Tenant Participation

• Tenant Forums
• Fareham Leaseholders Group
• Fareham Tenant and Leaseholder Borough Panel
• Housing Tenancy Board
• Tenant and Leaseholder Participation Compacts
• Block Captain Regime
• South Coast Training
• Estate Inspections
• Estate Improvements
• Key Issues Newsletter

Tenant Forums

Fareham Borough Council has set up 2 Tenant Forums. Each Forum covers a defined geographic area of the Borough. Each Forum meets on a regular basis and invites are open to any tenants living within the forum area and are also attended by Councillors, Area Housing Estates Officers and Area Maintenance Surveyors.

The East Forum covers South Fareham, North Fareham, Central Fareham and Portchester and the West Forum covers Stubbington, Titchfield, Locks Heath, Titchfield Common, Park Gate, Warsash and Sarisbury.

Each forum meets three times a year with meetings being held at a venue within the forum area. The timing of meetings varies between morning, afternoon and evening and refreshments are made available.

All tenants living in the area represented by each forum are welcome to attend meetings that are held. The meetings are an ideal opportunity for tenants to let the Council know what local issues are of concern and feedback on its services.

Please find the minutes of the last meetings which give more detailed information on the items discussed at the meetings

• Minutes for East Forum meeting held 9th September 2009(127Kb)
• Minutes for West Forum meeting held 26th October 2009 (136Kb)

Tenants attending forum meetings are entitled to claim for any travelling expenses that they may incur.

Forum newsletters are sent to all tenants following each meeting.

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

Fareham Tenant and Leaseholder Borough Panel

Membership of this borough wide group is made up of twelve tenant representatives (six from each tenant forum area) and two leaseholder representatives (from the leaseholder group).

Tenant and Leaseholder representatives are nominated from the respective tenant and leaseholder groups.

The Panel meet quarterly at the Council’s Civic Offices with meetings being held in the morning. The meetings are attended by an elected member from each political party and are supported by officers from the Council’s Tenancy Services and Building Services teams.

The Panel consider borough wide housing issues and regularly review housing service performance and housing works programmes.

Tenants and leaseholders attending panel meetings are entitled to claim for any travelling expenses that they may incur.

If you would like more information please contact the Tenancy Services Manager 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 and two co-opted tenant representatives.

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 Tenancy Services Manager 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 on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk.

South Coast Training

The Council in partnership with a number of other housing authorities and organisations organises two training events each year.

Each training event is a full day and topics cover a wide range of subjects. Transport and refreshments are made available.

Each training event is made available for up to 10 tenant/leaseholders.

We have received excellent feedback from those that have attended these events in the past and they are a good way of networking and sharing experiences with tenants from other housing organisations. 

If you would like to know more about these training events please contact the Tenant Involvement Officer on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk for details. 

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 on 01329 236100 or email housing@fareham.gov.uk.

Key Issues Newsletter

The Council publish a newsletter entitled 'Key Issues' for tenants and leaseholders twice a year. This contains information of interest and use to tenants and leaseholders. The next edition of Key Issues will be published towards the end of this year (2009).