The month in brief
Welcome to the March issue of your Technical Update. Isn’t it amazing how the world can change in just a few weeks. In February, none of us could have foreseen quite how fast the spread of COVID-19 across the country would impact us all. The country is in lockdown, property managers are getting used to working at home and industry events, including our own Annual Seminar, are being postponed until later in the year.
As our first Talking Points article highlights this month, the maintenance industry is having to think on its feet to keep calm and carry on delivering services to residents, while at the same time being forced to prioritise social distancing.
Coronavirus is the only story in town at present, but in other news we also report on the Government's new planning proposals, the latest on cladding removal and the new Fire Safety Bill.
As the vast majority of property managers are now working from home, as a freelancer myself, in Topic of the Month, I offer some tips of my own to those of you who have never worked remotely before.
This month our Defects Database focuses on lifts and IRPM CEO Andrew Bulmer gives us his regular insightful overview of the residential management sector.
Finally, as ever, we welcome your news, views and comments – even if they come from your spare room or the dining room table! So if you have an article or just an idea for one, please email info@irpm.org.uk with title "IRPM Update Idea - FAO Marketing"
Contents
IRPM News
CEO’s column | Annual Seminar 2020 postponed | IRPM launches fast-track build-to-rent course | IRPM sets out measures for service continuity
Leasehold/block management
Cladding assessor/property manager PII and building insurance | ARMA issues COVID-19 best practice guidelines | Chancellor announces £1bn more for cladding removal | Leaseholders of blocks with unsafe cladding hit by insurance hikes | Budget 2020: key housing measures | New planning proposals aim to boost housebuilding | ALEP calls for statutory deadlines to be extended
PRS & B2R
Government extends eviction notices | NRLA to launch as biggest ever lettings trade body | New apartment scheme for Manchester | Construction starts on £133m scheme in Birmingham
Social Housing
Coronavirus could put repairs and vital safety checks on hold
Scotland and Wales
Scottish Islands get funding for homes for social rent | Scots get more affordable homes | New build homes starts increased by 24% | Welsh council warns decarbonisation costs will impact home delivery targets
Health and safety
HSE keeps industry up-to-date with COVID-19 developments and news | Report reveals up to two million over-55s living in unhealthy homes
What’s new in HR
Government delays IR35 reforms by a year
Fire safety
Grenfell Inquiry suspended due to coronavirus outbreak
Legislation
Fire Safety Bill begins passage through Parliament
Legal update
Mark Loveday explains the new Tribunal procedures now adopted due to COVID-19
Talking points
Business as usual for repairs and maintenance – for now | Can I claim against my insurance policy for business interruption?
Topic of the month
Working well from home
Defects database
How to keep your lifts operating safely
IRPM Events
IRPM News
How we are dealing with the consequences of COVID-19
In the future, this torrid chapter will be taught in schools as history and the world will have moved on. But today we are all dealing with the consequences of Covid-19 and trying to figure new ways of doing our jobs, writes Andrew Bulmer.
IRPM is liaising with government, agents and other stakeholders (BPF, ARMA, UKAA, RICS and more) to ensure we can look after our residents and buildings, cleaning and maintaining them and protecting lives as well as assets.
Robert Jenrick MP, SecState for MHCLG, responded this week confirming that buildings should be maintained and ACM cladding remediation should continue during the crisis, provided Public Health England guidance for working can be adhered to. However, some confusion remains in industry, government and enforcement agencies and we are pushing government for further clarification, most especially in case movements are further restricted.
IRPM has also called on MHCLG and HSE to look at prudent extensions to M&E servicing/certification regimes where it is reasonably safe to do so, balancing the risks of failure against contagion, and we are assured the issue is being actively addressed. Similarly, we are engaging with the insurance sector on the implications of curtailed services and extended serving intervals on building, public liability and PII policies, to flag the need for cover to be maintained.
We will keep you informed every step of the way, supporting you with critical information, insights and news. Already we have smashed our email distribution contract with over 50,000 member contacts this month so far, as we keep you right up to date.
And when Covid-19 is beaten back, those buildings will still be there, and residents will still need services. Property managers and the businesses we all work in will still be needed. The way we work was already changing; more virtual, more technology, more homeworking. Covid-19 is not the cause of these changes but it will hasten them and that could be a good thing. Conference calling is certainly more efficient than hiking across cities to meet face-to-face.
For IRPM itself, we moved seamlessly into homeworking, our systems designed to cope as part of our resilience strategy. We all check in together each day and enjoy a bit of banter as we set the programme and share what we are doing. We take time to ‘meet’ to discuss our work and the projects are running nicely. I am blessed with a fantastic team and I thank them for being brilliant, and funny with it!
Face to face events such as exams and the legendary Annual Seminar are postponed but not forgotten and members are enrolling on courses to get their studies done while movement is restricted, preparing themselves for when the brakes come off again. With that and a growing sense of community spirit, there is at least some good to come out of these difficult times.
Stay safe and my best wishes to you and your families
Andrew Bulmer is IRPM CEO
Annual Seminar postponed
This year’s Annual Seminar, originally booked for 21st May, has now been postponed until September due to the Coronavirus outbreak. This popular and sector-leading annual event will now be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Westminster, London on 23rd September 2020. If there is any further change to this date, we will let you know.
