Agenda and draft minutes

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The Chair referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were none.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business.

(Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item

where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under

agenda item 9 and 13).

There were none.

There were none.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B,

paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

There were none.

The report updated the Leader of the Council on the need for an additional £6.851mto fund the increasing cost of managing legal disrepair cases and housing disrepair work, and to meet the revenue cost of the EICR inspection programme.

It was noted that the number of disrepair cases continued to rise and on 9^th November 2023, the Leader had approved a variation to the contracts for all three law firms to a value not to exceed a cumulative total of £2.3M, accordingly, the maximum contract values were subsequently increased.

On approval of the virement the maximum cumulative contract value for the Council’s external law firms for the period 2023/25 would be £4.7m (£2.3m + £2.4m). In addition, the responsive repairs service did not have sufficient capacity to undertake the work required, £2m was required to appoint 4 contractors to work on historic disrepair cases. This would address the following: to complete housing disrepair cases in a timely manner, to mitigate against further legal costs.

The Leader asked how the service intended to address the issue of increasing cost of managing legal disrepair going forward and what the plan of action was.  The Operational Director for Housing & Building Safety advised the Leader that new processes and procedures would be in place. This included a new team based in housing to take forward initial contact on new housing disrepair cases and a new legal team focusing on housing disrepair cases. The Deputy Monitoring Officer advised that the new temporary team in Legal Service would have 8 senior legal assistant posts which were being recruited to and a locum senior lawyer appointed to manage them. This team would have the capacity to deal with up to 500 cases. However, there were an estimated 900 outsourced legal cases concerning disrepair and the virement would support the funding and spend of external lawyers on the outsourced cases. It was hoped that with the new Housing and Legal teams, that the full amount of projected spend for the law firms working on housing disrepair would not be needed over the coming financial year.  

The Operational Director for Housing & Building Safety advised the Leader that the total additional spend requirement for Housing disrepair cases and EICRs was £6.9m, which was made up of:

·         Contractors to complete legal disrepair work            £2m

·         Tenant / lessee legal costs                                           £1.1m

·         Compensation payment for tenants                           £700k

·         Cost of external law firms                                             £2.4m

·         Contractor to complete programme of EICRs           £651k

·         Total                                                                                £6.9m

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Private Renters and Planning commented that she was assured that there was a robust plan in place to tackle the increasing disrepair cases, but this would take time to have an impact.

Further to considering the exempt information at item 12,

The Leader of the Council RESOLVED:

a.    To note that of the £6.9m required, £3.4m will be funded from sources highlighted in the report 4.2.1.

b.    To approve a virement of £2.8m from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reserves for the provision of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The report informed the Leader of the Council that the Chair of SSMPAG has requested that council nominates a representative to SSMPAG to act in an “observer” capacity – “The role is an observer role and has no voting rights. The role of the observer member is to act as a conduit of information flow between the group and the council. The observer member may also be called upon to provide points of information or opinion when the group make recommendations”.

The Leader sought confirmation on the voting rights of the council’s representative.  The Head of Area Regeneration confirmed that the council’s representative would have no voting rights and would act as an observer only.

The Leader of the Council RESOLVED:

1. To agree that in line with the council’s constitution, to nominate the Lead Member for Placemaking and Local Economy to represent the council as an observer on SSMPAG as described in the TOR for SSMPAG attached at Appendix 1.

2. To agree that in line with the council’s constitution, the nomination is noted at the next Full Council Meeting which is to be held on 20^th May 2024.

Reasons for decision

The council has a longstanding interest in the return of SSM, a sustainable home for the trader community to resume their livelihoods would also have wider benefits for the local economy. A SSM with the Latin Village at its heart has the potential to be a catalyst for the local economy and would attract footfall in Seven Sisters/West Green Road District Centre at this time. The long closure of the market and building works has contributed the decline of the district centre surroundings and poor visitor experience at Seven Sisters Station entrance.

That, in line with the council’s constitution, the Leader nominates the Lead Member for  Placemaking and Local Economy to represent the council as an observer on SSMPAG as described in the TOR for SSMPAG attached at Appendix 1.

That, in line with the council’s constitution, the nomination is noted at the next Full Council Meeting which is expected to be held on 20^th May 2024

The report informed the Leader of the Council that in accordance with the requirements of the Members Agreement, the report sought consent from the Council (as owner of the company) for Homes for Haringey to appoint new auditors.

The Leader sought further information on the Council’s internal arrangements for having oversight of the company.  The Interim Programme and Client Manager advised the Leader that the company provided quarterly reporting, and there were independent checks on their accounts by the Council to ensure that the financial regulations were met.  Consideration of the accounts by the council was part of the broader financial/ audit responsibilities of the council.

Further to considering exempt information at item 11,

The Leader of the Council RESOLVED:

In her capacity acting for the Council in its role as owner of Homes for Haringey, to give consent to HfH to appoint the Chartered Accountants identified in the exempt part of this report as external auditors to Homes for Haringey, as set out in appendix B of this report; and authorised the Director of Placemaking and Housing to write to HfH confirming that the Council has given its consent.

Reasons for decision

1. Homes for Haringey (HfH) is a wholly owned subsidiary company of the Council.  As such it is a separate legal entity.

2. The Council is the owner of the company. The Leader and/or Cabinet are the decision makers in relation to Owner Consent matters. These are matters set out in Schedule 1 of the Members Agreement. Clause 1.1 and item number 23 of Schedule 1 of the Members Agreement specifies that, prior to appointing or changing the company’s auditors, HfH must obtain prior written consent from the Council as owner of the company.

3. HfH requires an independent statutory audit on its financial statements for 2023/24.  It is not possible to be included in the Councils audit process.

As per item 3.

There were none.

Items 10 and 11 are likely to be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as they contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3 and 5, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Items 11 and 12 was subject to a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as they contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 and paras 3 and 5 of Schedule 12A to that Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

The Leader of the Council considered the exempt information and agreed the recommendations in the public report.

The Leader of the Council considered the exempt information and agreed the recommendations in the public report.

As per item 3.

There were none.