YOUR HOME YOUR CHOICE - Caerphilly County Borough Council

YOUR HOME
YOUR CHOICE
Decide on the future of your home
Important
information
Leaseholder information
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s proposal
to transfer its homes to Castell Mynydd

A message from the Leader of the Council
The Council is consulting its tenants on a proposal to transfer all of
its homes to a new landlord called Castell Mynydd. This document
provides details about how the proposals would affect leaseholders.
Castell Mynydd would be a new organisation, set up with help of the
Council, and would be a not-for-profit Community Housing Mutual.
The transfer is dependent on a ballot of its tenants and can only
go ahead if more than half of those secure tenants who vote are in
favour of the proposal.
The Council is inviting you to comment on its transfer proposals,
as the Council’s legal interest in your homes will be included in
the transfer to Castell Mynydd. If the transfer goes ahead, Castell
Mynydd will become your new landlord and they will own the
freehold to your homes.
The Council will consider all comments received from leaseholders and those comments will be
passed to the Welsh Government. The ballot of tenants is planned to take place in late autumn
2011. It is a statutory requirement that the Council ballots its secure tenants on the proposed
transfer. This statutory requirement however does not extend to leaseholders and therefore they
would not vote in the ballot.
If, after reading this document, you are unsure about anything, or require any further advice
regarding the proposal, you can contact the Council’s Housing Choices Team on (Freephone)
0800 141 2834 or email housingchoices@caerphilly.gov.uk. Alternatively contact the Council’s
Independent Tenant Advisor, PS Consultants, on 0800 088 4194 or by text on 07794 899473. They
can also be contacted on email at enquiries@psconsultants.org.uk.
The Council would welcome any comments that you would like to make regarding the housing
transfer proposal. You can do this by filling in the response card in the centre of the document and
returning the same by no later than midday on 24th October 2011.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Cllr Allan Pritchard
Leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council
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Contents
Part A The Council’s housing transfer proposal 5
Part B Information on transfer for leaseholders 7
Part C Your right to comment 8
Part D Benefits to leaseholders 9
Part E Payment of service charges 10
Part F Major works 11
Part G Tackling anti-social behaviour and crime 12
Part H Involving you in the running of the service 13
Part I Other useful information and contacts 15
Leaseholders response card and information request card
If you require this document in another format, such as Braille, large type, audio
tape or another language, call the Council’s Freephone number – 0800 141 2834

The Council is proposing to transfer all
its housing stock to a new not-for-profit
local housing organisation called Castell
Mynydd Limited. Over 250 councils in
England and Wales have transferred all
or part of their housing stock in this way
to date.
Castell Mynydd would be set up by the
tenants and the Council as a Community
Housing Mutual. It would be registered and
regulated as a social landlord with the Welsh
Government and would also be a charity.
The transfer can only go ahead if the majority
of tenants who vote in a secret ballot vote in
favour of the transfer of their homes to Castell
Mynydd and the Welsh Ministers give their
consent.
If tenants vote in favour of the proposal the
formal transfer is expected to happen by the
end of 2012.
Why is the Council asking
its tenants to consider
housing transfer?
The Council’s aim has always been to
provide good quality, well managed and
well maintained homes at a reasonable rent.
However due to Government controls on local
authority finances the Council is currently
unable to access sufficient money to improve
Council homes to the Welsh Housing Quality
Standard within a timescale acceptable to the
Welsh Government. Castell Mynydd would
not be subject to the same financial controls
and so would be able to raise all the money
needed to improve houses and estates up to
the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and to
maintain them at that standard thereafter, and
to provide an enhanced level of service.
The Council’s housing transfer proposal
A
What is the Welsh Housing
Quality Standard?