This year will be pivotal for all property managers and companies that are involved in the residential property management sector. To an extent all our lives are on hold at the moment but there is still important work being done behind the scenes. We are on a more certain path toward a more accountable, ethical and sustainable sector; so by the Autumn, we hope we will be able to come together to understand how the industry is moving forward.
This year’s topics will include:
- Hackitt and fixing our broken buildings – when, how and who pays?
- Will government listen to Lord Best and “get RoPA done”?
- Latest updates on leasehold reform
- Will the competition and Markets Authority drive change for good?
- How a maturing build-to-rent sector is changing and why that matter to leasehold too
- Building a happy team and keeping your people
- The legendary IRPM legal update
Our annual Seminar will offer property management professionals the opportunity to network with peers and runs alongside our ever-popular procurement exhibition for the industry. This will be supported by our sponsors, without whom our events couldn't be delivered at an affordable price. This year's Gold and Platinum Sponsors include 4SiteConsulting and DataEnergy, with more to be announced in due course.
IRPM sets out measures for service continuity
IRPM and industry bodies have written to Robert Jenrick MP setting out practical measures that will help managers and contractors to continue to maintain buildings.
IRPM launches fast-track build-to-rent course
Build to Rent is now one of the fastest growing sectors in the property market. In response to the government’s increasing interest in mandatory qualifications for property agents, we are now offering an intensive Level 4 qualification in Build to Rent and Private Rented Sector management. This is an online self-study course available to all IRPM members.
The course is suitable for:
- individuals already working in a property environment
- individuals with limited experience, or to prepare them for working in the sector
- experienced learners who would like to have their existing abilities recognised
- those with an interest in the build-to-rent sector
Learners who successfully complete the course and pass the final exam, will be entitled to Member level membership of IRPM status.
Leasehold/block management
Cladding assessor/property manager PII and building insurance
This month IRPM, ARMA, the British Property Federation and LKP co-signed a letter from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association setting out the problems of fire risk assessors being unable to access professional indemnity insurance on viable terms - if they can get insurance at all.
The signatories also pointed to the rise in property managers’ premiums with increased excesses and serious exclusions of cover, and the sometimes huge increases in building insurance premiums, all as a result of the cladding scandal.
As a consequence, it is increasingly difficult to procure the services of a cladding specialist to survey a suspect building, which is slowing up the remediation of buildings and potentially putting lives at risk.
While waiting in the queue for a survey to be carried out, property managers and residents are put under stress as they cannot move forward to fix at-risk buildings. Meanwhile, property managers are having to review the work they are allowed to do on buildings and bear the burden of increased insurance costs, while residents are paying more to insure their buildings.
A key solution is for government to remove the PII liability for assessors, so that they can return to the market increase capacity to get surveys done.
ARMA issues COVID-19 best practice guidelines
With daily updates and restrictions from Government that impact property managers, ARMA has produced a help guide which is now posted on the ARMA website. It will be updated on an ongoing basis, and the latest versions will be sent out along with ARMA’s weekly Member updates.
Chancellor announces £1bn more for cladding removal
In response to demands from the property industry and MPs, Chancellor, Rishi Sunak has taken action to help leaseholders trapped in flats with dangerous cladding. The Budget on 11 March included the announcement of new money to remove combustible cladding from private and social tower blocks over 18 metres tall. This new building safety fund goes beyond the £600m established in 2018 by the Treasury to remove ACM cladding like that used on Grenfell Tower.
Mr Sunak commented that two and a half years after the disaster that claimed 72 lives, he “accepted expert advice that new public funding must concentrate on removing unsafe materials on high-rise residential buildings”. He said the £1bn fund “will go beyond dealing with ACM to make sure that all unsafe combustible cladding will be removed from every private and social residential buildings above 18 metres high.”
However, IRPM CEO Andrew Bulmer warned that although the new funding is welcome “it is not enough”. The National Housing Federation has estimated the social sector alone will spend £10bn fixing their buildings. Estimates for remediating the private sector vary wildly but similar sums are expected. “Until the implications of the new Consolidated Advice Note, bringing buildings below 18m into scope, is understood, the true final cost of making buildings safe will not be known. But we can be very clear that it will be massive and £1bn extra for both sectors simply won’t cut it,” he said.
Leaseholders of blocks with unsafe cladding hit by insurance premium hikes of almost 400%
Inside Housing reported in March that leaseholders in buildings with dangerous cladding are seeing their insurance premiums hiked by almost 400%. This is “compounding the financial crisis caused by huge bills to remove the cladding and keep interim safety measures in place”.
According to the report, one block in Birmingham has seen its building insurance premium increase by more than 390% this year, from £39,000 to £191,000, which will have to be split between the tower’s 141 households. Other blocks have seen their insurance costs more than double.
Residents of the Islington Gates development in central Birmingham were reported to be facing costs of between £35,000 and £100,000 per leaseholder – to cover the costs of removing the cladding and other fire safety measures. Unable to secure a policy from a single insurer, they agreed to sign with a consortium of five different insurance companies for a new policy which will cost four times as much as their previous policy.
The consortium is made up of five insurance companies including Zurich, Aspen, Axa Allied Insurance and Aviva – which, alone, would not renew the previous policy.
