| ITEM |
| Attendees: Salina Sandhu (Chair) Izzy Olszewska (Secretary), Duncan Aitkins (HSM) Judith Mascarenhas (Maintenance Officer), Pat Mahoney, Isaac Mensah, Yemane Tesfaldet, Violet Taylor, Cherry Ann Brown, Khalid Obeirne, Shakira Mantell |
| 1.0: Introduction and welcome by the Chair |
| 2.0: Apologies for Absence Issac Mensa (Treasurer) |
| 3.0: Minutes of the AGM 2023 The members did not have any comments about the previous minutes so signed off by Chair |
| 4.0: Two-person occupancy update The case is with the solicitor and the tenants in question are being issued a notice to quit. The tenants received a letter two years ago before COVID which gave them two years leeway, to help them find accommodation without the threat of eviction. Some of the members in question received feedback from other members that they would be allowed to stay in the co-op as two-person occupants which was never the case. Salina in the January meeting told the members to make sure they were paying two-person residency for council tax, some of the members took this to mean they were being allowed to stay. Duncan raised that if you defraud the council in any way, it is a criminal offence, he sent communication to all members about this. The Co-op has always been for single people, all the two-person occupants knew this when they joined. In the past, the board was unable to threaten to evict the 2-person residents. Salina raised that if someone’s situation changes and you become a couple, you then find new accommodation which these members did not do. Some members were reluctant to decide as this involves people’s lives. There is some confusion as there are 5 x two-bedroom flats. Residents are entitled to have one child in the two person properties. The two-bedroom houses were previously shared between two residents but there were issues with fighting etc. Salina said the couples raised some valid points such as that Brent would give the couples a one-bedroom house so why were they not allowed to stay with Arneway? But the legal side has taken over and decided for Arneway. All the 2-person occupants are entitled to protest their notice to quit. Our solicitor will send a notice to quit to the tenants in question, we must wait four weeks to find out if any of the 2-person residents want to go to court. One couple has a child and the only way they can get new accommodation is if they have a notice to quit. There is a company the office is in contact with, who can help the couples, but the only available accommodation is outside of London. Network Housing has been taken over by Sovereign which has over 90,000 homes. Westminster Housing Cooperation has been taken over by Dominion. One members asked if they could join the board as observers and join the Arneway’s property waiting list. The Arneway waiting list has around 35 people waiting for properties. Shakira said that the two person residents have fired back with accusations such as people jumping the allocation queue, and properties being given to family members. Shakira raised that everyone seems to know personal matters and that perhaps the maintenance people are involved in this. Arneway owns its properties so they cannot be taken away unless we do not meet the governance requirements. If Brent Council finds out about the two-person residents they can say we are acting against our own rules, and the co-op can be disbanded. For the Suffolk Road development, a separate nomination process is needed due to Brent giving the grant, however, they will still have to come through our allocations board. |
| 5.0: Pest Control Policy update The Pest Control Policy update will be in the handbook we will not have a separate document for this. |
| 6.0: Communication between office and Board Duncan thinks it is important to keep correspondence between the board and management confidential. If any information is leaked, then Duncan will not give information to board members. Duncan marks some emails as confidential for privacy and GDPR reasons such as if an email is about a board member. Duncan raised that subletting could ruin the co-op. If a member knows that someone is subletting, and they don’t inform the office this puts Arneway in a very difficult position. For example, if a member is ill and someone is living with them to care for them, Brent can help with this. |
| 7.0: Appraisals for Board Salina went through all the timings with the board and ensured everyone understood. Salina asked if everyone received an email from Alan which they confirmed. Salina handed out hard copies of the appraisal forms for members who did not want to do it online. |
| 8.0: Security at Properties Shakira said many people in her residence have the front door key but do not live in the property which is a security issue. She also raised that there is an issue with homeless people at her property with them loitering. Judith suggested they put a camera at the property, and Duncan raised that a notice needs to be issued. When the CCTV is installed the data controller needs to be Judith and not a Arneway member. An external company also needs to install the camera. |
| 9.0: Complaints current and Future There have recently been many complaints made. The complaints policy needs to be updated as it hasn’t been updated for some time. We have never had to give out compensation before or had any direct complaints about the office. Salina raised that a lot of policies need to be updated. Action the email about complaints will be forwarded again. There are currently 54 policies in place. When someone joins the co-op, they get 13 policies but recently 2 more have been added. The ombudsmen are encouraging tenants to make complaints due to issues such as Grenfell and Rochdale. In the past, they were very reticent to take people’s complaints on board, but this has since changed. Salina said adverts are asking if people are unhappy with their housing association like PPI adverts. We should encourage people to speak to Arneway before making a formal complaint. If a complaint is made the ombudsman will ask for a paper trail of how the complaint was handled. Salina said there is a member who said they have multiple complaints. Salina sent them the complaints policy but did not hear anything back. The two residents who are making complaints have not followed the complaints policy and went directly to their solicitors. The ombudsmen said they would carry on investigating the case until the residents have stopped pursuing their cases. Duncan has said that two-person occupancy and complaints have taken a lot of time and as a result, the 2 person occupants rents are frozen. Rent statements are delayed due to Chics software being down and person in charge back from holidays week commencing 23rd October 23. Duncan has said that two-person occupancy and complaints have taken a lot of time and as a result rent statements are delayed. |
