Decisions

1.    Authority to use a Contract Exemption as detailed;

 

2.    Authority to award and enter into any necessary agreements with Gala Lights

 

To call off and award a contract to Banner Group Limited from the Crown Officer Supplies (COS) Framework RM 3723 for Stationery Services on a 1 year contract with the option to extend for up to a further period of 1 years (1 + 1) at a total value of £18k (£9k per annum).

 

Cabinet NOTED the Local Government Ombudsman Annual Review Letter 2019/20.

Cabinet NOTED the year end forecast and financial position for the General Fund and Special Expenses at 30th June 2019.

Cabinet NOTED the financial position on the Capital Programme to 31 July and year end forecast.

Cabinet:

 

1)    APPROVED the ‘Five-years’ housing land supply and housing trajectory’ report;

2)    NOTED that a moderate detrimental impact in housing delivery was expected in 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23, due to the impacts of Covid-19.

Andrew Cotton, Director for Housing and Communities introduced the report, the purpose of which was to seek approval to adopt a formal Rent and Service Charge Setting Policy for the Council’s landlord function, which would confirm the Council’s approach to rent setting, providing clarity for partners, tenants and leaseholders.

 

Mr. Cotton highlighted that the Policy recognised the importance of the rent and service charge income, which funded the services tenants and leaseholders received.  Due to statute and regulation the Council’s options on rent setting were limited.  The Policy provided a framework of principles for service charge setting and recovery, based around transparency and reasonableness.

 

Mr. Cotton highlighted consideration to the financial impact on tenants, the Council’s approach to recovery and the summary of responses to consultation.  Following approval of the Policy, preparation for the next financial year (2021/22) would start.

 

During discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         Members thanked Mr. Cotton and his team for their work.

·         The Council’s approach on this issue had been well considered, fair to tenants (e.g. those paying electricity charges were benefiting from the provision) and consistently inclusive and consultative.

·         The Council needed to balance compassion for tenants with care for its housing stock to ensure it provided for future tenants.

·         This approach placed the HRA in a more sustainable position to enable the Council to provide good housing to those in need.

 

Cabinet:

 

1)    NOTED the report and the responses received to the consultation on the Policy;

 

2)    APPROVED the proposed Rent and Service Charge Setting Policy with effect from April 2021;

 

3)    APPROVED the continued work on Service Charges;

 

4)    DELEGATED to the Director for Housing and Communities:

 

a)    Decision-making in relation to Service Charge de-pooling and disaggregation and consultation with affected tenants and leaseholders;

b)    Authority to make minor amendments to the Policy if required by future changes to legislation and regulation.

 

 

 

 

Reason for the decision

 

Each year local authority housing landlords must set rents and budgets for the forthcoming financial year and provide each individual tenant with a statutory notice of any proposed rent change.  The Council has established practice in respect of rent setting and its discretion is limited by regulation but no clear policy statement.

 

In relation to service charges, the Council has established custom and practice in recharging tenants and leaseholders for the additional property-related services they receive but no clear policy statement.  Section 9 of the Policy draws together and makes explicit the principles the Council adopts in terms of service charges collection and calculation:

 

a) It is right the Council collects income to pay for the services it provides.

b) The Council will act lawfully and reasonably in the setting and recovery of service charges.

c) Service charges will be de-pooled i.e. they will be payable only by those tenants or leaseholders who receive additional services.

d) Service charge costs will be calculated on a block-by-block basis, unless it is impracticable to separate costs to that level of detail. If that is the case, costs will be aggregated (i.e. the total cost of the service is to be divided by the number of properties that benefit from the service to calculate the charge).

e) Information will be provided on service charges, including the costs that the charges cover, how charges are budgeted, and how increases/decreases calculated.

f) Tenants and leaseholders will be involved in the procurement of contracts for the services they pay for.

 

The adoption of these principles with effect from April 2021 provides a clear framework for work in the remainder of the financial year 2020/21 to de-pool and where appropriate disaggregate property-related service charges.  This will enable preparation for the annual charges to be considered and reflected as part of the normal decision making processes.  This work will involve further consultation with affected tenants and leaseholders.

Cabinet NOTED the financial position on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) at 30 June 2020 and the year end forecast.

To call off and award a contract to All pay Limited from the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) Framework for Electronic Payment Services on a 2 year contract with the option to extend for up to a further period of 2 years (1 + 1) at a value of £48,000.

 

In accordance with the Constitution, motions on notice must be signed by at least two Members and be about matters for which the Council has a responsibility or which affect the Melton Borough. The following three motions met the constitutional requirement and were considered by the Council.

 

To approve minor amendments to the Corporate Property Disposal Policy

Approval of minor amendment of the Corporate Property Disposal Policy as set out within the appendix to this decision record