Budget 2020: key housing measures
Chancellor Rishi Sunak presented his first Budget to Parliament on 11 March. Key housing-related measures were:
- A new Affordable Homes Programme of £12bn
- A £1bn Building Safety Fund to remove unsafe cladding from buildings
- £650m of funding to help rough sleepers into permanent accommodation
- £400m for regional mayors to build homes on brownfield sites
- Promise to announce measures to change the planning system (see below)
- A 1% cut on the Public Works Loan Board interest rate, used by local authorities to fund housebuilding
- £200m for communities in areas that repeatedly experience flooding
The industry broadly welcomed the new funding set out by the Chancellor. In addition to a multi-year settlement of £12bn going to the new Affordable Homes Programme, the interest rate cut for loans from the Public Works Loan Board makes a further £1bn available to local authorities to fund social housing. A total of £1.1bn of new allocations through the Housing Infrastructure Fund have also been confirmed, to open up 70,000 homes in areas of high demand across country. Finally, there will be a new £400m fund for regions to build on brownfield sites.
New planning proposals aim to boost housebuilding
Secretary of State for Housing Robert Jenrick has announced a number of planning reforms to encourage local authorities to start a new wave of house building across the country. Councils are being urged to:
- encourage housing-led regeneration of high streets,
- approve building upwards on already-developed land and railway stations,
- densify existing residential areas and
- make the most of under-utilised brownfield sites.
In the Budget, the Chancellor pledged an additional £10.9bn of funding to help communities regenerate brownfield land, invest in new infrastructure and provide more homes for local people. Of this, £400m will be put towards using brownfield land more productively. A national brownfield map will be published later this year and there will be a call to allow building above stations to make the most of existing transport hubs.
The formula for calculating Local Housing Need will also be revised to encourage building in and around urban areas, gearing up for delivery of the Government’s promised 300,000 new homes a year. New permitted development rights will be introduced this summer to encourage building upwards and increasing densities – including the right to extend residential blocks by up to two storeys – and to deliver new and bigger homes.
The Government will also consult on a new permitted development right to allow vacant commercial buildings, industrial buildings and residential blocks to be demolished and replaced with well-designed new residential units that meet natural light standards.
A Planning White Paper, due to be published later in the spring, will set out proposals to modernise the system, accelerate planning decisions and make it easier for communities to engage and play a role in the development decisions that affect them.
ALEP calls for statutory deadlines to be extended
The Association of Leasehold Practitioners (ALEP) wrote to the Lord Chancellor (The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP) in March, calling on the Government to extend statutory deadlines for filing applications to determine terms of collective claims, lease extensions and the right to manage.
The letter from ALEP states: We would ask the Government to consider a further measure in these unprecedented times with the “lockdown” which includes the closure of Tribunal venues.
Tribunal applications under the 1993 Act have to be made within six months of a landlord serving a counter notice on the tenant(s). The law does not allow the statutory deadline to be extended by voluntary agreement between the parties…
“To help rectify this matter ALEP calls on the government to extend statutory deadlines for filing applications to determine terms of collective claims, lease extensions and right to manage by a period of three months once the current ‘lockdown’ period is over. This simple act will provide applicants with a reasonable period of time to prepare their applications to the Tribunal.”
The letter was also sent to the Housing Minister, Christopher Pincher and was signed by ALEP directors Anna Bailey, John Midgley, and Mark Chick.
PRS & B2R
Government extends eviction notices
The Government has announced new measures to protect renters and landlords during the Coronavirus outbreak. Eviction notices have been extended from two to three months and lenders will extend three-month mortgage payment holidays to buy-to-let landlords.
Emergency legislation now prevents landlords starting proceedings to evict tenants who are in arrears because they are self-isolating or are out of work due to COVID-19 for at least three months. At the end of this period, landlords and tenants will be expected to work together to establish an affordable repayment plan, taking into account tenants’ individual circumstances.
In addition, the pre-action protocol on possession proceedings will be extended to include private renters and its remit strengthened to help landlords and tenants resolve disputes. Landlords will be expected to reach out to tenants to understand the financial position they are in. The Government will also issue guidance asking landlords to “show compassion” and allow tenants who are affected to remain in their homes wherever possible.
NRLA to launch as biggest ever lettings trade body
A new landlord organisation, which will be the largest ever trade body in the letting sector, will officially be established this spring. It was due to launch in January but technical issues were blamed for the body missing its own deadline.
The National Landlords Association (NLA) and the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) agreed to merge last autumn, with a view to delivering a stronger voice for landlords in the private rented sector. The new organisation, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) will have a membership of more than 80,000 landlords.
New apartment scheme for Manchester
Construction work has started on a mixed-use development on Bengal Street in the Ancoats area of Manchester. The scheme is being developed by Northern Group and will provide high-quality office space across the ground, first and second floor of the building, with 75 apartments from the third to the eighth floor, served by a shared roof top terrace and basement level parking.
Construction starts on £133m scheme in Birmingham
Construction on a 504 bed build-to-rent scheme on the former site of Kent Street Baths in the heart of Birmingham began in March, with work expected to complete in two phases in 2022 and 2023.
Located in Birmingham’s Gay Village, between Bromsgrove Street and Kent Street, the scheme, which is being developed by High Street Residential, will host a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments across five buildings ranging from seven to 19 storeys. There will also be an outdoor courtyard with a central three-storey community hub with 955 sq metres of flexible commercial space leading onto Bromsgrove Street with provision for retail, restaurant, leisure and office space.
