Get Involved in Rent Setting!

We asked tenants in a recent survey:

Would you like to know more about how we spend your rent money?

Would you like to influence how rent levels are spent?

We had a huge response so we are holding our rent setting meeting online this year and our tenants are invited…

The meeting will be friendly and informal and will take place on:

Monday 12^th October

at 6:00pm

Tenants can join in by asking questions or can remain quiet and simply type in questions and comments if they prefer, whatever suits.

To find out more and book a place please contact:

bonij@angus.gov.uk

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.

Advertisement

Have Your Say on our Domestic Abuse Policy

We are taking action to support people experiencing domestic abuse and would like to hear your views on the new policy we plan to introduce.

The policy has been drafted based on the recommendations from research completed by Women’s Aid, the CIH Domestic Abuse Guidance for Social Landlords and following discussions with key stakeholders.

You can view the draft policy here.

Have your say on the policy by:

• Completing our online survey
• Emailing us at HousingPP@angus.gov.uk

The consultation will close on 17 August 2020.

For more details visit the Domestic Abuse Policy Consultation website.

Join ‘The Hub Armchair Group’ and give your views on homelessness and housing options issues

Tayside Fife and Central Housing Options Hub is looking for volunteers for an armchair group. Can you help?

The HUB is part of a national network set up by the Scottish Government in 2010. The main aim of the Hubs has been to support the development of local Housing Options to improve outcomes for people with housing needs.

An armchair group gathers people who are interested in giving their views about the way services are delivered without the need to attend meetings.

The group will be asked for their views on housing options and homelessness issues including service standards, temporary accommodation, priorities for people using services and staff training.

Become a member of the Hub Armchair Group and give your view

on housing options and Homelessness issues in Angus.

 

For more details see the  Armchair Information Leaflet

Calling All Homeowners! Have Your Say on Energy Efficiency!

Calling all homeowners

The Scottish Government is consulting with owner-occupiers about setting minimum energy efficiency standards (EPS) for their homes. The proposal sets out a minimum EPC band C from 2024. to make all Scottish homes warmer, greener and more efficient, and for housing to play a full part in Scotland’s efforts to tackle climate change.

This consultation seeks views on proposals to set a standard for energy efficiency and to make it mandatory for homeowners from 2024 onwards.

The Government wants to know:

• if the standards should be legally binding,
• what the minimum standard should be,
• what help can be made available to help households pay for improvements,
• what the impacts could be.

The consultation will end on 26 March 2020. For more details see the consultation paper and give your views here.

 

 

Rent Setting Survey results for 2020/21

Our Rent Setting Survey was carried out earlier this year, where we asked tenants to vote for the level of rent increase they would support for 2020/21. Option 1 (3.1%) received the most votes and this will be proposed to Communities Committee in February 2020. One disappointing feature of this year’s vote was the low response – only 88 tenants. We would hope that in future tenants would appreciate the importance of this survey, since it directly affects the level of rent being paid by Council tenants.

The survey results were as follows:

• Option 1 (3.1%): 61 votes 69.32%
• Option 2 (3.2%): 13 votes 14.77%
• Option 3 (3.3%): 14 votes 15.91%

 

.

 

 

New Tenant Participation Strategy Launched

The launch of the Angus Tenant & Community Engagement Strategy 2019-2022 took place last week at Arbroath Academy. The new strategy was presented by our tenant representatives and two elected members, Cllr Tommy Stewart and Cllr Lois Speed.

The purposes of the strategy is to improve how we engage with our tenants and communities and to meet outcomes and standards of the Scottish Social Housing Charter

It sets out 6 priorities:

• Establish an E-panel for consultations and information sharing
• Establish a Scrutineers panel
• Promote and advertise tenant participation in the best format for our tenants and review and revise our information regularly
• Give recognition for learning and participation through awards and accreditations
• Develop local area action plans in partnership with our local Community Housing Teams
• Produce a calendar of tenant participation opportunities

The full Strategy document can be found here.

John Morrow, Service Leader – Housing, highlighted the importance of the strategy for Angus. He said:

At a time of great change, it’s more important than ever for tenants to have a voice in shaping our policies. We want to be sure that what we do reflects the things that are important to customers. Whether that means installing new bathrooms, building new council houses, keeping our rents at some of the lowest in Scotland, or making sure that repairs are done right first time, it’s only through listening to tenant views that we really learn what our priorities should be.

This Tenant Engagement strategy sets out how we will encourage a greater level participation, including a broader representation and age range, as we don’t currently have many young people actively participating. So the Strategy sets out a wider range of communication methods, including the Housing Blog and the new e-panel, designed to reach many more people.

I hope that tenants will play a greater role in helping to keep us on track to deliver good services in return for reasonable rents, and help us demonstrate value for money, not just to our customers, but also to the Scottish Housing Regulator as one of the principles of the Scottish Social Housing Charter. I think if we can help make the link better between the big picture issues, and rents and investment, and what really matters for tenants in their home, then we can get more people interested in being involved.

And that is exactly what this Tenant Engagement Strategy is designed to achieve.

 

 

 

Do you live in Arbroath? Then we need your ideas!

Choice for Angus gives local people an opportunity to have a say on how a pot of public money is spent and see the direct results of their decisions. Choice for Angus enables various partners and communities to design and develop ideas and projects together.

Each local area has a pot of £50,000 Council funding to enable partners and communities to develop ideas and projects together. Each Locality Partnership is leading on this work and is testing different ways of doing this.

