Tenant  & Leaseholder Involvement

• Tenants Forum
• Sheltered Housing Forum
• Fareham Leaseholders Group
• Housing Tenancy Board
• Tenant and Leaseholder Participation Compacts
• Termination of a Tenancy
• Block Captain Regime
• South Coast Training
• Estate Inspections
• Estate Improvements
• Key Issues Newsletter

Tenants' Forum

In consultation with tenants, Fareham Borough Council has recently reviewed the way in which the Tenants' Forum works. Instead of having an East Forum and a West Forum, there is now one Tenants' Forum which has a tenant in the Chair. The Vice Chair is also a tenant.

The Tenants' Forum covers the whole of the Borough and all tenants of Fareham Borough Council are automatically members of the Tenants' Forum. Meetings are held every two months and are attended by staff from Fareham Borough Council and Councillors. The agenda for the meetings is set by both tenants and staff.

Forum meetings are an ideal opportunity for tenants to let the Council know what local issues are of concern to them. Meetings also provide an important opportunity to give feedback on the services provided by the Council and to influence decisions made about your homes and communities. Meetings also provide an opportunity to find out what is going on nationally in the housing sector.

Please see the minutes of the last meeting (62 Kb) and the recent Tenants' newsletter (1440 Kb) that was published following consultation with tenants.

Tenants attending meetings are entitled to claim travelling expenses and reasonable carer costs.

The dates of future meetings are as follows:

• Thursday 2nd September 2010 at 6:30pm in the Council Offices
• Thursday 4th November 2010 at 1:30pm at Ferneham Hall, Fareham
• Thursday 13th January 2011 at 1:30pm at Ferneham Hall
• Thursday 3rd March 2011 at 1:30pm at Ferneham Hall

If you would like more information please contact the Tenant Involvement Officer on 01329 236100 or email jlarkin@fareham.gov.uk .

Sheltered Housing Forum

Fareham Borough Council has a Sheltered Housing Forum which meets every two months. The Forum represents the interests of people living in Sheltered Housing.

The Sheltered Housing Forum is chaired by a tenant and looks at issues such as the newsletter for all tenants in this type of accomodation and the Sheltered Housing Handbook.

• Minutes of meeting on 22nd April 2010 (53Kb)
• Minutes of meeting on 10th June 2010 (55Kb)

Dates of future meetings are as follows:

• Wednesday 13th October 2010 at 10.30am - Downing Court

• Wednesday 15th December 2010 at 10.30am - Downing Court

• Wednesday 16th February 2011 at 10.30am - Downing Court

If you are interested in attending please contact Jennie Larkin, Tenant Involvement Officer on 01329 236100 or email jlarkin@fareham.gov.uk

Fareham Leaseholders Group

Membership of this borough wide group is open to all council leaseholders. The group meet quarterly at the Council’s Civic Offices with meetings alternating between afternoon and evenings.

The group discuss issues of concern and interest to leaseholders and are supported by officers from the Council’s Tenancy Services and Building Services teams.

In the past the group have developed a leaseholder handbook containing useful information for leaseholders.

Leaseholders attending the group’s meetings are entitled to claim for any travelling expenses that they may incur.

If you would like more information please contact the Leasehold Management Officer on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk

Housing Tenancy Board

The Housing Tenancy Board forms part of the Council's committee structure and is made up of five elected members (councillors) and three co-opted tenant members and one co-opted leaseholder member.

The Tenancy Board meet six times a year to consider and comment upon a range of council housing matters. Meetings are held at the Council’s Civic Offices in the evening.

The functions of the board include;

• Advising the Council's Executive on the management of Council Housing and the relationship of the Council with its tenants.
• Where Council Housing officers have delegated authority then the Housing Tenancy Board may also give advice to them, within those delegations.
• The development and formulation of Council Housing policy.
• Review of performance of Council Housing services provided directly or indirectly by the Council.
• Review the value for money of Council Housing services.
• Review and promote tenant participation in housing management.

If you would like to know more about the work of the board then please contact the Tenancy Services Manager on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk

Tenant and Leaseholder Participation Compacts

The Council agreed compact agreements with tenant and leaseholder groups a number of years ago.

The tenant participation compact is to be reviewed following a change in the tenant participation structure. This will be the subject of discussion at the tenant forum meetings.

The leaseholder participation compact has recently been reviewed and an action plan developed to help meet the identified needs of leaseholders.

If you would like more information please contact the Tenant Involvement Officer on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk.

Block Captain Regime

The Block Captain regime was set up to help involve tenants and leaseholders in the monitoring of housing estate services such as general cleaning, window cleaning, grass cutting and litter picking.

Tenants and Leaseholders who have volunteered to be part of the scheme are provided with information about what work should be done and how often. They are provided with pre-paid satisfaction cards upon which they can record whether work has been undertaken satisfactorily or not and return these to the Tenancy Services Team. Any issues recorded are then raised with the contractor to help improve performance of services.

If you think you would like to become a block captain or know about the scheme please contact your Area Housing Estates Officer or the Leasehold Management Officer on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk.

South Coast Training

Fareham Borough Council in partnership with 6 other organisations arranges 2 training events for tenants and leaseholders each year in Southampton. These organisations include GuinnessHermitage,  Southampton City Council, A2 Dominion, Winchester City Council, Gosport Borough Council and Portsmouth City Council.

Each training event covers a full day and topics cover a wide range of subjects. These subjects are chosen by the tenants and leaseholders who attend the events. Subjects from the last event included the following:

• The Role of the Resident Representative  - understanding your role as a resident representative and looking at ways in which you could become more effective.
• Inspecting your landlord - exploring the different inspection processes & looking at how tenants & leaseholders can get involved in inspecting their landlord.
• Dealing with Difficult Situations - a workshop aimed at understanding the reasons for conflict & looking at ways in which to manage or avoid difficult situations.
• Anti Social Behaviour - What can residents do? - a brief overview of non-legal and legal tools available to tackle anti social behaviour.
• Getting your act together - how to make a real and positive change in your area or neighbourhood.

The last event was held in April 2010 and was attended by over 80 residents from the various organisations. We have received excellent feedback from those that attended.  

Up to 10 tenants/leaseholders can attend each event. The events are a good way of networking and sharing experiences with people from other housing organisations.

The next event is planned for October 2010 and the suggested workshops are as follows:

• Committee Skills
• Housing Law
• Health & well being
• Anti Social Behaviour
• Presentation Skills
• The Tenant Services Authority
• Tenant inspection/scrutiny
• Equality & diversity

If you would like to know more about South Coast Training, please contact Fareham Borough Council's Tenant Involvement Officer on: 01329 824463 or e mail jlarkin@fareham.gov.uk.

Estate Inspections

Estate services such as cleaning, grounds maintenance and the repair of common parts of buildings affect residents' enjoyment of their homes and the area where they live. Some tenants and leaseholders are already involved in monitoring cleaning and grass cutting services. Estate Inspections go a step further by offering tenant and leaseholder representatives an opportunity to inspect areas on Housing Estates with Housing staff.

Inspections of short listed sites are undertaken on a quarterly basis, if you would like to get involved please contact the Tenancy Services Section on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk.

Estate Improvements

The Council make available each year a budget to fund small scale housing estate improvements.  Both tenants and leaseholders are encouraged to make any suggestions for works which may help to improve the appearance of housing land around their home.

If you would like to make a suggestion please contact your area Housing Estates Officer or the Leasehold Management Officer on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk.

Key Issues Newsletter

The Council publish a newsletter entitled 'Key Issues' for tenants and leaseholders. This contains information of interest and use to tenants and leaseholders.

Editions will be published in the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter of each year.