Social Housing
Coronavirus could put repairs and vital safety checks on hold
Landlords and contractors have told Inside Housing that as workforces are diminished and more tenants are forced into self-isolation due to the outbreak, landlords will have to prioritise emergency repair works leading to a potential repairs backlog.
A spokesperson for housing association Clarion, which provides homes for 350,000 people, said: “We are currently operating a normal service, but if more frontline staff are unable to work due to illness or self-isolation, our primary focus will be to carry out any emergency repairs that are needed to keep residents safe.”
Wates, one of the sector’s biggest contractors to carry out building repairs for councils and housing associations, said that it has provided advice to colleagues on how to minimise the risk of infection. It also said that if the firm is impacted more directly it could take steps such as “limiting access to sites and offices and adopting flexible working practices as necessary”.
Construction giant Kier, which has maintenance contracts with several housing associations, said it is “ready to implement business continuity plans if necessary”.
Alistair McIntosh, chief executive of the Housing Quality Network, said that many maintenance contractors he had spoken to said they have not been “brought into the picture” on the changes to working arrangements being planned by housing associations.
Keith Simpson, chair of the Direct Works Forum, which represents associations and councils that deliver their own repairs and maintenance works, said that it was a “unique situation” and said he had never known a repairs scale-back of this magnitude in his whole career. He suggested that cutting down on non-emergency repair works would create a major backlog of repairs for landlords to deal with.
Scotland and Wales
Scottish Islands get funding for homes for social rent
Funding of more than £770,00 has been awarded to the Mull and Iona Community Trust to build family homes for social rent in Ulva Ferry on the Isle of Mull. The money comes from the Scottish Government’s Rural and Islands Housing Fund, part of a £30 million investment to increase the supply of affordable housing in rural and island areas.
This builds on work and priorities set out by the Islands Act to address population decline, tackle climate change, and improve transport, the delivery of public services and digital connectivity.
Scots get more affordable homes
According to the latest figures from the Scottish government, 9,317 affordable homes were delivered in 2019. This represents an increase of more than 25% since 2016. The number of completed homes for social rent increased by 16% compared to the previous year.
The statistics also show that in the year to September 2019, more than 21,800 new build homes across all sectors were completed, including those for private sale and for social and affordable rent. The number of new build homes that were started in the same period increased by 24% to 24,873, the highest annual figure since 2007.
New build home starts increased by 24%
The latest quarterly statistics on new housebuilding and affordable housing supply have been released by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.
In the year to end September 2019, 24,873 new build homes were started across all sectors. This was a 4,876 (24%) increase on the previous year and the highest number of homes started since 2007.
Private-led starts increased by 4,516 homes (34%), local authority starts increased by 377 homes (22%) and housing association approvals decreased slightly by 17 homes (0.3%). The total number of homes started across both housing associations and local authorities increased by 360 homes (5%).
The number of new build homes completed increased to 21,805, a rise of 2,972 new homes (16%) on the previous year and the highest number of completions since 2008. There was also a 19% increase in private sector new build homes from the previous year, with 2,668 completed. Housing association completions increased by 230, a 6% increase, while completions for local authorities rose by 74, an increase of 5%.
In the year to the end of December 2019, 9,317 homes were delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, an increase of 61 homes on the previous year. In the same period 11,829 affordable homes were approved, a 6% decrease on the previous year, while 10,765 homes were started, an increase of 4%.
Welsh council warns decarbonisation costs will impact targets
Swansea Council has set a target to deliver 1,000 new council homes over the next 10 years, a portion of which will be built in partnership with housing associations and developers. However, the council warned in March that Welsh government targets on decarbonisation could impact the number of homes it is able to build through its Housing Revenue Account (HRA). Initial estimates put the cost of meeting the government decarbonisation goals for social housing at £300m-£500m.
According to the council, this is not currently affordable within its business plan, adding that potential government requirements to decarbonise council housing “will directly impact financial headroom for delivery of its More Homes programme”.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “We are determined to respond to the climate change emergency and to protect social tenants from fuel poverty, but recognise the challenges around the process of decarbonisation of homes and associated costs.
“To help landlords prepare, work is underway in Wales to model the extent of works required to decarbonise existing social homes and research commissioned by the Welsh government involving three landlords is due to report later this year.”
Health and safety
HSE keeps industry up-to-date with COVID-19 developments and news
HSE has a range of ways to help property managers keep themselves up-to-date on protecting themselves and their employees and contractors during the COVID-19 outbreak. All the latest help and advice is available by checking the HSE website news pages and subscribing to free updates. You can also follow the HSE on social media via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
Report reveals up to two million over-55s living in unhealthy homes
More than two million people aged over 55 live in homes that endanger their health, according to a report from the Centre for Aging Better and Care & Repair England, based on analysis of the English Household Survey. Home and Dry: the need for decent homes in later life, published in March, says older homeowners who cannot afford to maintain their homes are most at risk.
Accidents and illnesses caused by dangerous homes cost the NHS £1.4bn a year, according to the report. “The NHS spends £513m on emergency treatment for people aged over 55 who live in the poorest-quality housing and have suffered incidents linked to non-decent homes, including falls and health problems exacerbated by cold homes,” said Anna Dixon, the chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better.