In 2002 the Welsh Government set a new
standard for tenants’ homes called the Welsh
Housing Quality Standard (WHQS). The Welsh
Government expects local authorities to find
ways of bringing all tenants’ homes up to
this standard by 2012 or soon after and then
maintaining them at that standard. WHQS
states that all homes must:
• Be in a good state of repair
• Be safe and secure
• Be adequately heated, fuel efficient, and
well insulated
• Contain up to date kitchens and
bathrooms
• Be well managed
• Be located in attractive and safe
environments
• Suit the specific requirements of the
household
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A The Council’s housing transfer proposal
If the transfer goes ahead in 2012, the
Welsh Government expects Castell
Mynydd to fully meet WHQS within five
years of transfer, by 2017.
If the transfer does not go ahead the Council
expects to have money to carry out some
of the improvements by 2017 but does not
expect to be able to achieve the level of
investment required to meet the WHQS.
As a leaseholder the main elements of the
WHQS that would apply to you relate to
the external repair works required to the
property and communal areas. Any internal
work undertaken such as kitchen renewals
would not apply to leaseholders. Where
these external works are rechargeable in
accordance with the terms of your lease the
Did you know...
Castell Mynydd would have the
necessary finance to meet the WHQS in
all its properties within five years.
appropriate consultation will be undertaken in
accordance with the statutory requirements.
See Part F, Major works for more information.
Why can’t the Council
spend what is needed?
The Council has looked very hard at its
finances but as things stand it cannot raise
enough money to meet all of the requirements
of the WHQS.
The main reason for this is that councils are
subject to complex housing finance rules,
which restrict the councils’ borrowing ability
and require them to pay a proportion of all
rents they collect back to the UK Government
(HM Treasury). In Caerphilly’s case this
currently amounts to around £7 million of
rent money each year. Castell Mynydd would
be able to keep all its rental income allowing
for this £7 million each year to be spent on
improving homes and services.
Where you can get
independent advice
Representatives from the Tenants Forum
appointed PS Consultants as the Independent
Tenant Adviser (ITA) to provide free
independent advice and information to all
tenants and leaseholders throughout the
transfer consultation. If you are concerned
about any aspect of the proposal and want
independent advice you should contact the
ITA Freephone: 0800 088 4194.
Email: enquiries@psconsultants.org.uk

A Formal Consultation Document
(known as the Offer Document) has been
prepared for the Council’s secure tenants
(people who rent their homes).
The Council has a legal duty to formally
consult tenants, providing them with details
of its proposal. All leaseholders will receive a
copy of the Offer Document. Tenants will be
asked to vote later this year on the proposals
contained in the Offer Document.
Although there is no statutory requirement
to ballot leaseholders as they are not legally
given the right to vote, the Council would
like to know your views on the proposals. A
Leaseholder Panel has been set up which is
open to all leaseholders to attend. In addition,
a response card for leaseholders’ comments
is included with this document.
If there is a ‘yes’ vote, the Council would need
to obtain the Welsh Minister’s consent before
the transfer can take place. If the transfer goes
ahead, the Council’s homes and the housing
service would transfer to Castell Mynydd. The
transfer would be likely to happen towards
the end of 2012. If there were a “no” vote, the
housing stock would remain with the Council,
including housing services and staff.
As you have bought your home, your legal
rights are set out in your lease and are
protected by legislation. The housing transfer
proposal would not change your rights as a
leaseholder. If the transfer goes ahead, you
and the other leaseholders would continue to
occupy your present homes and would retain
all of your existing rights and responsibilities
as set out in the lease granted by the Council.
Castell Mynydd would be your new landlord
(the freeholder) and would comply with the
landlord’s legal obligations under the terms
of your existing lease. Although leaseholders
would not be affected by the transfer to the
Information on transfer for leaseholders
YOUR HOME
YOUR CHOICE
Decide on the future of your home
Important
information
about the
future of
your home
Formal Consultation
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s proposal
to transfer its homes to Castell Mynydd
B
same extent as tenants, the Council
recognises that you may have concerns
particularly about standards of work carried
out to your home and value for money.
If transfer takes place, Castell Mynydd will
own the building of which your property is
part. Castell Mynydd would be bound by the
provisions of your lease with the Council and
you will pay your service charge and any other
charges which you are required to pay under
your lease to Castell Mynydd.
Castell Mynydd would take over any
responsibility under the lease of ensuring
that the building that contains your home is
insured (this would not include home contents
insurance cover).
