Owners of shared properties looking to organise repairs will be able to get help from a new Council service from Tuesday 2 April. The Shared Repairs Service will provide advice and information to owners through the process of organising repairs from finding a contractor to arranging payment. It will also signpost owners to other repair support services such as property factoring, property management agencies and mediation, and the use of legislative powers like the Tenement Management Scheme.
The Council will retain its statutory notice powers and will maintain the current 24/7 emergency service for urgent repairs.
An extensive consultation with a wide range of stakeholders last year identified that there is still demand for the Council to provide a project management service for more significant shared repairs. Options for this will be explored over the coming months, with a report expected to Council in about 3 months
Councillor Alasdair Rankin, Finance and Budget Convener (pictured below), said: “Maintaining the safety of Edinburgh’s properties is a concern for us all. Our aim is to find the right balance, based on the outcomes of the consultation exercise, with the Council taking a lead role in emergencies and providing support for non-urgent cases.”
From April advice and information will be available through the Council’s website, neighbourhood offices and libraries, getting in touch with the Council’s contact centre and by meeting with officers. The topics covered will include building inspections, working with neighbours, mediation, finding a contractor and arranging payment.
Cllr Rankin added: “This new service will be focused on our customers. Staff are receiving comprehensive training so that they can ensure property owners get the information and advice they need. We also know that there is demand from the public for the Council to have a bigger role in this area and we will be looking at potential options.”
The Property Conservation Service, which used statutory notices for emergency and non-emergency repairs, will cease operating from April 2013. However, work will continue to resolve outstanding complaints and to settle outstanding bills.
The new service was considered at a recent Council meeting, with councillors agreeing to a further report in the summer on options to expand the service.
The City of Edinburgh Council is set to introduce changes to council tax to tackle the issue of empty homes in the Capital. The Council’s Finance and Budget Committee agreed last week to reduce the council tax discount rate for empty and unfurnished homes from 50% to 10% after 6 months. After 12 months council tax will be charged in full with a 100% surcharge.
The planned changes come following new Scottish Government arrangements enabling councils, in certain circumstances, to use council tax as an incentive for encouraging owners of empty homes to bring them back into use and increase the available property stock. This is specifically to tackle empty and unfurnished homes that have been lying unused for extended periods of time. Council tax would continue to be waived for the first six months of a property being empty and generous discounts would be applied if the property is actively being marketed.
Councillor Alasdair Rankin (pictured below), the city’s Finance and Budget Convener, said: “Even though Edinburgh has a relatively low level of empty homes in both the social and private sectors, the Council has a duty to look at all the options open to us to deliver more homes. “It is of utmost importance that we bring more empty homes back into use and council tax is just one of the avenues that the Council is looking to use. This report is undoubtedly a major step forward in tackling this pressing issue.”
The work forms part of the city’s Empty Homes Task Force, which was established by the Council with the objective of bringing empty homes back into use. The Task Force has representatives from all political groups, Shelter/Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, Orchard and Shipman and Link Housing Association.
Councillor Cammy Day, the city’s Housing Leader, said: “The Capital Coalition has set up an Empty Homes Task Force to examine ways of bringing empty homes back into use. Link Housing Association – one of the task force members – has secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Empty Homes Fund. The Council also support a number of letting schemes to help owners of empty homes bring them back into use.”
Council records indicate that there are over 1700 properties classed as long term empty and approximately 5800 properties attracting second home discounts. The Council will review all classification to ensure accuracy on an ongoing basis. It is planned that the policy will be implemented in the second half of 2013/14 supported by an information campaign to raise awareness.
It could become the most hated piece of legislation to be inflicted on British people since the infamous Poll Tax. And it’s now only weeks away …
In April, a new measure is to be introduced that will apply to all tenants of working age – welfare reforms will cut the amount of benefit that people can get if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home.
Under the legislation, size criteria will restrict housing benefit to allow for one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household. Children under sixteen years old will be expected to share with others of the same gender, while children under ten will be expected to share regardless of gender.