The average non-decent home could be brought up to a decent standard for £2,866 and a third of homes could be repaired for less than £1,000. The report says more than 4.3m homes do not meet basic standards of decency, most commonly because of the presence of a serious hazard to the occupants’ health or safety.
Sue Adams, the chief executive of Care & Repair England, said: “An investment of £4.3bn to repair hazards for households headed by those aged over 55 would be paid back in just eight years through savings to the NHS.”
What’s new in HR
Government delays IR35 reforms by a year
New tax rules around freelance and self-employed working were due to come into force next month but the government has announced it will postpone the introduction of the IR35 tax reforms until next April (source: Building). The rules, first implemented in 2000, aim to stop employees registering themselves as freelance contractors in order to pay less tax.
Steve Barclay, chief secretary to the Treasury, told MPs in the House of Commons: “This is a deferral in response to the ongoing spread of Covid-19 to help businesses and individuals.” The government remains committed to reintroducing this policy in order “to ensure people working like employees but through their own limited company, pay broadly the same tax as those employed directly”.
Fire safety
Grenfell Inquiry suspended due to coronavirus outbreak
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has suspended hearings “until further notice” following the continuing spread of the coronavirus outbreak (source: Inside Housing).
Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said that continuing would expose those who were required to attend “to an unacceptable risk of infection”. He added that the inquiry would give “careful consideration” to the possibility of continuing hearings via video link and would provide a further update in due course. Panel member Thouria Istephan, who considers the evidence alongside Sir Martin, had fallen ill with “symptoms similar to those of COVID-19”. The issue of those involved in the inquiry who were over 70 being advised to self-isolate was also raised as a contributory factor. The delay to the inquiry, which could last for several months, means the oral evidence may not be heard until 2022 – five years after the fire.
Legislation
New Fire Safety Bill begins passage through Parliament
The Home Office has introduced a new bill to improve fire safety in buildings in England and Wales. The proposed Fire Safety Bill builds on action already taken to ensure that people feel safe in their homes, and a tragedy like the Grenfell Tower fire never happens again.
The bill will amend the Fire Safety Order 2005 to clarify that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for:
- the structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies and windows
- entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts
This clarification will empower fire and rescue services to take enforcement action and hold building owners to account if they are not compliant.
The intention is that the bill will help bring about meaningful change to improving building safety and was welcomed by Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council Roy Wilsher. He said: “I am pleased to see the announcement of the new Fire Safety Bill. We have been calling for additional powers since 2017 and these changes should contribute to the public feeling safer in their homes. We look forward to seeing additional supportive measures to assist fire and rescue services, identify different types of cladding and take appropriate measures.”
The bill will provide a foundation for secondary legislation to take forward recommendations from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase one report, which stated that building owners and managers of high-rise and multi-occupied residential buildings should be responsible for a number of areas including:
- regular inspections of lifts and the reporting of results to the local fire and rescue services
- ensuring evacuation plans are reviewed and regularly updated and personal evacuation plans are in place for residents whose ability to evacuate may be compromised
- ensuring fire safety instructions are provided to residents in a form that they can reasonably be expected to understand
- ensuring individual flat entrance doors, where the external walls of the building have unsafe cladding, comply with current standards
The bill will also give the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government the powers to amend the list of qualifying premises that fall within the scope of the Fire Safety Order by way of secondary legislation, enabling the government to respond quickly to developments in the design and construction of buildings.
A number of other actions are also being taken across government to improve building and fire safety including:
- the announcement by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 20 January 2020 of a new Building Safety Regulator
- introduction of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Building Safety Bill, which will provide clearer accountability and stronger duties on those responsible for high rise buildings
- £1 billion of grant funding to tackle unsafe cladding systems on high-rise residential buildings over 18 metres in both the private and social sectors
- a new Building Safety Bill to bring about further changes to building safety
- the relaunch of the government’s Fire Kills campaign
- To accompany the introduction of the bill, the Home Office has also announced the publication of the summary of responses received to the Fire Safety Order 2005 (FSO) call for evidence.
While respondents identified some areas where the FSO could be amended to provide greater clarity, most agreed that the scope and objectives of the FSO remain appropriate for all regulated premises, that it should retain its focus on protecting lives over property, and that it should continue to provide a framework for a risk-based and proportionate approach to regulating fire safety. A consultation will be held later in the year on proposals and next steps.
Legal update
Tribunal Proceedings during the Covid-19 pandemic
This month, Mark Loveday updates us on the changes to the way Tribunals will be operating for the foreseeable future
The vast majority of legal disputes about residential service charges and management take place in the property Tribunals. In England alone, some 2,500 applications in relation to such disputes were issued First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in 2019. Inevitably, the work of the Tribunals has been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
First, the Senior President of Tribunals has issued guidance on procedure during the emergency as follows:
In essence, parties are strongly encouraged to agree to determination of applications on the papers alone, without a hearing. If this is not possible, the Tribunals are encouraged to arrange hearings remotely by telephone, Skype or video link. Regional Tribunal offices (and many courts) have video link facilities, although their use to date in property management cases has been sparse.
In London, almost all residential property cases which are already in the system have been adjourned using a generic set of directions given on 19 March, postponing all hearings until after 29 May 2020.
They state:
“(1) All listed hearing dates for cases proceeding in the London Region of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Residential Property are hereby postponed until after 29 May 2020.
