Starter Pack
Contents
What is a Tenants & Residents group?
What can a Tenants & Residents group do?
Taking your first steps
Starting a group
An elected committee
Your first open meeting
Doing a Constitution
Joining Wrexham Tenants and Residents Federation
Up and running
Contacts
What is a tenants & residents group?
You might hear it called a Tenants and Residents Association, a
Tenants Association, a Residents Association or a Tenants Panel.
It is a group of people who get together to do something about the
area they live in.
• They want to improve the condition of their homes and the
environment. They want to improve local services – like the
housing service or the street cleaning service.
• They may want to deal with specific problems like speeding
traffic or anti-social behaviour.
• Or they may just want to have a bigger say in the decisions
that affect their lives.
One person alone can’t do these things. But when people get
together in a Tenants and Residents group – they can do all that
and more.
Tenants pay for their housing service through their rent. They have
a right to get the quality of service from us that they want. Everyone pays for council services through their Council Tax and they vote for Councillors to provide the quality of Council services they want.
You are the ones who know what needs to be done in your area.
By getting together and forming a Tenants and Residents group, you
can get the local services you want.
What can a Tenants & Residents group do?
Most Tenants & Residents groups cover a mixed area of rented and
private homes.
All residents can work together to improve the area as a whole and
set up partnerships with the Council, the police, schools and other
local services to make the area a better place to live.
As a Council Tenant you may want to work with us to get repairs or
improvements to your homes and the immediate environment,
where land is owned by us; you may want improvements to the housing management service in general or better enforcement of tenancy conditions.
Working together, all residents can bring about big improvements.
Here are some of the things you may be able to do:
• Meet regularly with your local Housing Manager.
• Go on estate walkabouts with the Housing Manager/estate
staff.
• Have a real say in the decisions that are made about
spending money on housing improvements.
• Work with the Tenancy Enforcement Team and Police and
crime prevention agencies to improve community safety.
• Campaign for improvements, negotiate, lobby and change
people’s views.
• Build up some community spirit
• Put on activities for the elderly or young people – hold
summer fun days or trips out.
Taking your first steps
• Talk to other people – talk to your neighbours, knock on
doors
• Do a small survey – ask people what the main things they
want to see improved in the area
• Look for people who will work with you to get things off the
ground
• Get some help and advice from the Policy Officer (Communications)
who is responsible for tenant and resident participation in Housing
Services or the Wrexham Tenants Federation. You should be able
to get help to produce a leaflet and book a meeting room without it
costing you anything.
Starting a group
If you want to set up a formal group, there are some key things you
have to do.
• You need to decide on the area you want to cover. Another
tenants and residents group should not already represent
this area.
• You need to think of a name for the group. Most groups are
named after the area they represent: “Somewhere” Tenants
and Residents Association, for instance.
• A formal group will need an elected committee and a
constitution, that’s a set of rules for how the group is
organised.
• A formal group also sets out to genuinely represent the views
of people in the area and is open to everyone in the area.
So you will need to call a public meeting and make sure
everyone in the area knows about it – deliver a door-to-door
leaflet or put up notices in public places.
By setting up a formal group, you have more credibility. You can show that you represent the views of a substantial number of people and that you are an elected and democratic organisation.
An elected committee
The committee is the team that leads the tenants and residents group.
People are elected to the committee once a year. Because the
committee is elected, your group can say that it represents the
people of the area.
Committee members are responsible for making sure the tenants
and residents group achieves its aim. They also need to make sure they represent the views of everyone in the area and keep people in touch with what they are doing.
The committee needs at least three officers.
In order to qualify for grant funding at least half of the Officers and half of the Committee must be council tenants.
The Chair (or Chairperson)
The Chair usually has two main jobs:
• Chairing meetings of the tenants and residents group
• Giving leadership to the tenants and residents group
The Secretary
The Secretary usually has two main jobs:
• Preparing an agenda and keeping a record of meetings
• Receiving and answering correspondence on behalf of the
Group
The Treasurer
The Treasurer usually has two main jobs
• Managing the group’s money
• Paying expenses
You can also have a Deputy Chair, or any other number of specific posts for people.
Don’t be put off by the official names and titles. If you can’t find
anyone to join a committee – ask them if they want to be part of
the team!
Some groups double up the jobs and some rotate the chair. What
matters, is that you have enough people to share the workload and
that it doesn’t all fall on the shoulders of one or two people.