| 10.0: Compensation (Draft policy to circulate) |
| 11.0: Risk Management There are no risk management plans if Salina, Duncan, Judith for example cannot carry out her duties. No back up plan. There needs to be someone to take over if something happens to a member. There is currently no backup on the board. Salina told Duncan that accountants could take over the rent. Shakira suggested that someone can shadow members to learn. Yemane suggested that we can reach out to other housing associations and see what they suggest. Duncan said we are part of a housing association consortium and can ask for their advice. |
| 12.0: Ed Presentation on Pods, Decarbonisation White Paper update The pod initiative began 3-4 months ago on the back of the Suffolk Road project. It was based on a conversation on how to provide quick accommodation for homeless people. Net zero is the idea that whatever we do we do not increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The idea is that by 2050 the world should achieve net zero this also covers buildings. At least 30% of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere next year will be from buildings. Beattie Pasivhaus Company have produced small prefabricated dwellings and has won several awards. Pasivhaus has found that if a building is built with little air leakage then the building can be warmed just by our body heat. There is MMC that we are looking at it is a panelised modern method of construction, where various components are manufactured and brought to the site and constructed. The shell and some of the services and appliances are included. There are no bathtubs just a shower. Furniture, connections to services the groundwork and the foundation and landscaping are not included. Arneway will be responsible for these. There are optional extras such as Pasivhaus low energy certification. The lifespan of a building is around 50 years. The price for the unit we are interested in is £99,000. Judith raised that the lifespan is 50 years, but this is just for planning purposes they will last much longer. The pod is constructed out of a timber frame the bigger the gap between the frames the more insulation you can put in. There will also be cables and services in the gap. The counter effect of having a gap between the frames is that there is less space for the property next to it. The ceiling will be made in the same manner with a flat roof. There will also be solar panels on top of the roof. Salina raised the issue of climate change and how the properties will be affected. The government has added regulations for cooling and there will be a need for shading. We may need to speak to some properties to ask for access to the construction site, or there are some nearby basketball and tennis courts. The rules of the National Described Space Standards are that each dwelling needs to be 50sqm with 1.5 sqm of storage. The proposed properties are however only 39 sqm. There is a risk that Brent Council may come back and say the properties are too small. Ed needs permission from the board to go to the council and say to them that most homeless people cannot look after a big property. The planned properties at 44 Manor Park will also have a communal garden. Supplemental Planning Document is important it covers points such as how far neighbouring windows must be next to each other. We will try and comply with as many rules as possible the only one we do not meet is the 50sqm rule. Judith said this scheme has been available in Europe for many years and that the UK has been slow in its adoption. Last year Ed presented the SDF programme to decarbonate certain products and to help deal with heat loss. Before we can put in heat pumps, we need to ensure that each property is not losing heat and to cut out waste. Duncan is very keen to go electric, but Ed said we need to get properties to be energy efficient. We can then investigate going electric. There is no point in going electric if the energy is being wasted. Ed said that this has become more of an issue due to global warming. The maximum grant for a Band D dwelling is £10,000. The government has announced it will create a new wave but has not yet announced the guidelines. The project should mean that energy demand should not be more than 90kwh/m2/year, currently, the energy demand is about 2.3-3 times this amount The government chose 90kwh/m2 as the amount that makes sense to install a heat pump, otherwise, the heat pump may not make sense. Heat pumps work better in properties with low energy usage. The minimum size of the bid was 100 dwellings between band D and F, this is why we were part of a consortium that involved Cos-Way Irish Housing Association, Brockley Tenant’s Cooperative etc. Unfortunately, Brockley Tenant’s Cooperative pulled out of the bid. Another housing association CCH won a bid for £1.2 million but a housing association pulled out which caused a shortfall in properties. They came to Arneway, and we submitted 25 of our properties. They have since decided to withdraw and apply for wave 2. Ed thinks it is a good idea for us to bide our time and apply for wave 2 this means we will not rush our application. In the pilot study, the government would give 2/3 of the money we would need to put forward the remaining 1/3. We need to wait until mid-October to find out more details about wave 2.2. Guidelines will be published about how we can bid. Arneway has only 25 properties in band D Ed recommends we join forces with CCH and make a bid together. |
| 13.0: Dates of meetings 2024 |
| 14.0: AOB Shakira said that she did not see lots of people at the General meeting. Duncan said that there is an involvement policy which requires members to attend at least two meetings. Duncan raised that English isn’t the first language for all members, one member could not speak or write English. Duncan suggested we have smaller meetings with fewer members where they can give their feedback about the co-op. Judith has offered to teach English to members, and how to use the Internet but no members have taken her up on this offer. Salina said that she thinks the policy of involvement must be circulated to all members. Salina raised that we need a vice chair if anything happens to key members of the board. Salina said that she did not realise how much work the role of chair would be. Judith also raised that this has been a very difficult year for Arneway with the two-person occupancy issue, complaints and Arneway being taken to court. |
| End of meeting 3.30pm |
