Report by the Corporate Manager – Housing Options and the Corporate Manager – BMBS.
Minutes:
Sue Lister, Corporate Manager – Housing Options, introduced Paper BOS/17/18 and began by informing Members that voids time in 2015/16 was 43 days, but were reduced 29 days in 2016/17. These voids times included both major and standard repairs.
She continued that recently there had been some substantial changes, which included the integration of IT systems, a review of the trade teams, the introduction of a single IT platform in December 2016 and Babergh and Mid Suffolk Building Services (BMBS) in April. Continuity in working practices across the two councils were also being established, along with allocation of new roles with in the teams, and therefore it was taking time for the teams to be fully operational.
Members asked where the BMBS team would be based and Justin Newton – Wright, Corporate Manager – BMBS, said the main depot in the Babergh District would be at Great Wenham, which maximised efficiency for the teams working in this area, but teams could also be sent to other locations if needed. The base for Mid Suffolk District was to be situated at Creeting Road in Stowmarket.
Some Members asked if BMBS’ vans were leased and if this was more cost efficient than for the Council to maintain its own vans. The officer responded that it was far more cost effective to lease the fleet, and that the cost was included in the business plan for the Housing Revenue Account. The cost was also detailed in the business plans for BMBS, which was currently undergoing a revision but once completed the Corporate Manager would provide the cost for leasing the vans to the Committee.
Members wanted to know why properties selected for sale took so long to be sold. The response was that this depended on the property market and that properties put on the property market were often in need of substantial repair, which could make them less attractive to potential buyers. However, until recently the main reason had been the committee cycle process which had delayed the sales. Further questioning on the average time, it took to sell a property, resulted in that the officer was to provide this information to Members.
It was established that the 2016/17 void time of 29 days had not been possible to maintain in the first quarter of 2017/18 and were likely to remain higher in the second quarter of 2017/18. This was due to the lengthy process of conducting Asbestos surveys for properties, which could take up to 2 – 3 weeks to organise for the initial inspection. The Corporate Manger – BMBS explained that once a property became vacant, a predetermination survey for Refurbishment and Demolishing (R and D survey) was conducted in the empty property to determine if any asbestos was present. The was the correct Health and Safety procedure, and only proper sampling and testing of potential asbestos could determine if the property was safe.
The Corporate Manager – BMBS said that the Flagship Group and had produced new voids procedures and continued that when a tenancy lease was terminated, the council made a visit to determine, which repairs the tenant was responsible for. Once an agreement was reached, a deadline was set for the tenant to complete repairs, however if the work was not completed by the time of the termination of the lease, the lease would be extended and this would delay void times. Minor repair work was to be conducted whilst the new tenant lived in the property. The new process reduced void times considerably because the property was only likely to be empty for a short time. Only the Health and Safety check were conducted in an empty property as stipulated by the Health and Safety law. It was noted that not all properties were suitable for the new procedure.
The Corporate Manager – BMBS informed the Committee that the challenge with this new procedure was to manage tenant expectations, as many tenants expected all repair work to be finished by the time they moved in.
Councillor Jan Osborne, Cabinet Member for Housing, confirmed the expectations of tenants. It was the priority for not just BMBS and the Housing Options team but also for Gavin Fisk, Corporate Manager - Housing and herself to identify ways to reduce both voids times and tenant’s expectations. She ensured the Committee that the void figures would be reduced but that the services needed some time to adjust to all the recent changes.
Some Members felt that to be confident that void times were going to be reduced, they needed all the questions answered, which had been generated in the scoping exercise. They felt that they needed to be able to understand the process for the current void times and that the processes and procedures put in place for voids were going to reduce the void times. They requested that the void times were reviewed in six months’ time.
Members continued to debate voids times and the officers explained what kind if actions were being taken to reduce voids times including:
· A business analysis was undertaken in co-operation with Suffolk County Council;
· Evaluation of the outcome from various void working groups;
· The new IT system on which process mapping was logging the void process with detail and accuracy;
· Reduction of the time it took Asbestos surveys to be conducted, which was considered the best option for reducing voids times.
Both members and officers agreed that the target of a turn round time for voids of 21 days, was manageable.
Emily Yule, Assistant Director - Law and Governance and the Monitoring Officer advised the Committee they could propose an amended set of recommendation as the Committee felt that reduction of void times was an on-going process
The new recommendations were proposed by Councillor Bryn Hurren and seconded by Councillor Alistair McCraw.
By a unanimous vote.
RESOLUTION
1.1 That the Committee has received assurances that appropriate steps are still being taken to reduce void times and that the position be reported to Cabinet.
1.2 That the performance against void targets be monitored and be reported back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
1.3 That a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be appointed to work with the Cabinet Member for Housing and the Assistant Director for Housing to monitor progress with developing the process documents for reducing void times.
Supporting documents: