Solihull Council tenants may avoid reporting mould and damp in their homes for fear of being blamed and evicted under a proposed new tenancy agreement, a councillor has warned. The concern was raised during a recent scrutiny board meeting, where the authority's updated social housing tenancy agreement was discussed.
Outdated agreement to be replaced
The current tenancy agreement has been in place since 2012 and was described as “quite outdated” by Satnam Kaur, the council's assistant director for housing. The proposed update, affecting around 10,000 tenants, aims to reflect changes in legislation over the past 14 years.
Ms Kaur explained that one key element of the new agreement is to clarify that the council is the landlord, while Solihull Community Housing (SCH) acts as the contractor delivering services on the authority's behalf. She said the agreement was designed to strike the “right balance” between the responsibilities of the council as landlord and those of tenants.
Councillor raises ventilation clause concern
At the economic development, managed growth and skills scrutiny board meeting, Councillor Max McLoughlin highlighted a clause requiring tenants to take “reasonable steps to ventilate your home to reduce condensation, damp and mould”.
“Reasonable steps can often be interpreted differently by landlord and tenant,” the councillor said. “We may end up creating a scenario - we have a tenant who is living in unsafe conditions afraid to report it because they are concerned this will then be reported as a potential breach of tenancy, used as grounds for eviction.”
Darren Baggs, SCH's executive director of operations, responded: “It isn't intended to come across as 'you are responsible for everything, don't report anything to us because if you do we are going to take action'. There are steps tenants can take to reduce situations of damp, mould and condensation. We would want to intervene much sooner than a health hazard being created.”
Ms Kaur said the councillors' point would be incorporated into a final legal review to ensure the wording achieves the “right balance”.
Concerns over maintenance expectations
Councillor Kathryn Thomas also expressed concern about other expectations in the agreement, including maintenance of gardens, fences, painting and decorating.
“There is probably a substantial proportion of tenants who aren't capable of doing that on grounds of age or disability. I do feel there are some unrealistic expectations here,” she said.
Mr Baggs replied: “Responsibility for gardens, decoration of a property that is not uncommon. We are not creating a tenancy agreement specific to Solihull. If customers face difficulties with maintenance there are support services. We have to remember our responsibilities as a landlord, that isn't necessarily to provide those services. We have to make sure the property is habitable. The agreement is two way - the customer will have to take some responsibility for the property they live in.”
In a follow-up question, Councillor Thomas asked: “If a customer is unable to fulfil those requirements are we seriously going to take action against them?”
Officers said enforcement would be an “absolute last resort”. Ms Kaur added: “That is down the line - we would do everything to support and maintain that home for that resident.”
Councillors agreed to endorse the principle of replacing the current tenancy agreement and noted that tenants would be consulted before any final approval. The meeting was held on July 29.
