COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, February 08, 2010
HEADED ITEM NO. 11(a)
Review of Management and Maintenance Contract between SDCC and the North & East Voluntary Housing Body in respect of 100 homes owned by SDCC.
REPORT:
The Council at its meeting of 10th November 2008 approved the engagement of The North and East Housing Association to act as the Council’s Landlord Agent in the management and maintenance of 100 RAS homes for a trial period of one year as detailed in the report set out below which was presented to that meeting:
“REPORT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 6(8) 0F THE HOUSING (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT, 1992
Proposed Agreement between South Dublin County Council and the North & East Housing Association Ltd for the Management & Maintenance of 100 Council owned Properties which have been assigned to RAS
The Council purchased 100 homes and, with the agreement of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government designated them as RAS homes i.e. to be used exclusively for the purposes of the Rental Accommodation Scheme.
They were allocated to 100 housing applicants in order of their position on the Council’s Housing List who were in receipt of Rent Supplement and were eligible for RAS.
An agreement has been negotiated with the North & East Housing Association whereby they will act as agents for the Council and will maintain the homes and manage the tenancies.
Under the terms of the agreement and in accordance with section 6(2)(b) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992, North & East will be paid €690.00 per unit per annum by the Council and will collect and retain the differential rent payable by the tenants. The amount of €690 may be varied from time to time to equate to the amount set as being payable to Voluntary Housing Bodies by Government regulation. The Council will be responsible for property insurances on the 100 properties and will pay the annual service charge in the case of apartments. The agreement will run for an initial period of 2 years.
The contracting out of the management and maintenance to North & East has been agreed through the Partnership Committee with the Trade Union Group.
North & East will maintain the properties in strict accordance with the Council’s maintenance policy and standards and will charge rents the same as those that would be payable by the tenants under the Council’s Differential Scheme. They will be responsible for pursuing cases of arrears of rent and anti-social behaviour up to and including proceedings for repossession in strict accordance with the Council’s Rent Arrears and Anti Social Behaviour policies.
The North and East Housing Association have approved status under Section 5 of the Housing Act 1988 for the purposes of Section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992 i.e. to provide and manage voluntary and social housing.
The agreement of the terms and conditions for the engagement of a Voluntary Housing Body to manage and maintain Council owned housing stock is a reserved function as set out in Section 6(8) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992.
Accordingly it is hereby recommended that the Council agree to the engagement of The North and East Housing Association for the purpose and on the terms and conditions set out in the foregoing report. “
During the trial period the Council has carefully monitored the performance of the North and East Housing Association in carrying out the management and maintenance function and found that performance to be very satisfactory and no difficulties have arisen. There is a very professional and cooperative working relationship between the management and staff of the Council’s RAS unit and the management and staff of North and East which has developed over the term of the contract to date.
In accordance with the terms of the Service Level Agreement made between the Council and North and East a client satisfaction survey was carried out on the tenants of the 100 properties which they manage and maintain.
Of the 100 tenants 59 responded and the results are overwhelmingly positive with 96.6% of tenants expressing satisfaction with North and East since they became their landlord’s agent. The results of the survey are appended to this report.
The homes involved are spread randomly across the county and are located in Rathfarnham, Ballycullen, Firhouse, Tallaght, Saggart, Rathcoole, Newcastle, Lucan and Clondalkin.
There has been one incident of ASB since the current management regime has been in place which has been dealt with by North and East on the advice of the Council.
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of both parties, the behaviour of the tenant involved has not improved and North and East are currently moving on behalf of the Council to evict this tenant by way of legal proceedings for breach of tenancy agreement. In all their dealings with this case North and East have been most professional.
As it is considered that North and East have proven to be competent and professional Landlord’s Agent in their dealings with our tenants as evidenced also by the survey findings, I hereby recommend that the contract with North and East be extended for a further 5 years .