Under the new legislation – labelled the bedroom tax – all claimants who are then deemed to have at least one spare bedroom will be affected and face an ‘under occupation’ penalty: a cut to their housing benefit.
The cut will be a fixed percentage of the Housing Benefit eligible rent, which the Westminster government has stated will be set at 14% for one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more extra bedrooms.
Those affected – around 660,000 working-age social housing tenants (over 30% of existing Housing Benefit claimants in the social sector) in the UK – will lose an average of £14 per week, with Housing Association tenants expected to lose around £16 per week.
The architect of the scheme is investment banker and Welfare Reform Minister Baron Freud of Eastry – who incidentally lives in an eight-bedroom Kent mansion when he is not staying in his four-bedroom townhouse in London’s Highgate. The noble Lord believes that ‘spare council house bedrooms are a luxury the country can no longer afford: “It’s not fair or affordable for people to continue to live in homes that are too large for their needs when, in England alone, there are around five million people on the social housing waiting list and over a quarter of a million tenants are living in overcrowded conditions. It’s only right that we bring fairness back to the system and make better use of the social housing stock.”
He went on: “Nearly a third of working-age social housing tenants on housing benefit are living in accommodation which is too big for their needs, in spite of the fact of severe overcrowding. We are stopping the practice of the state paying for rooms beyond claimant needs, and that should go in some way to help tackle the social housing shortage that has been blighting too many lives.”
Baron Freud
Lord Freud and his ministerial chums hope that more households will chose to ‘downsize’ to smaller, more affordable properties – and in the process slash £500 million from the Housing Benefit bill. So the government reduces the national debt and tenants get suitably-sized homes: a win, win situation, then – everybody’s happy?
Sadly not. There’s a desperate shortage of suitable, smaller accommodation, as Shelter Scotland Director Graeme Brown explained: “The UK Government is simply failing to listen to the voice of reason being put forward by housing professionals, social landlords, MSPs and individuals. Penalizing low-income people for having an extra room assumes that there is a ready supply of smaller properties for them to move to. This is simply not the case. So the only consequence will be people stuck in homes with mounting rent arrears and a further descent into debt. Even at this late stage, we urge the UK Government to modify its proposals.”
According to the latest Scottish government figures, there are 586,000 households in the social rented sector in Scotland, and 105,000 of these – roughly one in five – will be affected by the Bedroom Tax, each losing an average of around £50 per month.
Advice organisations have already seen a significant increase in demand for their services, and the imminent welfare reforms will inevitably lead to even more desperate cries for help.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) Chief Executive Margaret Lynch gave evidence about the impact of welfare changes on advice services at the Scottish Parliament earlier this month.
She said: “We expect demand for benefit advice, to increase even further along with an increased need for other areas of advice such as debt, housing, and budgeting due to changes in benefits. This increase in casework, as well as the increasing complexity and time-consuming nature or many issues, is of course having a knock-on effect on the ability of our service to help our clients.
“We are already at breaking point so desperately need to be adequately resourced to enable us to help those who need it most as we aim to mitigate the impact of welfare reform as much as possible. The recent benefits uprating bill debate highlighted the statistics showing how the poorest are paying the price for cuts. The evidence we are publishing today is not just statistics but is based on the real lives of real people. It is not just about the numbers of people affected, but the severity of the individual cases. We have seen a big rise in the number of people in crisis situations, either because of the direct impact of a benefit cut or because they have fallen through the gaps in the safety net that is meant to protect them.
“The evidence we are publishing shows who is really being hit hardest by current policies and it includes thousands of people who are genuinely sick, disabled, and vulnerable and deserve support. The impact of current policies don’t just hit the individual claimant but can also have a huge effect on children and others being cared for. Pushing people further into poverty and financial difficulties will lead to an increase in other problems such as homelessness, health inequalities, and family breakdown, as well as lead to rising debt and an increase for food hand-outs. Tackling these issues in future years will only add to the overall public spending bill, not reduce it. The UK government must heed this evidence and question whether they really want to continue on a track of devastating reforms which can only damage more lives.”
