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HOMEOWNER COUNCIL CHAIR’S REPORT

8 May 2019

The Homeowner Council is the ultimate consultative body established by Southwark Council to:

a) Represent the views of Southwark Council homeowners on issues relating to housing

services, the management of housing, and new housing management proposals, and

b) Consult its homeowners on matters relating to housing management, housing services

and policies.

The last year has been a very busy and with complex challenges across all operational areas.

First I want to tanks to all the members attending the meetings for their contribution,

commitment and constructive input.

With your help and support Homeowner Council’s AGM has:

Advised Southwark Council on the borough-wide view of homeowners on Resident

Involvement, Engagement, Enfranchisement, homeowner Satisfaction, Communication

Digitalization.

Developed a robust relationship with Council departments to find the best way to advice

on matters relating to housing management, housing services and how they affect

homeowners

Promoted the Homeowners Council activities to members, leaseholders/ freeholders

and 3rd parties

Improved the communication to the homeowners based on the homeowners feedback at

the conferences

Promoted activities that foster the involvement and participation of homeowners in

housing matters at the Homeowners Conferences

Fully engaged and significantly contributed to the largest Council’s restructuring project

regarding residents involvement

Brought Subject Matter Experts to advice the homeowners on issues of high interest.

HOC achievements since the last AGM:

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1. Continued and embedded the coherent team work with direct involvement from HOC

members in a decentralised the decision making process with increased members

empowerment

2. 100% Participation in Residents Involvement Review, total 10 meetings of 1.5-2.5h

each: 8 formal panel meetings, 2 meetings for extra information, 1 review meeting in a

very short period of time October 2018 – Jan 2019. HOC has produced evidence to

every meeting as well as alternative solutions of revamping the relationship between the

Council and its Residents

3. Increase and diversified attendance; prepared an induction proxy for the new members

sent once, yet to be routinized – on the action list APPENDIX 1

4. Sent personalised communication to the AHF chairs re their delegates participation

APPENDIX 2

5. Delivered two Conferences October 2018 and February 2019

6. Delivered in depth/ extensive Homeowners Conference feedback analysis for the March

conference by an HOC member, the October one has yet to be analysed APPENDIX 6

GIVE YOU A BALANCE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ISSUES AFECTING HOMEOWNERS

VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

74% 23% 2%

INFORM YOU ON YOUR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS AS A HOMEOWNER

VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

70% 28% 2%

INCREASE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE COUNCIL'S DUTY TO IMPROVE HOUSINGVERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

45% 45% 10%

INCREASE KNOWLEDGE OF THE COUNCIL'S MAJOR WORKS PROCEDURES

VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

49% 44% 8%

INCREASE UNDERSTANDING OF THE COUNCIL'S COMMITMENT TO IMPROVE SERVICES TO YOU

VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

33% 55% 13%

ENCOURAGE YOU TO ATTEND FUTURE HOC EVENTS

VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

80% 20% 0%

HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF HOC VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

60% 38% 2%

ENCOURAGE YOU TO WORK WITH HOC REPRESENTATIVE IN YOUR AREA / COMMUNITY VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

43% 48% 10%

ADDRESS TOPICS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO YOU VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

67% 33% 0%

PROVIDE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS YOU WANTED TO ASK

VERY MUCH A LITTLE NOT AT ALL

62% 38% 0%

7. Supported Citizens Advice Biro to improve the reporting and followed up over 4 moths

the delay in payment which was done in February 2019.

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8. Routinized the Councillors campaigns to promote the HOC/ CAB support to the

Council’s Fairer Future Strategy APPENDIX 3

9. Followed up a long outstanding request to provide the statistic of the leaseholders who

contacted the residents involvement email address APPENDIX 4

10. Prepared the Budget in line with the Council’s and HOC strategic priorities, however the

budget had not been approved. HOC requested a meeting with Cllr Cryan and M Scorer

11. Provided Voluntary Enfranchisement advice from Leasehold Experts Limited and Olden

Property Services too.

However some of the actions planned in the Strategy document had not been executed or

delayed due to the Council’s required resource allocation issue not yet solved despite the

available funds in the budget. HOC required a resolution on the matter as currently the HOC

members have to work extra time to solve operational issues.

A special thank you to the Vice-Chair Elisabeth Errington who stepped up the involvement of

the Vice-Chair position, took over the agenda setting responsibility in the process of

democratising the HOC’s activities and shadowed the Chair position.

None of the above could have been achieved without the many hours, days, evenings

and weekend’s hard work of the HOC members.

Thanks you also to the council officers John McCormack, George Changua, Louis Rotsos,

Carla Bates and Eva Gomez.

