A report seeking agreement for the minor amendments to existing policies, that are required under the Regulator of Social Housing Standards, and their expectations of Landlords.

The Committee received a report that sought agreement for minor amendments to existing policies, that were required under the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) Standards, and their expectations of Landlords. The policies were based on best practice examples and proposed no changes to the current service offered to tenants. However, the published policies ensured that the Council as a Landlord was clearly setting out their obligations to tenants, managing the expectation of tenants, and improving ease of access of information for tenants. A copy of the RHS Standards was attached to the report at Appendix 3.

The report proposed that two policies be amended to reflect best practice standards, and ensure the Council met the requirements of the standards as set out by the Regulator of Social Housing (Appendix 3), whilst continuing to meet all current legal requirements. Both policies were designed to protect tenants, uphold community safety, and provide the Council with appropriate mechanisms to respond to evolving challenges.

The proposed changes were summarised as follows:

The Rent Recovery Policy (attached at Appendix 1) had been taken out of the larger Corporate Debt Policy (2020) to form a standalone policy. This was required to reflect the detailed ways in which the Council collected rent, recovered arrears and set out the ways in which tenants were supported early on to prevent enforcement action and help tenants to repay their rent arrears. There were no proposed changes to the way the Council would collect rent and recover arrears, but this standalone policy would make it easier for tenants to access the information.

The Tenancy Policy (attached at Appendix 2) had been updated to reflect changes in the types of tenancies offered and clarified that the default was introductory and secure tenancies, in line with best practices. The policy also set out changes to the way the Council managed succession, which had been updated to include assignment. Assignment was a legal process by which a tenancy was transferred to someone else, who must meet the eligibility criteria. Social housing landlords must have this in place to aligns with their legal obligations.

The report explained that, once agreed the policies would be made available via the relevant pages of the Council’s website and would also be proactively advertised with tenants and shared with the teams that delivered these services or worked closely with Landlord Services. The policies would be reviewed every two years, or sooner if triggered by legislative changes, changes to consumer standards or the identification of further best practice.

Resolved -   That the changes to the following policies be agreed for publication:

·       Rent Recovery Policy – This had been separated out from the corporate debt recovery policy to provide clarity for tenants;

·       The Tenancy Policy – This had been updated to reflect the types of tenancies the Council offered.