As a leaseholder, you would also retain all of
your statutory rights. Leaseholders would still
be able to purchase the freehold both during
and after the transfer process subject to the
standard statutory requirements being met.
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C Your Right to Comment
Before any transfer of the Council’s
housing stock can proceed, the Council
must formally consult its secure tenants.
The Council is committed to an open and
detailed consultation process with its tenants.
Whilst leaseholders do not have the right to
vote in the ballot the Council is keen to hear
the views of leaseholders on the transfer
proposal. The Council will consider any
comments tenants and leaseholders make
on the proposal and will then decide whether
to go ahead with a ballot when secure
tenants will be able to vote on the proposal.
A comments card is included at the centre of
this document.
Where can you go for
independent advice?
The Independent Tenant Adviser,
PS Consultants, were appointed to provide
free independent advice and information to
all tenants and leaseholders throughout the
transfer consultation. PS Consultants are a
very experienced Independent Tenant Adviser.
If you are concerned about any aspect of the
proposal and want independent advice you
should contact PS Consultants by telephoning
them on Freephone 0800 088 4194

If transfer goes ahead, there is a planned
investment in the Caerphilly County
Borough of £173 million over the initial
five year period following transfer in
order to meet WHQS with a total of £808
million planned to be invested over the
30 year business plan of Castell Mynydd.
Within its investment programme Castell
Mynydd would also have a budget of
£13 million for the next five years for
environmental improvements and
maintenance of estates such as landscaping,
improvements to garages, shops, play areas,
communal areas and community safety
measures such as lighting and some security
fencing.
In particular, Castell Mynydd would:
• Provide an improved repairs service.
• Allocate additional resources to strengthen
the anti-social behaviour service so that
quicker action can be taken on nuisance
and anti-social behaviour.
• Introduce a dedicated, confidential, antisocial
behaviour reporting freephone line.
• Improve grass cutting, grounds
maintenance and estate cleaning.
• Deal promptly with rubbish and vandalism
on estates and improve refuse bin stores.
Benefits to leaseholders D
Leaseholders are unlikely to be asked to
contribute to any estate or environmental
improvements outside of the curtilage of
their properties. Leaseholders may however
be asked to contribute towards the cost
of improved facilities to their blocks or
immediate environment i.e. enclosed garden
areas.
Castell Mynydd would be committed to
providing a quality housing management
service to leaseholders including:
• Act at all times as a reasonable landlord.
• Provide cost effective services for
leaseholders.
• Respect the rights of leaseholders.
• Keep the structures of the buildings in a
good state of repair.
• Produce (in consultation with leaseholders)
a leaseholder policy summarising
rights, responsibilities and services to
leaseholders.
• Establish and support the Leaseholder
Panel to monitor the standard of service
leaseholders receive and to help develop
policies and procedures governing various
issues affecting leaseholders.
Leaseholders’ current rights and obligations
are set out in the leases granted by the
Council and these requirements would not
change if transfer goes ahead. Castell Mynydd
would be automatically substituted in place of
the Council in the current leases (by operation
of law) and thus would become your new
landlord. As no changes would need to be
made to the leases as a result of transfer no
costs (legal or otherwise) would need to be
paid by the leaseholders.
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E
Payment of service charges
Should transfer take place, Castell
Mynydd would be bound by the terms of
the existing leases issued to leaseholders
by the Council. This means that all
existing leases would remain unchanged
and continue to include details of the
items which could be included in service
charges.
Leaseholders would continue to be charged
annually in arrears for every 12 month period.
Castell Mynydd would provide leaseholders
with an annual statement of actual
expenditure, which will include a breakdown
of charges including the following:
• ground rent, building insurance and
management fees;
• response repairs works and major works.
(Service Charge is paid annually in
arrears.)
As the Council is able to recover the cost of
VAT from central Government, it does not
include the cost of VAT in the service charges
to leaseholders. As Castell Mynydd would not
normally be able to recover the VAT, it would
need to include it in leaseholders’ service
charges.