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APPENDIX 1

Subject: Welcome on Board Home Owners Coucil induction pack Dear new Home Owner’s Council Member, Thank you so much for becoming a HOC member and to those of you who have been able to attend meetings so far. We are all volunteer leaseholders and we represent the 17,000 Southwark leaseholders/ homeowners. I hope that you found it interesting, engaging and motivating to be become an ambassador of the leaseholders in your area and their voice in the engagement with the council. I’m thrilled to have you on board and I was impressed with your contribution even from the first attendance and can’t wait to see more of your contributions in the next meetings. To help you get involved, please find attached:

1. HOC Constitution and code of conduct 2. Report summarising the current housing engagement structure in

Southwarkhttp://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s65436/Resident%20involvement%20paper.pdf

3. List Of the current Working Groups 4. List of the meetings to the end of the year 5. The last Leaseholders Conference feedback results 6. The minutes from the past meetings are on the website –

https://www.southwark.gov.uk/home-owners-services/homeowners-council?chapter=2 7. Information on My Southwark Home Owners Agency http://www.southwark.gov.uk/home-

owners-services/mysouthwark-home-owners-agency-services 8. On line information on the Home Owner Council http://www.southwark.gov.uk/home-owners-

services/homeowners-council 9. Information on the Southwark Citizens Advice Bureau advice service for

leaseholdershttp://www.citizensadvicesouthwark.org.uk/projects-and-services/homeowners-advice/

Should you need any assistance or have any questions or comments about HOC please feel free to contact us. We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting! Kindest Regards, Ina

Chair Southwark Home Owners Council Attachments Constitution

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APPENIX 2

Subject: XXX AHF Homeowner Council Representation

Dear XXX & XXX, My name is Ina Negotia and I am the Chair of Southwark Homeowner Council (HOC). I am, like you, a Southwark resident and volunteer in my role as HOC chair. It is important that all areas of Southwark are represented at HOC, as not only is HOC a consultative body for leaseholder-related issues but it also make decisions on how the Home Owner Fund is spent for the benefit of Southwark’s leaseholders. Our records show that your delegate to HOC has not attended any of the last 3 HOC meetings. Nor have they given apologies for non-attendance. As a result, they are, in accordance with the HOC Constitution, deemed by HOC to have resigned as delegates for your area. Our records also show that Walworth West currently have 1x vacant deputy position to HOC. The lack of representation from Walworth West on HOC deprives homeowners in your area of the right to representation in relation to important matters for London Borough of Southwark leaseholders. Such matters include service charge billing and calculation, leasehold extension, leasehold enfranchisement, help and advice services for leaseholders. I would be very grateful, therefore, if you would please re-elect representatives at your next meeting and notify me of who they are, so that they can be included in the distribution list and invited to meetings. If you are having difficulties electing a representative, for example because no leaseholders currently attend your Forum, or because no one wishes to stand, please speak to John McCormack, Tenant and Homeowner Involvement Team Leader so that he can look into how the council and HOC can support you and your forum to attract interest from leaseholders. John’s details are as follows: Email: John.McCormack@southwark.gov.uk Phone: 020 7525 7544 You can also contact me directly, using the email address above (in cc), and I will be happy to help you. Below, I have added a few lines which might help YOU to explain at your next AHF meeting what HOC is, and the benefits of taking part: The Homeowner Council is an advisory body established by Southwark Council to represent the views of Southwark Council homeowners on issues relating to housing services. These include matters relating to housing management, housing services and policies. It represents the 17,000-odd homeowners of Southwark council. Five main constituents are represented by the HOC to ensure that all aspects of homeownership are covered. The constituents are (1) Area Housing Forums, (2) street properties, (3) freeholders with service charge obligations, (4) non-resident leaseholders/landlords and (5) Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs). There is also representation from properly constituted homeowners

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groups. Over the last few years, HOC has considered various matters on homeowner issues and has influenced the way the council deals with homeowner matters. Some examples are services charges, major works, and rights and responsibilities as homeowners. HOC also makes decisions on how to spend the Home Owners Fund, which the council makes available every year to support leaseholder-led initiatives, such as an independent homeowners information service dedicated to homeowners of Southwark which HOC is currently setting up. Thanks in advance for your assistance and your ongoing support. We look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Ina Negotia Chair, LB Southwark Homeowner Council