(2) Where parties can continue to comply with existing directions in current cases, they should seek to do so and co-operate with each other for this purpose. Save to that extent, all current directions on existing cases are suspended until after 29 May 2020. Thereafter, the tribunal will aim to issue fresh directions, unless circumstances prevent this happening.
(3) Urgent applications only may be sent to London.Rap@Justice.gov.uk and should be marked as URGENT in the subject line of the email. Where possible, such applications will be dealt with remotely by email, telephone and/or video conferencing. Contact email addresses and telephone numbers must be provided.”
Exceptions are being made in certain urgent cases, such as urgent s.27ZA dispensation applications or the appointment of a manager (where for example a block remains uninsured). A parallel approach is being adopted outside London.
Rule changes are under consideration which would assist remote applications, for example to strengthen the powers of Tribunals to encourage paper hearings, and to allow fees for Tribunal applications to be paid electronically. Those changes are being fast-tracked under special procedures.
These arrangements apply to all service charge disputes in the Tribunals, as well as Appointments of Manager, s.20ZA dispensations, Right to Manage, appeals under the Housing Act 2004 etc.
Mark Loveday is a leading Barrister with Tanfield Chambers specialising in leasehold management and enfranchisement work
Go to the Resource Hub for more case law.
Talking points
Business as usual for repairs & maintenance – for now
How is the maintenance sector coping with COVID-19? We asked some experts to share their experiences to-date.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, residential blocks still need to be kept running safely and efficiently - perhaps even more so, now that so many people are self-isolating or working from home. So one of the big challenges for property managers will be to ensure both reactive repairs and regular maintenance continue to be undertaken as far as possible.
Many contractors that residents rely on, are small businesses or self-employed tradesmen who can’t afford to be ill or to lose business, so huge efforts are being made by maintenance firms to keep the sector operating smoothly and to protect engineers and technicians from the virus.
Repairs portal Fixflo reports some key trends since the start of the outbreak. First, as ever-greater numbers of people work from home there has been a general rise in reactive repairs. While emergency repairs have broadly tracked the same trend, repair requests related to quality of life items (such as internet connection) in student accommodation and BTR properties are up by about 50%.
The company is also receiving lots of queries from clients about routine and planned maintenance. The thrust to-date has been that contractors and consultants remain available, with no noticeable signs of a decline in response or availability rate (to the start of the week commencing 16 March). However, Fixflo is expecting contractor supply to diminish over the coming weeks due to a combination of illness, self-isolation and childcare demands.
Fixxa, another repairs portal which supplies on-demand and emergency property fixes for the residential sector, reports that to-date the contractors they use are working hard to get to customers and maintain service as usual. They are giving the following advice to the tradespeople on their books to keep both contractors and their customers safe:
- Use disinfectants and hand sanitisers to help keep vans & hands clean (provided shop supply stocks are sufficient)
- Disinfect all surfaces around the area of work prior to commencing the required works and after completion where necessary
- On arrival to a client’s property, the Tradesperson may ask to wash their hands
- The Tradesperson may not perform the customary hand shake and will use social distancing at all times
- Tradespeople may refuse to enter a property if they believe the client or occupant to have any of the Coronavirus like symptoms.
Fixxa founder Johnny Dunford suggests that property managers can make it easier for contractors to carry out repairs by asking residents to follow a few simple rules.
- Ensure there is access to the equipment that needs to be repaired/serviced;
- Open doors to boiler cupboards, plant rooms etc in advance and make sure all surfaces are clean;
- Provide hand sanitiser or soap and water on entering and before leaving the property; and
- Keep other residents away from the contractor, particularly if they are self-isolating.
Property managers and residents can expect anyone visiting a property to carry out work to ask these or similar questions to risk assess the situation:
- Do you or anyone occupying the property have any symptoms of coronavirus infection, however mild (the symptoms being a new continuous cough and/or high temperature)?
- Are you or anyone occupying the property in the process of being tested for coronavirus infection?
- Are you or anyone in the property self-isolating?
- Have you or anyone occupying the property been in contact with anyone who has tested positive for coronavirus?
Finally, during the coronavirus outbreak, how should property managers tackle the need to avoid contact with residents and at the same time fulfil their statutory obligations to enter property to carry out safety checks? At the moment this applies to fire risk assessments and gas safety certificates, but soon electrical safety will come into the equation as well.
Bradley Parker, MD of fire and life safety specialist Future Fire, believes that if the virus continues to spread, “the Government will have to weigh up the pros and cons between ‘lockdown’ of engineering attendance and dealing with a catastrophe like a block property burning down”.
In the meantime, if property managers’ usual maintenance contractors are unable to attend a call-out, the Yellow Pages or Checkatrade will provide a level of support from local tradesmen. Bradley adds that the downside of using a different contractor is that it may not be possible for them to rectify the issue because parts and materials may be required, with suppliers also affected. “But at least a make-safe scenario could be possible,” he says.
Can I claim against my insurance policy for business interruption?
Some property managers may have read that a Parliamentary Select Committee has asked the Association of British Insurers to provide information on insurers’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, Paul Robertson explains the problems faced by the insurance industry when a “fundamental risk” becomes a reality
As the country went in lockdown this month, the UK Government suggested that when businesses closed, their insurers would step in and pay claims for business interruption. As a result, most insurance brokers have been fielding calls from clients saying they had closed their business and were making a claim. So it is important that companies understand the reality of this situation.
