HJ Talks About Social Housing HJ Talks About Social Housing

In this podcast, Tracey Singlehurst-Ward and Abigail Flanagan in the Dispute Resolution team, talk about some of the most common problems they have seen arising in the last year when dealing with contractors in the social housing sector.
 
They discuss their top tips for how to prevent things going wrong in the first place, hoping for prevention rather than cure. Sometimes the worst can happen however, and they talk about experiences of dealing with cases of poor performance, inability to terminate and other disputes and how to tackle them.
 
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With the mounting numbers of disrepair claims against social landlords, housing associations and local authorities are keen to make sure that matters can be resolved as efficiently and cost effectively as possible to keep tenants safe and well. However, what can you do when an aggrieved tenant refuses access to make the relevant repair?
 
In this podcast, Michaela Smeaton and Eleanor Walters, Solicitors in the Housing Management team discuss the Housing Disrepair Protocol, key clauses from tenancy agreements as well as practical tips to ensure your evidence demonstrates reasonable endeavours to fix the problem.
 
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As many housing associations have risen to the challenge of remote working in 2020, managers are needing to address the unique challenges that this involves. In this podcast Eleanor Bamber, Senior Associate, and Sali Owens, Solicitor in our Employment and HR Services team take a practical approach, discussing the data protection issues involved in this way of working as well as the appropriate steps required to monitor productivity and manage from afar. Their conversation can help your organisation identify where its vulnerabilities lie and take early action to ensure this new way of working remains effective and secure.
Useful links
ICO’s “top tips” for working from home and Good data protection practice and the template DPIA referred to in the CCTV section (produced jointly by the ICO and the Surveillance Camera Commissioner).
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Since the court determined in 2017 that a landowner has a duty to its neighbours to deal with Japanese Knotweed growth, there has been a “growing” awareness of it as a problem for landowners, and accompanying that a growing industry of specialists and firms pursuing claims in respect of it. Where land is affected by Japanese Knotweed, it can lead to problems selling and remortgaging property and ultimately there are concerns about the physical damage it can do.
Robert Phillips of our Property Litigation team and Rebecca Rees of our Property and Housing Management team discuss what circumstances will lead to a landowner becoming liable for compensation and what steps should be taken if it becomes apparent that the weed is growing on land it is responsible for.
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When significant capital works are required to a development, this can come at considerable cost to leaseholders. Over the course of the implementation of the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and the Decent Homes Standard over the past 20 years social landlords have become adept at finding creative ways of making service charge costs affordable. Robert Phillips of our Property Litigation Team and Rebecca Rees of our property litigation and housing management teams look at whether the time is right for social landlords to consider whether there is a better way of managing service charges in the future to keep charges at a consistent level and avoid spikes when significant works are done.
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COVID-19 has presented organisations with unique and unprecedented challenges, including how to comply with the obligation to hold an AGM. The UK Government introduced legislation which temporarily allows organisations to hold virtual AGMs to better accommodate social distancing rules. This podcast by Sarah Jones-Howells will give an overview of the key considerations organisations should keep in mind when holding a virtual AGM, together with practical hints and tips to ensure that these meetings are conducted as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
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