Date / Ref / Request / Response / Time taken
19/07 / Hatton/
e14646 / Housing allocations the number of properties from Richmond housing partnership (rhp) properties made available to Richmond council for nominations from the housing register and breakdown of type of property within the last two years in particular 4 bedroom properties date of nomination and location (town or road will do if full address not allowed) / You will note from the attached table that 450 properties were made available in the last two years.
There were 10 4 bedroom properties in the first year and only 2 in the second year across the whole borough. / 1.5 hours
25/07 / Bird/
e14671 /
  1. I would like to see a copy of the working rules between Richmond council and Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP). I believe there is rather a glaring flaw in the allocations policy that exists between Richmond Council and RHP in that any true void properties that become available can subsequently be kept by RHP under the guise of a management transfer.
  2. I was told that if a management transfer takes place on a true void property the void that is created although a non-true void property is then offered to the council, can you confirm this is correct and if so is the non-true void the original vacated property or one much further down the chain such as a one bedroom property?
  3. If Richmond Council can be offered a non-true void property after a management transfer takes place, does that mean that Richmond Council are also able to take non-true void properties from RHP in other circumstances, such as when a person moves into a retirement home?
  4. I would like to know how many people are nominated to RHP over the course of a year, say 2011-2012, and how many are nominated to each individual other housing association.
  5. I believe the cost for my family to stay in sub-standard emergency accommodation was approximately £130 per night, can you confirm this is an average cost?
  6. Are there any plans to review the allocations policy with RHP to enable fair access to housing from all sections of the community?
/
  1. A copy is attached
  2. Yes the Council would expect to get the resultant nomination to the property. If a management transfer takes place it should not result in any net loss of properties available to the Council to nominate to.
  3. Somebody moving to a retirement home would create a true void which the Council could nominate to as part of its 75%.
  4. Lettings to our nominees where the tenancy started between 1st April 2011 and 31st March 2012
RHP 229
A2 8
C&CHT 1
Guinness 12
L&Q 16
Notting Hill 3
Places for People 4
Rosemary Symmonds 2
Richmond Churches 61
Stadium 12
SWLHP 9
Thames Valley 6
Total 363
  1. The Council does not offer sub standard accommodation. The average cost is currently £55 a night.
  2. The Council’s Allocation Policy was amended following implementation of the Localism Act to reflect the changes brought in. The new policy became effective in May 2013 following consultation with customers and stakeholders. The policy is fair but gives greater priority to households who are working or have a strong local connection
/ 1.5 hours
26/07 / Hatton/
e14672 /
  1. Please tell me how many applicants on your waiting list for housing into 3 and 4 bedroom properties are existing RHP customers?
  2. How many families on your waiting list are not RHP customers?
  3. Please supply details of all 3 and 4 bedroom properties that became available to the council for nomination from all other housing associations excluding RHP during 2011 to present.
  4. Can you confirm that all applicants are treated the same whether they are existing housing association customers or new applicants?
  5. Can you confirm that not only are RHP allowed to keep 25% of all true voids and management transfers but they can also join Richmond Councils waiting list and be re-housed into true void properties this way?
/
  1. We do not differentiate between different housing association tenants on our housing register so do not have this figure. The housing register has shrunk from 5,800 to 3,400 following the introduction of our new allocations policy in May 2013. There are 694 households on the housing register who are existing tenants of social housing 233 of these are registered for 3 or 4 bedroom properties.
  2. We do not keep separate figures for RHP tenants. However if there are 3,400 on the register and 694 are existing tenants this would imply that 2,706 are not social tenants.
  3. There were 104 nominations made to other housing associations between 01/11/11 and 31/03/13.
  4. We have interpreted this question to mean are households treated fairly and assessed against the same criteria. The answer is yes. However there is more than one route into social housing. There are quota arrangements for some single person groups and homeless households accepted before November 9 2012 would get time in need points which mean they accrue point more quickly.
  5. RHP tenants are allowed to join Richmond’s Common Housing Register. The Council gets to nominate to 75% of true voids as well as 100% of new built properties and properties freed up by the sponsored moves scheme. The Council therefore gets to nominate to a far greater proportion of properties. Existing tenants are more likely to get to move by joining homeswapper and exchanging with another tenant.
