Joint Rent Group - 2026 Minutes
Joint Rent Group
Thursday 5 March 2026, 10am via zoom
Attendees
Councillor Gurpreet Johal (Housing Convener), Harry McCormack (tenant volunteer), Frances McGonagle (tenant volunteer), June Todd (tenant volunteer), Stefan Kristmanns (Housing Development Co-ordinator), Nicola Pettigrew (Housing Operations Manager), John Kerr (Homelessness & Housing Development Manager), Craig Wilson (Building Services Manager), Alan Young (Housing Asset & Investment Manager) and Jane Mack (Snr Housing Development Officer –Tenant Participation).
Welcome and Apologies
Gurpreet welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies been received from Councillor Hazel Sorrell (Vice Housing Convener).
Gurpreet confirmed that the 6.7% rent increase had been agreed at Council meeting the previous night (4/3/26).
Update on Outstanding Actions
Jane shared the outstanding actions on screen and went through the updates received.
JRG077 CCTV Project – Installation completed. Nicola confirmed that signage wasn’t included as part of project but that Scott McLelland and Steven Williamson will review what is needed and take this forward and feedback to WDTRO. WDTRO would support as prominent signage as possible to increase deterrence effect.
Control room visit arranged for 16/03/26 and WDTRO will see the massive improvements carried out and will be able to get demonstration of the extent of the system.
Council have agreed a savings option which will potentially cut the CCTV staff and maybe the hours cameras are manned – Nicola advised they are currently looking at the implications of this and how best to minimise the impact and will feedback to WDTRO at a future meeting.
JRG094 lock-up review – review ongoing. When waiting list was last reviewed been able to be confirmed as key housing staff member off.
JRG095 Council Tax for ground floor MSF – being escalated to NDR manager due to lack of response and need for visit to be arranged.
JRG098 Review of internal HRA charges –is taking place and should be finished by end of March.
JRG102 kitchen programme pilot – Craig advised he will get the latest pilot inspection numbers to share. Have agreed that if a kitchen is inspected and reassigned to a future year, it won’t get inspected again and would just automatically get renewed.
Gurpreet asked for clarification if a tenant needs a new kitchen before the renewal date is that done? Craig confirmed that are ones that get pushed back but also ones that get added to the list - BSOs come across kitchens that need renewed ahead of the programme e.g. due to damage or flooding and have a proforma to complete to get added to the programme.
JRG103-Explore opportunities and communications to reduce no access situations – Craig confirmed that serial no accesses get escalated to HOs. Have been improving communication to reduce no accesses and when doing inspections, BSO are checking that contact details are correct. At moment BSOs have to return to office to make repair appointments but process being improved. Developing mobile working and will enable BSOs to make appointments with the tenant at the property – hopefully by end of summer. BSO scheduled visits are also now confirmed and use no access cards.
Making good progress with EICR with improved communication and more appointments are being kept. In particular, multi-trade repairs are being managed better to ensure get access and ensure productivity.
Void budget and performance monitoring Q2
Still in Q4 (Jan-March) so only Q3 performance available but Nicola gave an update on current position. 115 voids as of 5/3 - 45 terminations for February and potentially 63 in March. Teams are working closely together as target is to get voids down to 100 by end of March. Terminations have been slightly lower than last year. Roughly 90 lets a month so letting rate similar to last year.
Abatements at the end of February were £210k so should come under budget by end of March. Decant average also been reduced as a particularly long term decant been resolved.
Craig echoed that teams working well together and void turnaround has improved, productivity improved and focus has been on working efficiently and less work going to sub-contractors to keep costs lower and pleased with direction of travel.
Update on Capital programme P10
Spreadsheet shared on screen – shows progress of each capital programme in terms of number of installations and budget spend.
Alan confirmed that some programmes had been reduced mid-year but are tracking well. 3 main areas that are under budget are roofs. EWI and windows/doors. Windows/doors figures had been low but is now nearer the projected outcome figure of 408 – reduced from original target of 565.
EWI programme been affected by other projects as additional funding had become available for work on Atholl Steel properties and Government funding for HEEPS2 project. Render contractor now does roofs and increasing progress. Remaining roofs involve owners and that involves a protracted process.
Kitchen renewals are getting done (270 done) – inspect first so that do the ones most in need of renewal. Also a separate but related project being undertaken which will set out life cycle numbers and information being put together to help councillors and tenants know what the process is and will also use it in the Housing News. All council properties will have a number of renewals needed all at different times – kitchens, bathrooms, roofs etc. and need a process to manage that as efficiently as possible. Number of aspects can affect longevity but use an average and best practice information.
Date of next meetings
Tenant JRG - 2 April, 10am on zoom
Full JRG - 4 June, 10am on zoom
Joint Rent Group
Thursday 22 January 2026, 10am via zoom
Attendees
Councillor Hazel Sorrell (Vice Housing Convener), Harry McCormack (tenant volunteer), Frances McGonagle (tenant volunteer), Stefan Kristmanns (Housing Development Co-ordinator), John Kerr (Homelessness & Housing Development Manager), Craig Wilson (Building Services Manager), Alan Young (Housing Asset & Investment Manager), Jonathan Stewart (HRA accountant) and Jane Mack (Snr Housing Development Officer –Tenant Participation)
Welcome and Apologies
Hazel welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies been received from Councillor Gurpreet Johal (Housing Convener), June Todd (tenant volunteer), Nicola Pettigrew (Housing Operations Manager) and David Lynch (Housing Operations Co-ordinator).
Updates on Outstanding Actions
Jane shared the outstanding actions on screen and went through the updates received.
JRG094 lock-up review - Review ongoing and waiting for repair plan. Garage site procedure was considered by Better Homes Board on 20/1/26 and lock-up policy going the HACC in February 2026. When the waiting list had last been updated not been confirmed yet. John clarified that the garage sites were different from the lock-ups. The garage site is just a plinth that gets rented and tenant needs to put up own garage. Being reviewed as number have been neglected and sites look poor. Current letting being paused until policy agreed and considering a proposal that in future structures should be subject to planning approval.
JRG095 Council Tax for ground floor MSF –double charge still in place, response from NDR team now been received and inspection visit been requested.
JRG098 Review of internal HRA charges – to be completed by end of March 2026 and Jonathan confirmed that it had commenced.
JRG102 kitchen programme pilot – update on pilot figures provided – similar to previous figures- 120 addresses - 33 pushed back (27.3%),27 added to the programme (22.5%), 55 no access (45.8%),1 not required (0.8%) and 4 no info yet. Craig confirmed
that the Building Services Officers do the inspections. In terms of the ones that are pushed back it was confirmed that the tenant is told they are inspecting to see if kitchen needs replaced. If it doesn’t need replaced, tenant is told when it will be re-inspected again.
Hazel queried about the waiting list as she had been advised following a recent flood of her own home that there was a waiting list for kitchen renewals. Craig confirmed that if it needs replaced then will be added to the programme. Will need to get measured and nearer the time, an appointment will be arranged.
Alan clarified that if a renewal is a result of a repair issue then the BSO would check the property database to see when new kitchen or bathroom inspection is due and gauge whether can wait or if needs to be added to current programme.
Discussed impact of renewal dates as they are not set in stone and expected component lifecycles were always intended as a guide for potential renewal numbers. Some will be postponed, though this will have an impact on later years so reprofiling can cause issues.
John advised that are looking at investment plan and looking to refresh 30-year business plan. This includes carrying out an exercise of stock modelling to assess what is needed, is expected to take 6 to 8 months to fully complete and will inform an investment plan and rental strategy to deliver it. Will share outcome with WDTRO and JRG help set out next years’ rent setting.
In terms of kitchen pilot, Alan confirmed that they had concluded that it was useful and will continue with it and looking to include bathrooms too but need to assess if BSO’s have capacity. Inspections had shown that a reasonable amount of planned renewals didn’t need done so saved HRA resources. Will still spend the budget on properties that do need renewed.
JRG103-Explore opportunities and communications to reduce no access situations – Craig confirmed that they are doing an analysis of serial no accesses. Housing officers already support when there are issues with access – particularly for emergencies where there is flooding from a neighbour.
Update on CCTV programme and provision
Craig ran through the update provided - 347 cameras already fitted and working - overall 90% completed – full completion estimated by end of February 2026.
Void budget and performance monitoring Q2
Jane shared Q3 (Oct-Dec) void update onscreen. Craig advised that void rent loss is over budget but still have lost less rent that last year so is still progress. Council Tax budget is over budget and still hoping that can get saving on ground floor properties in place to reduce that. Overall void numbers are lower (126) and at a much more manageable level so been able to reduce contractor spend and focus on in-house efficiencies.
Update on Capital Programme P9
Spreadsheet shared on screen – shows progress of each capital programme in terms of number of installations and budget spend. Alan confirmed that revised budgets are tracking well. No figures for smoke /fire detectors and Alan advised that there had been 400 addressed that still needed done and were added to the EICR programme. Stefan clarified that now only 25 addresses that don’t have the connected smoke alarms as specified by new legislation so these are being targeted.
Date of next meetings
Tenant JRG 19 February, 10am on zoom
Full JRG 5 March, 10am on zoom