foster carer prog - Council meetings - Lewisham Council

Findings
54. What is the process followed by Lewisham Homes, Regenter B3 and the RSLs for billing
leaseholders for major works/Decent Homes works?
Lewisham Homes
Where major works costing any
leaseholder more than £250 are
carried out, they are consulted as
required by legislation. This
involves the service of two notices
prior to the works commencing,
each notice gives the leaseholder
30 days in which to make
comments. The 1st notice invites
the leaseholder to give comments
on the proposed works and
nominate a contractor. The 2nd
notice includes an estimate of the
costs.
Once the work is completed the
contractor / Council will undertake
a final account to determine the
final cost of the project. Once this
is known, bills are then calculated
and sent to leaseholder. In some
instances this can be as much as
30 months after the issuing of the
Section 20 notice.
For 09/10 Lewisham Homes will
be moving to a system of issuing
estimated charges shortly after the
works start on site. This should
lead to disputes being raised and
resolved earlier, whilst the
contractor is still on site and
within the defects period.
Adjustments to the charges will be
made when the final account is
known.
Lewisham Homes do not operate
‘sinking funds’. Consultation
undertaken through a series of
focus groups found that
leaseholders were not in favour of
setting up such funds.
Regenter B3
For major works not undertaken under
the Decent Homes umbrella, the
serving of 2 notices would be
undertaken. The 1st Notice invites
comments and the nomination of a
contractor. The 2nd notice includes
estimated costs. Leaseholders have 30
days to respond with their observations.
For major works under the Decent
Homes PFI, the contractor nomination
& consultation process forms part of
the actual bid process. Therefore 1st
notice stage was undertaken as part of
the bid process prior to the contract
commencing.
Following the determination of final
cost, a bill is issued within 18 months
of completion of works.
Regenter could look into the possibility
of setting up sinking funds but there
would obviously have to be
consultation with the leaseholders, as it
would require them paying additional
money. As leaseholder concerns are
with the cost of the Decent Homes
major works being undertaken now, this
scheme may not necessarily benefit
them. It would need to have been
instigated prior to the contract/work
starting.
Leaseholders have been advised and
some have taken the opportunity to
start making payments to their major
works as soon as the works start or
when it is completed. This allows them
a minimum of 18 months from works
completed to being invoiced and a
further 18 months extended payment
period. Giving them 36 months in total
to pay.
RSL
L&Q: Follow statutory
requirements laid out
under Section 20 of the
Housing Act for
consultation for works
over £250 per unit.
Payment terms are
offered on conclusion of
the works.
Hyde:
Consultation as required
by Section 20 of the
Housing Act, the same
procedure as Lewisham
Homes involving the
serving of a 1st and 2nd
notice. Bills are sent out
once final account is
known which can be
some time after work has
finished (18 months is
the maximum time period
for billing leaseholders
after completion of
works).
For its existing
leaseholders (who are
mainly shared owners)
Hyde collects ‘provisions’
on a monthly basis. This
is an amount of money
set aside for future major
repairs and improvements
which helps to prevent
leaseholders facing large
bills all at once. This
doesn’t apply to the
Foreshore stock transfer
as yet but may be
introduced following
consultation.
The Council’s obligations to leaseholders
33