Frequently Asked QuestionsFrequently Asked Questions

Tenant  & Leaseholder Involvement

The Council has many opportunities for tenants to get involved and help with the issues surrounding their housing, these include becoming a member of the Tenant Forum or attending Estate Inspections with your Housing Officer. See below for more details on all of the schemes including times of meetings and events. 

• Annual Report to Tenants
• 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

Annual Report to Tenants'

The Council in consultation with its tenants and members of the Housing Tenancy Board have produced an annual report for tenants. (781 Kb)

The report outlines how the Council's housing service meets national standards set by the Tenant Services Authority. The report also highlights plans to improve services and develop local standards in consultation with tenants.

 

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.

• Minutes of meeting on 13th January 2011 (25Kb)
• Minutes of meeting on 3rd March 2011 (24Kb)
• Minutes of meeting on 12th May 2011 (25Kb)
• Minutes of meeting on 14th July 2011 (26Kb)
• Minutes of meeting on 8th September 2011 (36Kb)

Please see the recent Tenants' newsletter  (275 Kb)  that was published following consultation with tenants.

The dates of future meetings are as follows:

• Thursday 26th January 2012 at 1.30pm at Civic Offices
• Thursday 1st March 2012 at 6.30pm at Ferneham Hall (this is the Annual General Meeting)
• Thursday 10th May 2012 at 6.30pm at Ferneham Hall
• Thursday 5th July 2012 at 6.30pm at Ferneham Hall

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

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 14th September 2011 (78Kb)
• Minutes of meeting 15th June 2011 (81Kb)
  Minutes of meeting 13th April 2011 (70Kb)
• Minutes of meeting 16th February 2011 (Kb)
• Minutes of meeting 15th December 2010 (21 Kb)

Dates of future meetings are as follows: 

• Wednesday 14th March 2012 at 10.30am (venue to be confirmed) 

If you are interested in attending please contact Jas Studley, Sheltered Housing Team Leader on 01489 557511 or email jstudley@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 7 other organisations arranges 2 training events for tenants and leaseholders each year in Southampton.  These organisations include GuinnessHermitage, Southampton City Council, Winchester City Council, Gosport Borough Council, Portsmouth City Council and Spectrum.

 

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 Art of Numbers 
• Sowing the Seeds
• The Big Society
• Anti Social Behaviour 
• Chairing Skills
   

The last event was held in October 2011 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 will take place in April 2012 and the subjects to be covered are:

• What's New in Housing 
• Involvement in Complaints
• Involving Everyone
• Asking the Right Questions 
• Mystery Shopping

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.

Please see the Tenant's Newsletter 'Tenant's Voice'  (275 Kb)  for dates and times of Estate Inspections

 

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, email housing@fareham.gov.uk or complete the application for estate improvements.

 

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 twice a year.

 

Key Issues Spring 2011 edition (351 Kb)