At present, when service charge bills are
issued, leaseholders are given the option of
paying their bill outright or paying monthly
over a set period. Castell Mynydd plans to
continue with this arrangement if the transfer
goes ahead. In addition, the Leaseholder
Panel has requested that Castell Mynydd
consider offering additional payment options
such as deferred payment plans. If transfer
goes ahead, this issue would be considered
by Castell Mynydd and would be subject to
consultation with leaseholders.

Castell Mynydd would ensure that all
required notices under the Commonhold
and Leasehold Reform Act, 2002 would
be served on all leaseholders.
Under this Act, leaseholders have the right to
be consulted prior to any improvements or
repair work where the leaseholder would be
expected to pay more than £250 (including
the VAT charge). Consultation would be in
accordance with statutory requirements.
Castell Mynydd would also consult
leaseholders on any long term arrangements
(longer than 12 months) that it proposes to
enter into where individual contributions from
leaseholders are likely to be more than £100
per year. The purpose of the consultation is to
help leaseholders plan for future costs.
Major works F
Under the consultation process, leaseholders
would be given:
• Details of the work proposed and the likely
cost.
• The opportunity to nominate contractors
who may be included in the tender
process (depending on the nature of the
works or services being tendered).
• The name and contact details of the officer
supervising the contract.
Did you know...
Castell Mynydd would plan to invest
£173 million in its housing stock within
five years to meet the WHQS. This
includes investment in the leaseholder
properties.
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G Tackling anti-social behaviour
Castell Mynydd would work in
partnership with the Council, the Police,
the Fire Service, local communities and
the voluntary sector to help prevent antisocial
behaviour in your area.
Castell Mynydd would take measures to
address residents’ concerns by introducing a
confidential, anti-social behaviour, Freephone
telephone number where you can report antisocial
behaviour.
The anti-social behaviour service would:
• Deal with complaints of anti-social
behaviour and harassment in a firm but fair
manner.
• Enforce the terms of the tenancy or lease
agreement.
• Provide support to victims and tenants
reporting anti-social behaviour and provide
a dedicated witness support scheme if
they are required to give evidence in court.
• Work with the community warden service
to help prevent and tackle anti-social
behaviour in communities.
• Develop and build upon existing expertise
in dealing with anti-social behaviour and
harassment and collate evidence to help
ensure successful court action.
• Share information and intelligence with the
Police, the Fire Service and other related
services to tackle the perpetrators of antisocial
behaviour.
• Work with tenants, local residents, the
Council, Police, Fire Service, Community
Partnerships and other voluntary sector
bodies to identify local solutions to local
problems.
• Utilise the full range of legal powers to
address anti-social behaviour or, through
multi agency working, the legal powers
of partner organisations to provide a
resolution.
To enable the anti-social behaviour service
to be strengthened, Castell Mynydd would
budget an additional £50,000 per annum over
the life of its 30 year Business Plan as part of
its investment programme.
Castell Mynydd would actively explore new
opportunities to prevent and design out
crime on all new environmental and physical
improvement projects.
Within its investment programme, Castell
Mynydd would budget £50,000 each year for
the first five years after transfer for community
safety initiatives within its total budget of
£11 million for environmental improvements.
Did you know...
Castell Mynydd would plan to provide
an extra £50,000 per year to strengthen
the anti-social behaviour service.

Castell Mynydd would be a Community
Housing Mutual, which means that its
tenants and leaseholders (except for
minors) would have the right to become a
member of the organisation.
Castell Mynydd would be:
• Run by a board of management made up
of 15 board members who would make
the main decisions. There is a Shadow
Board already in place and the Shadow
Board has been consulted on the formal
Offer Document for tenants. The Shadow
Board is made up of five tenants, five
people nominated by the Council and five
independent people.
Castell Mynydd Board
Five independent people
Five tenants Five Council
nominees
• Registered with the Welsh Government,
who regulate and monitor all Registered
Social Landlords in Wales.
• Based in the Caerphilly County Borough,
which would be its primary area of
operation.