In Arbroath, the suggestions and ideas must address one or more of the Angus Community Planning Partnership priorities :

•    reducing poverty,
•    improving mental health and wellbeing and
•    improving accessibility.

Tell us your idea!

If you would like to put forward your ideas on these themes then please visit the Social Pinpoint page.

 

Questionnaires are also available in Arbroath Library and Learning shop and Arbroath ACCESS office.

You can  telephone 01241 464628 to request a questionnaire or give your views over the phone, or you can email dicksonm@angus.gov.uk

Project Phases

Phase 1:     Generating ideas – Early to mid November 2019

Phase 2:    19 November 2019 – Building projects event in Arbroath Webster Theatre

All ideas will be presented at an event on 19 November 2019 where groups, organisations and individuals will decide if and how they can take any of the ideas forward to the development stage. If you would like to attend this event, please email dicksonm@angus.gov.uk or phone 01241 464628 to register.

Phase 3:  Finalising project ideas –  December 2019

All those interested in taking forward projects will come together to develop and finalise their proposals.

Phase 4:  Early 2020

Early in the New Year, finalised projects that meet the priorities and selection criteria will be put forward to a public vote.

Rent Rise Consultation – Last Few Days!

Calling all Council tenants! The consultation on the rent rise for 2020/21 only runs until Monday 30 September, so you’ve still got time to register your vote.

To vote, click on the survey link and choose one of the 3 options.

Rent Rise Vote Now Open – Have Your Say!*

Are you an Angus Council tenant? We need your views on what the rent increase should be in 2020/21 and how your rent money should be spent.

The three options outlined below will continue to keep your rent amongst the lowest in Scotland.

Why are we proposing to increase the rent? 

We need to make sure the rent money we receive is enough to pay for existing services, such as repairs, but also to pay for larger improvements needed for tenants’ homes and to help build new homes.

Rent increases allow us to invest in our homes to continue to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard. and to meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing by 2020.

The rent rise is partly based on the inflation measure of CPI (Consumer Price Index), as well as an additional set percentage of 1% which has been agreed between us and the Tenant Rent Setting Group. CPI+1% is the minimum rent increase required to allow us to deliver our current plans and manage inflationary cost rises. We need to increase the rent at least by inflation because that’s what it costs us to deliver existing services. If we were to increase by more than 1% we could also increase investment in tenant homes.

How we decide on the Increase

We’re carrying out a consultation to help tenants consider the rent increase options and clearly see how the rent money will be spent.

The results of this survey will be presented at the Communities Committee in February 2020, where the final decision on a rent increase for 2020/21 will be made.

Rent Increase – the options

The Tenant Rent Setting Group has agreed three options which the members feel will bring benefits to tenants while keeping rents affordable.

The three options are:

 

	Option 1 – Recommended by the Rent Setting Group	Option 2	Option 3
Rent Level	3.1%	3.2%	3.3%
Capital spend (this is money invested to buy or upgrade fixed, physical, non-consumable assets, such as buildings and equipment)	£18 million capital spend over the year	Additional £340,000 capital to spend in addition to Option 1	Additional £680,000 capital to spend in addition to Option 1
How many new builds?	70 new homes over the year	70 new homes – any additional funds will be used to improve existing stock	70 new homes – any additional funds will be used to improve existing stock
What stock improvements can tenants expect?	450 Gas & Electric Heating installations; 600 properties receiving external wall insulation & energy efficiency measures; 700 bathrooms.	In addition to planned improvements listed in Option 1, for example: 20 Gas Heating installation (including loft insulation); 20 Electric Heating installations (including loft insulation); 10 External Wall Insulation; 11 Window & Door Replacements.	In addition to planned improvements listed in Option 1, for example: 40 Gas Heating installation (including loft insulation); 40 Electric Heating installations (including loft insulation); 20 External Wall Insulation; 22 Window & Door Replacements.

The tenant representatives recommend that tenants choose Option 1 (the lowest option), which would mean a rent rise of 3.1 %. This option is the minimum rise needed to deliver the current Business Plan. It, along with Scottish Government grant funding, would enable us to build 70 new homes in 2020-21, as well as these improvements to existing stock: 450 Gas & Electric Heating installations, 600 properties receiving external wall insulation & energy efficiency measures, 700 bathrooms.

The graph below shows the average weekly rents of Angus Council over the past five years compared to other neighbouring local authorities (figures from the Scottish Housing Regulator).

How a rent increase of 3.1% would affect average Angus Council weekly rents

	Average weekly rent 2018/19	Average weekly rent 2019/20	Average weekly rent 2020/21
Bedsit	£53.25	£55.11	£56.82
1 Bedroom	£61.79	£63.95	£65.94
2 Bedrooms	£69.48	£71.91	£74.14
3 Bedrooms	£78.56	£81.31	£83.83
4+ bedrooms	£96.60	£99.98	£103.08
Angus Average	£67.99	£70.37	£72.55

 

To have your say on the rent options,

please complete the survey online by 30 September*.

*Please note this consultation is open to current Angus Council tenants only

 

Calling All Private Landlords! Have Your Say on Energy Efficiency!

The Scottish Government is consulting on the minimum energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector.

This is your chance to have your say. The proposed minimum standards will be:

• EPC E for new lets from April 2020, and all properties with a minimum EPC rating E by April 2022
• EPC D for new lets from April 2022, and all properties minimum EPC rating D by April 2025

If your private rented property does not meet EPC band E then you may be required to bring it up to standard within the set timeframe.

You can also find advice and information about private sector housing, such as your rights and responsibilities as a tenant, landlord or homeowner at our new private housing pages.