The COVID-19 pandemic is what is known in insurance terms as a “fundamental risk” – one that is so large that a single insurer (or schedule of insurers) would not be able to pay the claim. Fundamental risks are not insurable for this reason - only governments can write cheques that big.
The British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) has published an update stating that the London insurance market paid claims of 19.7 Billion in 2018 to commercial customers. If you compare this to the Government’s initial financial package of £330 Billion to support business during the pandemic, this demonstrates the principle behind fundamental risk. It also explains why insurers are not just ‘being mean’ when they say they will not pay claims made as a result of COVID-19.
There are some insurers who appear to have forgotten this basic insurance principle and have policies in the market that will pay COVID-19 disruption claims. Some travel insurance policies fall into this category but it’s fair to assume that travel insurance policies going forward will be far more restrictive in providing cover for communicable diseases. For obvious reasons, most companies have suspended the sale of travel insurance.
Despite recent comment by politicians, including Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has called on insurers to “step up to the plate” and help businesses, leading insurers including Axa and Aviva have confirmed their business interruption cover did not include losses arising from the virus.
UK customers can be reassured that they are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and this applies to all customers. At Midway, we do not place any business that is not protected by the FSCS which means that, ultimately, if any of our insurers fail then the scheme will protect policy holders for up to 90% of their claim.
The other good news for property managers is that they provide an essential service for their clients and their residents. As Robert Jenrick has confirmed, buildings must still be maintained. Also, lease obligations must be fulfilled and service charges collected. So although managing agents may have closed their doors, the majority have good business continuity planning in place and staff can continue to work remotely.
Finally, a number of insurers have been very honest about their position in the near future and property managers should not automatically expect their insurers to be charitable in respect of freezing rates etc. They are businesses that need to make a profit to survive and their expense base has just gone up.
Paul Robertson is managing director of 1stSure Flats and Midway Insurance
Topic of the month
Working well from home
We are all being asked to work from home as much as possible while the country copes with COVID-19. So here are some easy ways to make it work for you
On 16 March the Prime Minister urged people round the country to work from home to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Since then, spare bedrooms and kitchen tables from Newcastle to Newquay have been rapidly transformed into makeshift workspaces. For anyone who is new to remote working, this can present a few challenges, so here are some tips that might help keep you motivated.
Get dressed!
You may not be working from home forever, but you could be there for a few weeks or even months, so resist the temptation to float around in your PJs until noon. Have a shower and put some clothes on. You will feel as if you are starting a proper day’s work – and you never know when you might have to join a video call! Online clothes retailers are now marketing smart tops specifically to be worn with casual bottoms for just this reason.
Set a routine
If you’ve never worked from home before it’s not always easy to motivate yourself. The option of a leisurely breakfast followed by a dip into daytime TV won’t do anything for your productivity – or your self-esteem - long term. So establish a realistic work routine and stick to it. Depending on your need to interact (or not) with co-workers, the joy of home working is that you can set your own timetable. If starting at 10.00am and stopping at 7.00pm suits you and isn’t inconveniencing colleagues or customers, go for it!
Create a dedicated workspace
We’ve all seen the hilarious clip of Professor Robert Kelly being videobombed by his toddler, his baby and finally his wife when he was being interviewed by the BBC. The clip went viral and he's been back on our screens this week. Endearing, yes, but not what you need when you’re trying to work. So if you can, find somewhere to work where you won’t be disturbed. Shut the door firmly on children, pets and partners - or at the very least set some parameters so they know when you don’t want to be disturbed.
Make a to-do list
This may sound pretty basic but if you’re self-isolating and your family are there too, it’s easy to get distracted - or to immerse yourself in the news or social media. In the current climate we could all do with a boost. So make a to-do list every morning. Set out achievable goals each day and tick them off. You’ll be amazed how much more you can achieve without the ‘water cooler’ conversations – and how good that makes you feel.
Take a break
Without the normal distractions of office life, it’s tempting to work solidly for hours at a time, particularly if you are engrossed in a challenging project. But working in short, sharp bursts and taking regular breaks has been proved to make you more productive – and won’t leave you with brain fag at the end of the day. Many homeworkers really like the Pomodoro method where you work for 25 minutes and then take a five minute break. This keeps you focused and goal oriented. Set an alarm on your phone or click here to give it a try. You might find it works for you too.
Get some exercise
Unless you happen to live in a mansion, for most of us working from home means a 60-second commute. Sitting at a desk all day is bad for your wellbeing and your waistline. Social distancing means no after work gym sessions but you can still walk round the block, take the dog out, dust off that exercise bike or download an online yoga workout. Now we're in lockdown its one of your only opportunities to leave the house. So get out there - you’ll feel the benefit.
Clock off at a regular time
There is no virtue in being a workaholic. It’s bad for your health and your social life – although at the moment that may be reduced to a facetime chat with an elderly relative who’s stuck at home too! So set a time to stop working and do something you enjoy for the period of time you’d normally spend commuting - you’ve earned it.
Keep in touch – but not too much
Working from home can be lonely if you’re used to a busy office environment. When the only sound is the clock ticking it’s easy to feel isolated, so stay in touch with colleagues and clients by phone, Skype, or your technology of choice. If you’re the boss, set a regular time for team calls and one-to-ones. These are easy to do via video-conferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom and will help keep everyone on track. In the current environment, your colleagues will worry if you’re not in touch – but don’t overdo it. Talk to your line manager or fellow directors to determine a sensible level of communication that works for you.