/ 1.5 hours
15/08 / Bird/
e14778 / 1.Please can you provide financial information regarding the subsidies that Richmond Housing Partnership receive from Richmond Council for rents on 3 and 4 bedroom properties. What is the total amount of money that has been used for these subsidies for RHP? Is this payable annually?
2. Please detail financial information with regards to RHP receiving any other on-going payments or subsidies from the Council?
3. Do other housing associations benefit in a similar way? If so please supply financial information.
4. Are people in privately rented accommodation that are struggling to afford their rent given any kind of subsidy?
5.How much money has Richmond Council paid RHP customers to downsize their property over the last two years? Please give me a breakdown of property type as well. Please detail who has nomination rights over these properties and whether any person who got such a property was an existing RHP customer?
6.How many 4 bedroom properties have been made available or are being made available in the next few weeks by RHP from March 2013?
7.Why is RHP and the Richmond Council continuing to fund new developments which detail 1 and 2 bedroom properties, when research indicates that this is not as vital as 3 and 4 bedroom properties? Is it money? Is this funded per unit from the homes and communities agency?
8.How are the councils nominations rights affected by RHP building outside of Richmond Borough? Who will subsidise these properties?
9.Has Richmond Council got any Co-op customers on their housing waiting list? Is there any agreement between Co-op housing and Richmond Council.
10.How many new build properties that have been completed through agreement with Richmond Council and RHP have pre-existing RHP customers occupying them? /
  1. RHP do not receive any subsidy for rents
  2. RHP do not receive any other on-going payments or subsidies
  3. No
  4. Households in any tenure who are working and or receiving benefits or a pension can apply forhousing benefit and their circumstance and eligibility will be investigated.
  5. The Council has the nomination rights for properties that become available under the sponsoredmoves scheme. We do not breakdown which housing housing association receives the payment butthe total spend for the last two years across all housing association was
2011-12 £114,555.38
2012-13 £142,692.97
This represents tremendous value.
  1. There were 2 4 bedroom properties made available by RHP from March 2013 to the date of therequest.
  2. Number of Bedrooms
Total
Applications
1 2 3 4 5 8 3533
Number of
Applications 1773 1182 477 90 10 1
Percentage of Total 50.18% 33.46% 13.50% 2.55% 0.28% 0.03%
The attached chart shows the breakdown of applicants to the
Housing Register. This clearly demonstrates a higher level of
demand for 1 and 2 bedroom properties.
  1. The nomination rights are unaffected. It is quite normal for housing associations to build or mange properties across borough boundaries. Thames Valley Housing who are based in Twickenham forexample have properties in over 50 council areas.
  2. Co=op housing do not have any properties in the borough. Customers can only go on the housingregister if they live or work in the borough.We have interpreted this as meaning to do we have any nomination rights to co-op properties. We donot have any agreement with co-op housing
  3. We do not keep this information
/ 1.5 hours
16/08 / Bird/
e14784 / Please tell me who is responsible for paying a tenant (which council employee) to move under the sponsored move scheme, which in theory frees up larger properties for persons on the councils waiting list.
If the housing association decides to then use this property for a 'management transfer' rather than hand it over to the council is this allowed?
If the above is allowed (and i believe i know of an example) what happens with regards to the money that it has cost the council to pay for a sponsored move not just the lump sum of up to £7500, but all the removal, decorating and carpeting costs for the exiting tenant? Do these get reimbursed?
On how many occasions had LBRuT paid for a sponsored move? On how many occasions has a non rhpcustomer got the property? / Please tell me who is responsible for paying a tenant (which council employee) to move under the sponsored move scheme, which in theory frees up larger properties for persons on the councils waiting list.
The scheme is managed within the housing Provision Team. The Sponsored Moves Officer is responsible for the casework and makes a recommendation on payment. The Team Leader then decides whether to pay. The scheme is very successful and does free up properties.
If the housing association decides to then use this property for a 'management transfer' rather than hand it over to the council is this allowed?