Shelter Scotland has issued advice to tenants likely to be hit by the imminent benefit cuts, and urge them to ACT NOW:
If you’re going to be affected by a deduction to your housing benefit then it’s very important that you prepare for the change before April 2013.
There are several things you can do:
take in a lodger – renting out a spare room would bring in extra income, but make sure you get the agreement of your landlord first and check whether this will affect any other benefits that you’re currently receiving
ask for a contribution to your rent – your family members may be able to pay more towards your rent
move to a smaller property – you may be able to transfer to a smaller property, speak to your council or the housing association you’re renting from to see if you can apply to do this
apply for a discretionary housing payment – your local council may be able to give you temporary support to help you stay in your home through a discretionary housing payment.
If you can’t pay all your rent after the reduction you may have to think about finding somewhere else to live or you will risk falling behind with your rent and possibly being evicted. Speak to an adviser in your area as soon as possible if you’re worried that this may happen to you.
For Local advice:
Granton Information Centre 134-138 West Granton Road. Telephone 552 0458 Email info@gic.org.uk
Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) has appointed its first Welfare Rights Officer. Craig Samuel has joined the Association on a 14 month secondment from the City of Edinburgh Council’s Advice Shop.
Responsible for helping with the take-up of welfare state benefits and representation with tribunal work up to and including upper tier level, Craig will be on hand to offer expert guidance to PoLHA’s 3,500 tenants.
He said: I’m delighted to have joined PoLHA and the fact I was born in Leith made it an easy decision to take up this great opportunity to offer my help and to ensure PoLHA is well represented with our voice being heard within local government.”
Craig’s appointment has lead to the creation of PoLHA’s Welfare Rights Service, strengthening the Association’s existing advice services for help in managing debt, affordable warmth advice to help with fuel debt and advice and support to maintain tenancies.
Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of PoLHA, said: “Craig’s role and the creation of an additional service will greatly benefit our tenants at a time which is set to impact on them significantly.”
Staff at the only hostel in the Capital run by a social landlord have been praised following a recent care services inspection. Leith’s Dunedin Harbour Hostel has been awarded ‘very good’ grades after an inspection by the Care Inspectorate.
Managed by Dunedin Canmore Housing Group, the hostel – the only hostel service delivered by a Housing Association in Edinburgh – scored highly for the quality of care and support it provides to homeless people. Dunedin Harbour Hostel provides short term support of up to 12 weeks. The service also provides medium term support, up to six months, in self contained flats within the hostel accommodation. At the time of our inspection 35 people were using the service.
Staff have various areas of expertise, including mental health, drugs, alcohol and counselling. The team provides housing advice, emotional and practical support and help with independent living skills. And they work closely with each person to identify and work towards their personal goals, promote healthy lifestyles and build skills for work.
The report said the Parliament Street-based hostel service has been creative in helping people access support, working with a range of services to build relationships with people in the hostel that can continue after their stay.
Dunedin Canmore’s Sheltered Housing Division also scored ‘very good’ in the inspection. The Sheltered Housing Division provides a housing support service to around 340 tenants living in nine sheltered housing complexes across Edinburgh. Tenants have self contained flats and each complex has a communal lounge, kitchen and laundry facilities.
The report said, “The sheltered housing managers we met were enthusiastic about their role and committed to supporting tenants to live as independently as possible. Sheltered housing tenants were happy with the support they received from their sheltered housing manager. They were viewed as friendly, approachable and helpful and the “extra” help they gave was very much appreciated.”
Housing Manager Rhona McAdam said: “I am delighted with the Very Good Grade from the Care Inspectorate. This reflects the hard work of all the staff in the service and their commitment to providing an excellent service to the tenants in sheltered housing. I am very pleased by the many positive comments which the tenants made about their sheltered managers to the Care Inspector. Our Care Inspector also offered us some useful suggestions on how we might further improve our service, which we are currently implementing.”
