How would it offer the community options on issues wider than housing? Could the Community Gateway model tackle the wider regeneration agenda?
As a housing organisation whose primary purpose will be to provide social housing, a Community Association set up using the Community Gateway model could support non-housing issues that led in some way to improvements in the quality of life for tenants of the estate.

It is now widely recognised that improvements to homes need to go hand in hand with tackling the wider issues that go to make up a local neighbourhood. So there will be a number of areas where the community association would be expected to resource wider issues, such as tackling anti-social behaviour and improving the local environment.

Where a community identifies issues that are not directly part of a community landlord’s role, it would work in partnership with other organisations, such as the local authority, Sure Start, the police, local schools and others to ensure that opportunities are provided to local communities. Most other organisations now recognise the importance of involving local people in decision-making, and an association set up using the Community Gateway model would be a catalyst, where one is needed, to bringing organisations together with local communities to tackle issues important to communities. There is some experience of this multi-agency approach in the area from the Neighbourhood Management pilot that has been running here.

A Community Association set up using the Community Gateway model would also be in a position to help communities apply for funding to tackle these issues.

How would the wider community “control” the association’s Board of Management?
A community association’s residents would elect the resident board members and would be in a position to influence decision making. The board, including the resident members, would agree structures for the wider community to feed into the decision making process.

It would be expected that a community association board would ensure that it was fully aware of its tenant membership's views before making key decisions, and it would want to ensure that the reasons behind its decisions were explained to the tenants.

As a Community Association is about working in local communities to enable local decision-making about neighbourhood issues, there would need to be a route for non-tenants to participate.

Whilst the Community Association would be set up to own, manage and/or provide social housing, a long term possibility might be that a Gateway might provide services to people from all tenures in a community - i.e. managing other housing association homes, services to home owners, services to private tenants and their landlords. If such an approach were taken, this would also be a reason to enable non-tenants to participate.


TENANTS RIGHTS

Would I have to move?
No – everyone will keep their home.

However if the improvement work being carried out to your home was likely to cause severe disruption or be much more expensive to do while the tenant lived there temporary alternative accommodation may be made available.

Would my tenancy agreement change?
Yes - it stops being a “secure tenancy” and becomes an “assured tenancy”. Both are protected by Acts of Parliament but there are differences. Tenants would have additional contractual rights. There is a guide to the differences below.

At-a-glance guide

Rights	Secure tenancy with Lewisham Council	Enhanced assured tenancy with Community Association
Right to Buy with discount	Yes	Yes – Current council tenants would have the Preserved Right To Buy
Right to Acquire	No	Yes – this gives new tenants the opportunity to purchase their homes
Succession – the right to pass on your home	Yes	Yes
Transfer & Exchange	Yes	Yes
Right to sub-let or take in lodgers	Yes	Yes
The right to repair	Yes	Yes
The right to carry out improvements	Yes	Yes
The right to be consulted	Yes	Yes
The right to information	Yes	Yes
The right to manage	Yes	Not as a statutory right but any tenant management proposals would be considered by the community association and existing arrangement honoured.
The right not to have the rights in the tenancy agreement changed without your consent	No	Yes

 

Would I still have the Right To Buy?
Any tenant that has the right with the Council they will still be able to buy their home, through what is known as the Preserved Right to Buy, from the new community landlord. This would apply even if they later move to another property owned by the community landlord.

As with the Council, the exceptions are properties in sheltered schemes and some of those specially adapted for disabled people.


What is the “Right To Acquire”?
Any new tenants after the date of the transfer would have the “right to acquire” which provides a one-off fixed grant rather than the scaled discount available under the preserved right to buy. This grant is usually less generous than the preserved right to buy and cannot be combined with the right to buy.

Will tenants still get a discount?

Discounts built up over the years would transfer with tenants and would continue to grow while a tenant of the new community landlord. Though there is a slightly different way of working out the minimum price.

Would tenants still be able to pass on their home?
The same rules governing passing on a tenant’s home would apply.  However, tenants who have already succeeded to a property (i.e. had it passed on to them by a relative when they died) would benefit because they would sign a new tenancy agreement that would ignore any previous successions. This would mean that, in effect, they would gain a new automatic right to pass on their home

What rights would I lose?
Tenants would lose the "right to manage" which is only available to Council tenants. This is the right to set up a group of resident to take over the management of their homes. No group of tenants in Lewisham have ever exercised this right.


What is there to stop the new landlord from changing tenants’ rights in the future?

It cannot, by law, change tenants’ rights or obligations as set down in the tenancy agreement without the individual tenants affected agreeing to it in writing. The only exception is the annual rent and service charge increase.


What would the new community landlord do about neighbour nuisance and anti-social behaviour?

Full details of the new community landlord’s approach to anti-social behaviour will be included in the formal consultation document that will be sent to tenants in Autumn 2006. However, it is clear that this is an important issue for people and the management board will want to take a firm line on these problems.

What about leaseholders?
The Leaseholders rights, which are set out in their leases as well as other rights set down in legislation, cannot be changed by the transfer. The same is true about any payments that they have to make.

The main difference is that the new community landlord would become the freeholder rather than the Council. As now, leaseholders would have to make contributions to capital programmes that benefited their homes. All leaseholders have received a letter setting out the situation in detail.

RENTS & MONEY MATTERS

What will happen to rents?
If tenants vote in favour of the transfer they would be paying similar rents as they would if they were with the council. Government rules say that annual rents for similar properties in an area should be at similar levels whether tenants are renting from the council or Registered Social Landlord such as the Phoenix Community Housing.

The process of closing the gap between council and housing association rents is know as “rent convergence” and has been going on since 2002. By 2012 that process will be complete, so that Council tenants and RSL tenants living in similar sized properties in the same location will pay the same rent. This is referred to as the ‘target rent’.

The government also uses a formula to limit the amount rents can increase each year. So whether the housing stock was managed by the Council or a newly established community landlord, rents would have to reach the ‘target rent’ by 2012 and any annual rent increase would be limited by the government rules.

Precise details of the new rent system will be available at the time of the offer document / formal consultation. There will certainly be no big increase if transfer takes place.

Will tenants pay extra rents for improvements?
No. The Government requires that all social housing including council housing be improved to a decent standard by 2010. The target rent for all social tenants will reflect these improved property values. So, any improvements identified in the consultation document that would be done by the new community landlord will not result in additional rent increases.

What level would rents start at after the transfer?
The rent level charged by the Council at the time of transfer would carry over until the next April rent rise.

Would tenants be able to pay their rent in the usual way?
It is anticipated that tenants would be able to pay their rent in the same way if transfer goes ahead. This could include direct debit, at a Post Office or Paypoint agent, by standing order from your bank account.

What would happen to housing benefit?
A tenant’s entitlement to claim housing benefit would not be affected by transfer. Applications would continue to be made to the Council and the Council would continue to make the payments. Advice would be available at the Council's offices and informally from the new community landlord.

REPAIRING MODERNISING AND IMPROVING THE HOMES

What would happen to the repairs service?
All repairs that are currently carried out by the Council, would become the new community landlord’s responsibility.

What happens to the repair service up to and during the transfer?
The repairs service would continue as it currently operates until the homes are transferred to the new community landlord.

Would tenants get modernisation and improvements?
One of the reasons for looking at transfer is that the Council is unable to carry out the necessary programme of improvements to the stock. A stock condition survey was commissioned by the Council which showed that:

• £275 million is needed to carry out the minimum amount of work needed to meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard.
• The Council estimates it would be about £76 million short of meeting the minimum Decent Homes Standard, and £184 million short of meeting the higher standard which residents have said they want.