Your first open meeting
First book the venue for the meeting.
You need to choose somewhere that people can easily get to. It
should be accessible for people with disabilities and if possible should not be in a pub or a religious building as this will put some people off.
Most groups hold their meetings on a weekday evening, but this is
up to you. Think about all the people who live in your area and try
to choose a place and a time that will suit the majority.
Are you going to invite some guest speakers?
You might want to invite the local Councillors and the Housing
Manager. You might want to invite someone from other Tenants
and Residents group who can give you a real idea of what can be
done. You will also want to invite the Policy Officer (Communications) from Housing Services or the Wrexham Tenant and Resident Federation and you might want them to run or chair the first meeting
Then let everyone know about the meeting.
You can do a simple leaflet – see over the page. Get it photocopied free (ask Policy Officer Communications or Wrexham Tenants Federation) and put it through letter boxes. Place it in shop windows, doctors’ surgeries, community centres and any places that are frequented by your tenants and residents.
Stop people in the street and tell them about the meeting.
What should happen at the meeting?
Here is a sample agenda (or running order) for the meeting
• Welcome - thank everyone for coming, introduce any guests
• Explain the purpose of the meeting – e.g. this meeting is to
set up a tenants and residents group for the area
• What is a tenants and residents group
- explain what it is and what it can do
- ask people if they want to set one up
• Elect a committee – including a Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and committee members
• Ask people what the main issues are - you may get a lot of individual complaints, so it is a good idea to ask the Councillors or Housing Manager to take a note of these and talk to the people afterwards
• Arrange a date and time for the next open meeting
EXAMPLE OF OPEN MEETING POSTER
OPEN MEETING
To start a Tenants and Residents
group for the ******* estate
On Tuesday
17 May
at 7.00pm
at *************************************
Your local Councillors and Housing
Manager will be there to hear your
issues.
Everyone is very welcome
Doing a Constitution
What is a Constitution
A constitution is the set of rules for your group.
It says:
• what the group is called,
• what area it represents,
• what it aims to do,
• how it is run and
• how it makes decisions.
The constitution needs to be agreed at an Open Meeting. Any changes to it can only be made at the Annual General Meeting or
at a special meeting called for that purpose.
The constitution is important. When you open a bank account or when you apply for a grant from Wrexham County Borough Council or any other grant-giving organisation, they will ask for a copy of your
constitution. Your constitution is your rule book. If people complain
about the way you have done things, they will look at your constitution to see if you’ve followed your own rules.
To help you agree your own constitution, we have written a Model
Constitution. There are gaps for you to fill in but most of it is already done for you.
Click here to download a Model Constitution
Model Constitution of WrexhamCounty Borough Council Tenants and Residents Association
1.The Name Of the Association will be XXX
Residents Association
2.AREA
The Area covered by the Association isXXX , as shown on the
map attached, and includes all tenancies and residencies
in that area. The association will endeavour to ensure that it’s
committee is made up of tenants and residents who represent
the whole geographical area of the association.
3.AIMS OF THE ASSOCIATION:
a)To represent all tenants and residents living in the area
stated in 2 above.
b)To encourage recreation and social activities which are
open to all members.
c)To provide regular information to and consult all
members.
c)To promote tenants’ and residents’ rights and the
maintenance and improvement of their housing
conditions, amenities, and environment.
e)To be non party political.
4)MEMBERSHIP:
a)Membership of the association shall be open to all
legitimate
tenants & residents living in the defined area.
b)Membership is automatic, however, any person not
wishing to be a member may request that their name be
removed from the register held by the secretary.
Membership shall be open, with equal opportunities for
men and women regardless of race, religion, gender, age,
sexuality, disability, race or marital status.
Ending membership:
c)Membership shall end when a member moves out of the
area.
d)In the event of gross misconduct, membership can be
suspended, or ended by a two thirds majority vote of the
committee.
e)Racist, sexist, and threatening behaviour shall be treated
as gross misconduct. Any member has the right of
appeal to a general meeting before expulsion takes place.
5.MANAGEMENT
a)The association shall be managed by a committee,
elected at the AGM.
b)The committee will consist of a Chair, Treasurer,
Secretary, and up to XX members, who should be fully
representative of the estate. There shall be a majority of
tenants.
c)If vacancies occur among the committee, or officers, the
committee has the power to fill them from among it’s
members until the next general meeting, when elections
for vacancies can take place.
c)The committee shall have the power to co opt members
Of groups represented on the estate in order to further the
interests of representativeness and equal opportunity.
e)Meetings will be held monthly, with a minimum of nine
meetings (inclusive of the AGM) per year.
f)The officers shall report to each meeting on their work.
g)There shall be no more than 1 officer from each
household.
h)All matters relating to the payment and use of any grant
received from the Housing department shall be decided
by a vote of tenants only.
