Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX. View directions
Contact: Tariq Aniemeka-Bailey
Email: tariq.aniemeka-bailey@croydon.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
23/22 |
Welcome and Introductions
Minutes:
The Panel Members, Councillors
and officers in attendance introduced themselves.
|
24/22 |
Disclosure of Interest
Members are invited to declare
any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable
and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any
item(s) of business on today’s agenda.
Minutes:
There were no disclosures at
this meeting.
|
25/22 |
Minutes of Previous Meeting PDF 94 KB
To
approve the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 11 October 2022
as an accurate record.
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held
on Tuesday, 11 October 2022 were agreed as an accurate
record.
Councillor Ponnuthurai stated
that the Panel had not received a copy of the Capital Works Program
that officers had agreed to circulate after the previous
meeting.
|
26/22 |
Recap of the Government Consultation/ Proposed Rent & Service Charges Increase for 2023-24/ Impact on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget for 2023-24 Onwards/ Average Rents Increase £/per week/ Average Service Charge Increase £/per week/ Support Council Available to Tenants/ Next Steps PDF 569 KB
Minutes:
The Chair introduced the item
and invited the Finance Manager to provide the Panel with a Recap
of the Government Consultation, Proposed Rent & Service Charges
Increase for 2023-24, Impact on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)
Budget for 2023-24 Onwards, Average Rents Increase £/per
week, Average Service Charge Increase £/per week, Support
Council Available to Tenants and the Next Steps.
The Finance Manager conducted a
presentation to the Panel, which can be found via the following
link:
https://civico.net/croydon/17179-Tenant-Leaseholder-Panel
In response to questions from
members, officers informed the Committee that:
- The proposed 7%
increase in rent was the maximum increase that was allowed
following a directive from the government in September
2022.
- The Housing Revenue
Account (HRA) was comprised of all the money that had been
collected from rent and service charges. The HRA was separate from
the general fund which had been affected by the Councils financial
pressures as it was ringfenced money for estates and Council
housing.
- The cost-of-living
crisis had affected the costs covered by the Council and the rent
had been increased to cover rising costs of utilities.
- The Council had not
been spending enough on maintenance for their housing stock. The
money generated from the 7% rent increase would be invested in the
maintenance of the Councils housing stock.
- Officers would report
back to the Tenant and Leaseholder Panel about how the money from
the rent increase would be spent.
- They would reach out
to residents who would not benefit from the increase to see if
there was a way for the Council to provide them with
support.
- Officer had data
which would enable them to target the correct residents and they
would circulate leaflets and conduct visits to
residents.
- The Council had bid
for financial support from the government to improve the insulation
in its housing stock.
- The 7% service charge
increase was specifically for tenants, leaseholders would be
charged for the services that they use and receive.
- Tenants service
charges were part of a pooling system, the money received was
pooled and allocated against the spend for the different services
they were provided with. Leaseholders were charged specifically for
the usage in the blocks that they lived in and there was a separate
team which calculated the leaseholder charges.
- Most of the
leaseholder charges were covered by their rent with the exception
being the charges for electricity, gas and grounds
maintenance.
- There had been an
increase of £1.8 million on the Councils utilities bills
which had been covered by the current year’s budget. The
money from the 7% rent increase would be put towards future budgets
to help cover these costs.
- The meeting had been
convened to keep the Tenant and Leaseholder Panel informed and to
ensure there was smooth communication between officers and
residents.
- Significant sums of
money would need to be invested in Councils housing stock over the
next decade in order to bring those properties up to
standard.
- Officers wanted to
hear from residents about the maintenance work that they wanted to
...
view the full minutes text for item 26/22
|
27/22 |
Any Other Business
To discuss any other business
at the discretion of the Chair.
Minutes:
|
28/22 |
Date of next meeting
Tuesday, 7 February 2023 at
6:30pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon
CR0 1NX.
Minutes:
It was confirmed that the next
meeting would be held on 7 February 2023 at 6:30pm in the Council
Chamber, Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon CR0 1NX.
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