These are challenging times for all of us. At the moment, working from home is not a choice but a necessity. We are all worried about our families and our health, so there is an added undercurrent of stress to deal with. This means it's really important to focus on the positive. So here are some good things to think about.
Technology means we are able to stay in touch, not only with work colleagues but with family members who we may not be able to see in person. All this would be impossible without the connectivity we all take for granted.
By managing your time effectively you may well find you get the opportunity to squeeze in things you couldn’t normally do during your working day. So don’t feel guilty if you’re not working flat out all day long. Make the most of being able to take a walk at lunchtime (at a safe distance from other people) watch the Prime Minister’s press conferences or spend half an hour playing with your children.
We can also take comfort from the positive environmental impact that fewer people being out and about will have on our towns and cities – there will be less air and noise pollution in the coming weeks and fewer vehicles on the road. And who knows, when this is all over, you may find you have completely restructured the way you and your colleagues work and communicate – and you may even find you like it.
Lesley Davis is a freelance journalist with 25 years experience of home working
Defects database
How to keep your lifts operating safely
Nick Mellor from the Lift & Escalator Industry Association takes a closer look at the ups and downs of lift maintenance
Regulations such as the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) require employers to have lifting equipment used by anyone at work to be thoroughly examined by a third party.
Equipment not covered by LOLER, such as escalators, are required to be inspected. HSE recommends that the regime defined by LOLER should be used where these regulations do not apply. In such cases, HSE have brought successful prosecutions against property managers/owners under sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Other regulations which require lifts to be maintained are:
- The Provision of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) – Regulation 5 requires employers to ensure that work equipment is maintained and also that where there is a maintenance log - this is kept up to date.
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (or equivalent Regulations in Scotland and Northern Ireland) require fire safety equipment such as evacuation lifts and firefighters lifts to be maintained.
- The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) section 2 places duties on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees specifically including maintenance of plant. HSWA section 3 places duties on employers or self-employed persons for the health and safety of people they don't employ who use their lifts and escalators.
Even if a piece of equipment does not fall under one of the cases listed above, it is clear that equipment degrades with time (even if not used or used lightly) and so owners should have their equipment regularly maintained:
- to meet statutory regulations where they apply
- to safeguard the safety of users, workers and others involved with the equipment
- to meet the demands of insurers
- to ensure it is reliable and available for use when required
- to maintain its asset value
- to manage the risks to the owner from legal action arising from accidents and claims.
We believe that an effective management regime needs the collaboration of three parties:
- The property manager/dutyholder/responsible person who arranges for maintenance of lifts/lifting appliances, arranges for third party inspections, and acts of the reports passed to them by their maintenance contractor and third party inspector. The owner should consider the objectives of maintenance so that an effective regime can be agreed with their maintenance contractor. The owner should also have risk assessments carried out on their equipment and have work undertaken to address safety issues identified.
- The maintenance contractor who agrees a maintenance regime with the owner, maintains the equipment, reports to the owner and carries out other works required by the owner. There are various regulations requiring equipment to be maintained to ensure its safety. Even where these do not apply, equipment wears and degrades with age and use so needs maintenance to keep it running safely. Maintenance consists of physical activities on the equipment and maybe supplemented by other techniques such as remote monitoring.
- The third party inspection body who carries out periodic inspections (also known as thorough examination), reports the results to the owner and also calls for supplementary tests of the equipment where required. Third party inspection/ thorough examination is a check on the safety of equipment; it is not maintenance but can be a useful check that maintenance is being carried out effectively.
We believe that a strong regime for the safety of lifts and lifting appliances rests on the three way collaboration identified above.
There are many sources of information and guidance for owners on the different elements identified above produced by HSE, the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed) whose members carry our third party inspections, and the Lift and Escalator Industry Association (LEIA).
At the LEIA we are often asked for guidance by property managers. One of the most common questions is, how do you release trapped passengers? There have been several serious accidents, and at least one fatality, over the past few years involving opening the landing doors on lifts and lifting platforms. All of these incidents were caused by the unauthorised use of ‘unlocking keys for lifts and lifting platforms’ by untrained people opening the landing doors when the lift car or platform is away from the floor – which makes it highly dangerous and can even cause users to fall into the lift well.
If passengers are trapped in a lift or lifting platform, then only a trained and authorised person should use the lift keys to open the doors. This would usually be a lift engineer but may be a member of staff who has been trained and assessed as being competent to undertake release procedures on that lift/ lifting platform.
Since 1999, new passenger-carrying lifts have been fitted with a two-voice alarm communication system to allow trapped passengers to call for help. This feature needs to be maintained at least to the same level of safety as when the lift was installed and it is the duty of the property manager to ensure this happens.
If a unit is faulty or the line is disconnected, there are two courses of action we would usually advise: either remove the lift from service altogether or install another alarm or monitoring service as a temporary measure. However, a proper risk assessment would need to be carried out by the property manager to make this call.
Nick Mellor is Managing Director of the Lift & Escalator Industry Association (LEIA), www.leia.co.uk
IRPM events
During the COPVID-19 outbreak, IRPM events have been postponed. Please check the Events section of the website for the latest information.
