlords - the Minister is hinting that co-ops should be at the end of that queue.
THINGS TO DO: • John: has statistics on the number of co-ops and members and is doing a survey; • ALL: look at building quotes for making houses comply - where this is possible. Include costs of alternative accommodation while people are turfed out of their houses for weeks. Produce some examples of properties that are simply not convertible. • Nick and Mike to work out the question for the builders... • ALL: How many rooms would you lose - for example to installing extra bathrooms and second and third kitchens that no-one would use? What effect would this have on rents? • Check out the landlords' association's comments on costs of conversions... one website is www.landlordzone.co.uk • We need to chase up this allegation about Scottish Housing Associations claiming to be run by general meeting... Ceri has a route to the Scottish Executive; a colleague of Mike's who worked on Housing Today has supplied an academic contact. • Eventually, check out the All-Party Co-op Housing Group to find a Tory and a Liberal who may be allies (unlikely allies welcome). In getting a change to the law through Parliament, all-party support helps a lot. Mike Holderness 25/10/2006 |
2007: Following the meeting, Co-operatives UK are putting together a submission of information about the fully mutual housing co-operative sector, including details of the number of properties, the number of residents and the nature of such properties.
Government Officials will be liaising with the Scottish Executive to provide examples of Housing Co-operatives who changed their constitutions to fit in withy the exemption granted in Scotland, and the problems the Scottish Executive has encountered.
2008 More news extracted from the minutes:
Following hassle from Tower Hamlets Council, Some Friends Housing Co-op got an email from the Dept for Communities and Local Govt (DCLG) which is responsible for housing. The DCLG confirmed to Some Friends that it is planning to implement the change in legislation and suggested they get in touch with the Friendly Housing Action lobby group – us! This is extremely encouraging and the first we’ve heard that it’s really likely to happen. Action: circulate the email to the list and get a copy up on the website
We think that Baroness Andrews (whom we met previously) has been reshuffled. Therefore we are going to set up a meeting with her replacement to re-introduce the group and find out what their timescale is for implementing the legislative change.
2008: It was also pointed out that many co-ops aren’t actually sure what the regulations are that they’ll have to meet under the new legislation. So here are a summary of the Fire Regs they'll have to meet:
Fire Risk Assessments Rather than local authorities enforcing 'one rule fits all' fire protection requirements; the onus is now on organizations, including HMO's* to draw up a fire risk assessment. This must show what steps have been taken:
· To reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to as low as reasonably practicable. · To decide what physical fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary to ensure the safety of people in your premises if a fire does start. Although there is no fixed set of standards that need to be met any longer, there is an expectation that the following will be in place in most circumstances
The intention is to create an unobstructed, well lit, smoke free corridor to allow everyone safe exit from the building - and a good early detection and warning system so they know they need to get out. Fire warning systems must be mains wired and "The fire warning sound levels should be loud enough to alert everyone, taking into account background noise.....In sleeping areas, to ensure that people are woken, a sufficient sound level should be achieved at the head of the bed (i.e. 75dBA). This will usually mean the fitting of a sounder device in each bedroom." Centralised panels are expected, so that a fire starting in a kitchen will be detected and those sleeping will be woken. If the HMO cannot demonstrate that it has done everything to reduce the risk to the lowest reasonably practicable then enforcement notices can be served. This is a very brief summary of the "Fire safety risk assessment" booklet for sleeping accommodation. You can download it from http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/fire/firesafetyrisk4 This page covers fire management, there are other standards that HMO's need to comply with. These can normally be viewed on the website of your local authority. * applies to all properties classed as HMO though there is some variation in requirements for under and over 3 stories. |