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APPENIX 3

Subject: Homeowner Council - Quarterly Communication

Dear Councillor, As Chair of the London Borough of Southwark Homeowner Council (HOC), I am delighted to present to you the first in what will be an ongoing series of quarterly communications to elected members. HOC is keen to open up dialogue with members, and to provide you with information regarding our activities. We are also keen to hear from you your feedback on HOC and its work. HOC is the council’s principal consultative body for the purposes of engaging with homeowners on policy and practice issues that affect them as homeowners. The monthly meetings of HOC provide a forum for lively discussion and debate, as the minutes of our meetings testify: https://www.southwark.gov.uk/housing/housing-community-involvement/homeowner-council?chapter=2 In March of this year, HOC held the latest in a series of conferences for homeowners at the William Booth College, Denmark Hill. A copy of the conference agenda is attached for your information. Also attached are some photographs taken of the conference. Addressed by (amongst others) Michael the conference heard presentations from specially-invited speakers on a range of topics of interest and concern to homeowners, including service charge collection, compulsory purchase, leasehold extension and the rights and responsibilities of leaseholders. (A copy of the presentations is attached for your reference.) So as you can see, we are a busy groups of people. We will keep you updated on our progress in our quarterly communications with you. In the meantime, we will be delighted to hear from you. Best wishes, Ina Negotia Chair, Homeowner Council

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APPENIX 4 Subject: Resident Involvement in- box Homeowner Enquiries 01.04.18 to 31.03.19

Type of enquiry Number

FENSA Certificate 1

Repair 3

Website 1

Insurance 1

Section 20 2

Pram shed hire 1

Canada Water Regeneration 1

Britain Thinks Consultation 6

Service Charge 2

Re-mortgage 1

Major Works 3

Notice of Transfer 1

Lease Extension 1

HOC 10

Conference October 2018 116

Conference March 2019 223

Total 373

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APPENIX 5

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issues / topics you would like addressed at future events ?

Compulsory purchase affecting Southwark leaseholders.  Funding minorities. Future of homeowner council. Action plan and achievement for past present and future years.  

continue to cover a varied range of topics.

how southwark is training its staff to be more sensitive to the customer and a bit more respectful

How to find good builders and plumbers

Implementation of the website 

lease extention

lease extention advice and recent good and bad cases

lease extentions, lease purchase , major works explanation

Leasehold / homeowner qualified women, plumbers, builders 

major woeks communication in council department

maybe take issues in advance so they can be addressed more fully at the meeting.

more information on serice charge

peter john, louise turff, stephanie cryan

Reactive planning & keeping up to date . 

Roles and responsibilities of other departments within the council and other organisations such as “TMO”- what are they ?

Service Charges 

Service Charges and Section 20 

Sessions on challenging the council's failings in services such as heating in the case of winter 2018 / 2019 and leaks from above

southwark council selection process for major works contractors

southwark should be a leader nationwide in terms of major works charging sector

the council should take away tangible actions

update on Lloyd's £146,200 Boll !! Ways to look at service charge, break them down, fully understand them and make claims against them

Updating all the information regarding lease extensions in resident involvement 

WHAT DID YOU MOST ENJOY ABOUT THE DAY ?

1-1 supportive. Conversations with Joe & Sonya to support me to plan next year And to keep up to date with leaseholder problems. 

All

all apeakers and confrence very useful

All good particularly new housing directive reference to trying to change the culture of LBS.  

all interesting particularly michael scorer and amanda gourlay

Amanda gourlay on lease . Martin Botd

Approachable advice

Thanks for organising

Fantastic opportunity to gain insight into resources available. It was Free? Wow!

Having attended previous homeowner council conferences day event was much clearer and efficient subjects covered all of my/our issues. 

Highlighted lots of issues which are relevant to all leaseholders.

homeowner legal rights and lease extention

information mostly clear and concise

interactive discussion and opportunity to ask questions

It was all very informative 

learn about being southwark leaseholder

Learning about length of the lease 

legal aspects for charges and lease extention

legal rights and obligations of homeowners + Q&A

meeting other homeowners

meeting other leaseholders and sharing experiences

michael scorer .

Michael scorer honestly. Factual, good quality speakers 

Q&A session

Q&A with Michael Scorer

talking to leaseholders and listen to speakers all relevant information

the food & Martin Boyd

the quality of information and its delivery

The variety of the knowledgeable speakers the speakers of LAS and the relevant breakthrough awarded. 

This is not actually an enjoyable process. If all was good I will not have reason to be there the questions asked by leaseholders showed the level of incompetence

To hear responses from speakers directly regarding updates and responding to points raised in previous conferences

understanding more about the council and my lease

Update of information from last conference different perspective put forward by different speakers. LAS2000 and Leasehold Knowledge - good. 

venue was good. Speakers good. Introductions good. 

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