If there was an urgent need for a management transfer then the housing association could make that request. However there would be no net loss to the council and they would receive a similar sized property.
If the above is allowed (and i believe i know of an example) what happens with regards to the money that it has cost the council to pay for a sponsored move not just the lump sum of up to £7500, but all the removal, decorating and carpeting costs for the exiting tenant? Do these get reimbursed?
The money would not need to be reimbursed as the council would still have freed up a property.
On how many occasions had LBRuT paid for a sponsored move? On how many occasions has a non rhp customer got the property?
We complete around 20 sponsored moves per year. The freed up property goes to a household with sufficient priority on the housing register. We do not keep a record of whether they are an RHP tenant or not. / 1.5 hours
16/08 / Hatton/
e14835 / I am also interested in whether the council paid for the man at 83 priory rd to move out as this property wasn't a true void it was occupied is there any freedom of information request I can do about this specifically? / The Council has not paid anyone to leave 83 Priory Road. / 1.5 hours
23/08 / Bird/
e14813 / [follow up to 14672] please could you give a breakdown of the number of 3 bedroom and 4 bedroom nominations rather than a total figure.
If possible a breakdown of areas would be useful, if you cannot supply that information here I can put in a separate request. / The breakdown of the 233 households is 186 registered for a 3 bedroom property and 47 for a four bedroom property / 1.5 hours
13/09 / Bird/
e147881 / [Follow up request] Most of my reply is asking for the original information so please do not take that as a further request, I am merely pointing out that this information i requested should have been supplied.
The following was taken from google as I am having trouble tracing the original committee meeting document i had read (for some reason...)

RHP had benefited from a Council subsidy for 3-4 bedroom properties. ... The Committee was informed about the new Affordable Rent Regime: this would effectively mean that life-time ...
please check committee documents relating to RHP receiving subsidies for rent on 3 and 4 bedroom properties and financial information as requested before. If you state RHP do not receive any subsidy then that must be true but you still have not provided the historical value of the subsidy that they received for rent.
If your employees responsible for sponsored moves are unable to detail the answer I was looking for then an investigation needs to be undertaken into that department. It is simply not a satisfactory answer so I am therefore asking you to find out this information. If you cannot tell how much was paid to each individual housing association in respect of sponsored moves then clearly this is suggesting ineptitude regarding the public purse. A large sum of money has been used for sponsored moves. I want to have the information as originally requested.
I already know the number of properties that were given to the council for nominations and I am suggesting a discrepancy between this number and the number paid for. I already have evidence of a property that the council paid for the person to leave under the sponsored move scheme only the council did not get the nomination right on this and RHP kept the property. I am trying to find out if that was isolated occurrence or the norm.
13/09 / Bird/
e14892 / I understand from a previous FOI request that two 4 bedroom properties were made available to Richmond council for nominations to from RHP since march 2013.
Please supply date of availability and area and whether any of the two properties were new build.
I already have information regarding date and area of 4 bedroom properties supplied by RHP to LBRuT over the previous 2 years, please provide further details of which of these properties were new build properties, also detail how many more new build 4 bedroom properties are being made available until march 2014.
Of the families registered for 4 bedroom properties on the housing register how many are existing social housing tenants?
How many properties have been freed up under the sponsored move scheme over the last 2 years? Please give breakdown by year so when considering the expense, value for money can be calculated.
From those figures what were the number of 2,3, 4 and 5+ bedroom properties?
16/09 / Hatton/
E14899 / [Follow up to 14835] this was a sponsored move apparently so if the council didn't pay Mr Stewart who did? can you re-check this please.
16/09 / Bird/
e148131 / [Follow up to 14813] I wanted to know the breakdown of people nominated to the 3 bedroom properties and 4 bedroom properties and the areas as well please, not the number of people registered for 3 and 4 bed that are social housing tenants currently.
03/10 / Bird/
e14986 / It is my understanding that for 2012-2013 Richmond council paid for 29 sponsored moves for RHP properties.
I would like a breakdown of property type and area. How many new tenancies then created were by existing social housing tenants?
I would also like any information that the council may have with regard to RHP paying their own tenants to downsize and then keeping the property whether through a "management transfer" or otherwise.