New funding could bring more than 400 empty homes back into use for communities across Scotland, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said this week. Seventeen housing associations, councils and house builders submitted successful bids for the Scottish Government’s Empty Homes Loans Fund.
The fund will help private owners renovate empty homes in exchange for them being made available as affordable housing for at least five years. There are around 25,000 empty homes across Scotland that are classed as long-term empty located in urban, rural and island communities.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Empty homes are a blight on many communities across Scotland. Standing empty these properties are no use to anyone. Renovated, they could provide much needed new homes for hundreds of people. That is why more needs to be done to make better use of these existing assets.
“Bringing empty homes back into use makes sense because it is a cost-effective way of increasing the supply of housing available to families across Scotland’s communities. “The Empty Homes Loan Fund, and wider work being taken forward by Councils as a result of the Shelter Scotland-led Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, can help significantly reduce the number of wasted, empty homes across Scotland.”
Kristen Hubert, coordinator of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership, which is hosted by Shelter Scotland and funded by the Scottish Government, said: “It is pleasing and highly encouraging that so many worthy projects have been given the go ahead. Having an incentive like a loan to offer owners of empty homes is a key part of getting people to engage with our growing network of Empty Homes Officers and make positive choices about their properties. We will work with the successful bidders to help them make the most of their projects. We look forward with excitement to seeing so many empty homes that previously caused issues for their communities coming back to life as affordable housing.”
COSLA’s housing spokeperson Councillor Harry McGuigan said: “The fund is a welcome contribution to Scotland’s overall housing stock, and will greatly assist local government’s empty home officers on making real progress locally in relieving housing pressure.
“Encouraging owners to bring housing stock back to the affordable rental market will make a valuable contribution in tackling homelessness, directly and indirectly, and remove what can be neighbourhood blight.”
Here in Edinburgh, the City Council announced that it was setting up an empty homes task force back in September, working with other organisations on initiatives to bring more housing into use. Edinburgh’s share of the new housing cash is £750,000, which will now bring 70 empty homes back into use.
Welcoming the announcement Councillor Cammy Day, the city council’s Housing Leader, said: “Setting up an empty homes task force was one of the first commitments delivered by the capital coalition following the elections in May. I’m delighted that Link Housing Association, a key member of the task force, has been successful in securing this funding. This underlines the co-operative approach we are taking to addressing the housing and other challenges that the city faces. We will continue working with Link and other partners in the task force on reducing the number of empty homes in the city.”
Council tenants facing housing benefit changes are being contacted by the City of Edinburgh Council. Leaflets highlighting the potential impact the new rules will have when they come into force next year are now being issued across the city. These leaflets will give helpful advice on the options tenants have to limit the financial impact of the reforms.
The biggest effect is going to be on tenants who have an unoccupied bedroom as they will receive less housing benefit from April next year. Anyone under-occupying will lose 14% of their housing benefit if they have one spare bedroom (between £13 and £15 per week) or 25% for two or more spare bedrooms (between £20 and £27 per week). Options for tenants cover areas like paying rent, moving to a smaller home, maximising income and sharing with friends, family members or lodgers.
Councillor Cammy Day, Housing leader for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Tenants need to know just exactly what these changes will mean to them and the potential financial impact it’s going to have. Some tenants could be faced with a 25% reduction in their housing benefit. Their rent will still have to be paid so that means they will have to make up the difference from their household income. If tenants don’t pay their rent they are at risk of losing their home. No one wants to see that happen so we are advising people to get in touch with their local housing team now to discuss the various options open to them.”
The law covering what fees letting agents and landlords charge private tenants has been clarified. The Scottish Parliament has voted to approve secondary legislation so that all tenant charges, other than rent and a refundable deposit, will not be permitted.