ALL MEETINGS SHALL BE OPEN FOR ALL MEMBERS TO ATTEND.
(optional)
6.ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS.
a)The committee shall call an AGM for the purpose of:
receiving audited accounts, accepting the resignations of
the committee, and officers, of electing a new committee
and officers for the coming year, for making
recommendations to the committee, and of voting where
necessary on proposals to amend the constitution.
b)The AGM will be called within 15 months of the last AGM
c)Not less than 21 days notice of the AGM shall be given to
all members.
7.GENERAL MEETINGS
Meetings of the Association shall be open to all members to
speak and vote. Decisions of meetings shall be binding on the
committee.
All meetings shall be advertised XXX
8.CONDUCT OF BUSINESS
At all meetings:
a)Any offensive behaviour shall not be allowed, and will
constitute a breach of reasonable manner.
b)Decisions shall be taken by a majority vote. In the case
of a tie, the chair has the casting vote. All votes are to be
counted and recorded in the minutes.
c)The Quorum for meetings will be one third of the
Committee Members
d)All meetings must be minuted, and be made available for
inspection by any member at any meeting.
f)All business must be addressed through the chair.
9.FINANCE.
a) All monies raised by and on behalf of the association shall
be applied to further the aim of the association, and for no
other purpose.
b) The treasurer shall keep proper accounts, and shall open
a Bank, Post Office or Building Society account in the
name of the Association. The committee shall appoint
XX authorised signatories for any cheques and cheques
shall be signed by a minimum of XX signatories. The
signatories shall not be related, nor live in the same
household.
c)The books of the association must be made available for
inspection to any member at all meetings.
A qualified auditor, or other professional person or
organisation, who are not members of the association
shall audit the accounts once per year, prior to the AGM.
10.Information
a)An information newssheet will be published and
distributed to allhouseholds in the association at least
twice per year.
11.Dissolution
a)If the committee, by a majority, decide, at any time, to
dissolve the association, they shall give at least 21 days
notice of a meeting to all members. If, at that meeting, a
vote is passed to dissolve the association, the committee
shall have the power to dispose of any assets held by the
association.
b)Any assets remaining after payment of any debts, shall be
donated to charities operating within the area, in
consultation with any bodies who funded the association
during that financial year.
This constitution was adopted as the constitution of the XXX Association at the Steering Group meeting held on XXX at XXX
SIGNED ______
SIGNED ______
Joining Wrexham Tenants Federation
Wrexham Tenants Federation is the independent organisation of
Wrexham Tenants and Residents Associations It has a membership of *** tenants and residents groups representing Council tenants and private residents.
Over *** households in Wrexham are members. The Federation supports residents to get involved in local issues and represent their
views in decision-making at a Local and regional level.
As a member of Wrexham Tenants Federation – you will receive:
• Support from experienced staff and Management
Committee – you can phone (see contacts page) when you need
advice and also when you want to invite them to meetings.
• Advice re funding sources and grants where applicable
• Free photocopying for newsletters and leaflets and help with
layout and design
• Invitations to learning opportunities and training sessions
• Regular information mailings and a quarterly newsletter
• Invitations to at least four general meetings a year
• Opportunities to take part in major consultation events
• The right to vote and the right to nominate a candidate for
election to the Wrexham Tenant and Member Partnership.
Any help you need will be provided – so please ask! If you
would like someone from the Wrexham Tenants Federation to come to your meetings they will do so
They would be really pleased if you would send them copies of your minutes and newsletters and let them know what you are doing. They can also publicise your events and achievements in their quarterly magazine and on the Council’s website.
To be a member of Wrexham Tenants Federation you are required to show that:
• You or your group represent a distinct area or defined community.
• You or your group are accountable to the people you
represent.
• You or your group are active in seeking improvements to
housing and the environment.
To join please contact:
Barbara Roxburgh, Tenant Support Worker, Room 12, Avow Building, 21 Egerton Street, Wrexham. Telephone number 355440e-mail .
The office is open between 8.30 – 1.30 Monday to Friday.