Involving you in the running of the service
The key features of a Community Housing
Mutual Model include:
• All tenants and leaseholders (except for
minors) could apply to become members
of the organisation.
• There is greater tenant/leaseholder
involvement in running the housing
service.
• There is an obligation to provide a report
to all members of the organisation at every
annual general meeting about what it is
doing to secure the highest possible level
of community involvement.
Becoming a member of
Castell Mynydd
H
Leaseholders would be able to become
members of Castell Mynydd. Leaseholder
membership would be roughly in proportion
to the overall proportion of leaseholders in
the housing stock so that they would have
3% of the total voting rights as members of
the organisation. Members would have rights
to vote at the general meetings, scrutinise
Management Board decisions and have
involvement in the development and direction
of the organisation.
There will be a co-opted place for a leaseholder
representative on the Management Board,
but without any voting rights.
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H Involving you in the running of the service
Leaseholder Panel
This would be open to all leaseholders and
would be an opportunity for leaseholders to
meet regularly to discuss issues that are of
particular concern to them. There would also
be an opportunity for representatives from the
Leaseholder Panel to become a member of
the Castell Mynydd Forum. This Forum would
provide tenants and leaseholders with the
opportunity to discuss with Castell Mynydd
the issues that matter to them the most.
Monitoring the quality
of service
Castell Mynydd would carry out regular
customer satisfaction surveys to make
sure that the service is meeting your
needs.
It would take account of the results of these
surveys to improve and develop the service
and it would publish findings to ensure
you know what levels of service are being
provided.
Castell Mynydd would encourage tenants’
groups and the Leaseholder Panel to become
involved in monitoring its performance through
joint estate inspections with tenants and the
regular provision of performance statistics.
It would also produce other information, for
example newsletters, to these groups and an
annual report to all tenants.
In addition, Castell Mynydd would establish a
Repairs and Improvements Task Group, which
would include tenants, staff, board members
and leaseholders with the aim of informing
and influencing the improvement programme.
This group’s role could include:
• Helping to select and monitor contractors
and the in-house workforce.
• Deciding on the choice of fixtures, for
example, the range of windows and
external doors that are installed and
decoration of communal areas.
• Checking quality, value for money and
ease of repair.
• Making sure the programme is well
communicated and keeps tenants/
leaseholders’ needs in focus.
Did you know...
Castell Mynydd would involve tenants
and leaseholders in checking the
quality, cost and value for money of the
repair and investment programme to
all properties.

As well as the formal Offer Document to
tenants, there are some other documents
leaseholders may want to look at in relation to
the Council’s transfer proposal.
These include:
• Regulatory Code for Housing Associations
registered in Wales.
• Welsh Assembly Government Housing
Transfer Guidelines, 2009.
• Welsh Assembly Government Stock
Transfer Tenants’ Charter and
accompanying guidance.
Further information can also be obtained from
the following:
Caerphilly County Borough Council
Housing Choices Team
Unit B9
Tiryberth Depot
New Road
Tiryberth
Hengoed
CF82 8NR
Freephone: 0800 141 2834
Email: housingchoices@caerphilly.gov.uk
Website: www.caerphilly.gov.uk
Leaseholder Services Officer
Caerphilly County Borough Council
Housing Strategy
Pontllanfraith
Blackwood
NP12 2PZ
Tel: 01495 235387
Fax: 01495 235230
housing@caerphilly.gov.uk
Other useful information and contacts
Independent Tenant Adviser
PS Consultants
12 Berry Square
Whitehall Lane
Blackrod
Bolton
BL6 5DU
Freephone Helpline: 0800 088 4194
Email: enquiries@psconsultants.org.uk
Website: www.psconsultants.org.uk/caerphilly.
htm
The Welsh Government
Housing Directorate
Rhydycar
Merthyr Tydfil
CF48 1UZ
Website: www.housing.wales.gov.uk
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae
Pencoed
Bridgend
CF35 5LJ
Tel: 01656 641 150
Fax: 01656 641 199
Email: ask@ombusdman-wales.org.uk
Website: www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk
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Notes