From November 30, the law will now also allow any charges in relation to the UK Government’s Green Deal that may be attached to a privately rented property. The current legislation, the Rent (Scotland Act) 1984, has not been explicit enough about additional charges such as reference checks, credit checks and inventory fees. The move follows a consultation launched earlier this year on how to deal with unfair and illegal premiums.
It is estimated that there are around 500 letting agent businesses in Scotland involved in around 150,000 private lettings per year.
Minister for Housing and Welfare Margaret Burgess, said: “The vast majority of Scotland’s letting agents and landlords operate in a professional and above-board manner, and play an important role in the Scottish private rented sector. I am pleased that the legality of pre-tenancy charges has been clarified. This Government was determined to end the illegal practice of charges such as holding deposits and reference checks. The law is now clear on this matter and will help remove a barrier that will make the private rented sector more accessible for a wide range of individuals and families.”
Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, added: “This is great news for everyone who has been ripped-off by unscrupulous letting agents. It will finally put an end to this unlawful practice and ensure that tenants are no longer exploited. Shelter Scotland has been campaigning all year for these fees to be outlawed. Our reclaimyourfees.com web site has proved so popular that already more than a quarter of a million pounds worth of claims against letting agents have been made using our free step-by-step toolkit. Moves like this can only strengthen Scotland’s private rented sector and help make it a fairer and more secure place to live for the 270,000 households that now call the sector home.”
Local residents will fight plans to build housing on City Park. A new Save City Park campaign group has been set up to challenge plans to build houses on the site off Pilton Drive North. The group says that the area needs it’s last remaining green space and could not cope with more traffic on roads and side streets.
Save City Park campaigners say that City Park – the former home of The Spartans – ‘is a vital part of Edinburgh’s landscape and heritage and plays an important role in enhancing the city’s environment. It is one of an ever decreasing number of green “lungs” in a city of ever-increasing development.’
The group says that a plans by Link Group to build a mixed-tenure housing development on the City Park site would destroy the quality and character of the local area and put even more strain on already overstretched local services.
Falkirk-based Link Group employs 400 staff and celebrates it’s 50th birthday this year. The company is ‘one of Scotland’s leading providers of housing and related services’. The organisation’s website continues: ‘The Link companies help to deliver innovative regeneration projects in partnership with local communities, including health facilities, environmental initiatives, training schemes and financial inclusion projects. We are committed to the welfare of tenants and to the principles of social justice and inclusion.’
Interested members of the public will have three different opportunities to see and hear what is being proposed for City Park at a series of consultation events over the coming fortnight. Next Wednesday (24 October) Link will have a staffed presentation from 4.30 – 7.30pm at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Pilton Drive North and on Thursday (25th October) the exhibition moves on to The Spartans Community Football Academy off Pilton Drive, again from 4.30 – 7.30pm.
Link representatives will also be making a presentation to Granton and District Community Council’s meeting on Monday 29 October at 7pm in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre – this meeting is open to members of the public and all are welcome to attend.
The City Park campaigners concerns are highlighted on their new website which can be found at http://savecitypark.co.uk
Has housing reached saturation point in East Pilton? Or is the need for more social and affordable housing more urgent than green space? What do you think – let us know!
Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) hosted an event for its residents to provide information on issues such as welfare reforms and benefits advice recently.
Over 60 people attended the open day at South Leith Parish Church Hall where the Association was joined by the Department of Work & Pensions, the City of Edinburgh Council, an energy advisor, a money advice worker from Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Edinburgh Housing Advice Partnership and employability initiative Community Renewal.
Keith Anderson, Chief Executive at PoLHA, said: “There are a lot of changes coming and issues surrounding benefit, energy and money management for our tenants to consider. Holding this event with our partner agencies helped those who came along to understand how these will affect them and how they can make the pounds in their pocket go further. It was a great turnout and I hope people found it useful to help them manage finances in the run-up to the forthcoming benefit changes and the winter months.”
PoLHA was formed in 1975 and now owns and manages 2400 properties in the Leith and North Edinburgh area.
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