Housing CEO WhatsApp summary: May – June 2024

• Questions were posed regarding the experience of parent organisations making a loan to a for-profit subsidiary to enable gift aid to be paid. Members shared their experience in lending to for profit subsidiaries for development purposes. Other members shared that any surplus is gift aided and loans are made on full commercial terms to satisfy regulatory bodies like the RSH. Members discussed the need for careful consideration of the use of social housing assets in such transactions and another member communicated that they have an intra-group agreement in place to safeguard social housing assets. 
• Members also discussed the difficulties smaller providers are facing. There are challenges with restrictive debt service cover loan covenants imposed by banks with members expressing that these restrictions are causing significant operational challenges. Members in similar positions shared insights with others and discussed considering refinancing options to mitigate the impact. 

• Members expressed concerns about observed significant increases in legal fee hourly rates from solicitors. Members discussed solutions and some shared that they participated in a marketing exercise with other housing associations to enter into a collaboration agreement with a legal firm to ensure price certainty.  
• The growing trend of solicitors submitting subject access requests (SARs) with disrepair claims, was raised. Various members expressed their difficulty with managing to resource this, especially for smaller organisations. A robust approach to handling SARs was shared which focuses on emphasising that personal data does not include emails and property data is not covered by the GDPR legislation. Many members expressed an interest in learning more about this approach and Campbell Tickell committed to organising a seminar to discuss handling SARs. 

• Inquiries were made about the ease of applying for a retrofit credit scheme which is currently on offer, especially for a small Social Housing Decarbonisation Funded programme. Other members expressed interest in the fund and a member shared that they found the process easy and worthwhile which was later supported by other members suggesting the process was straightforward and beneficial. 
• Practices surrounding smoke detector maintenance were discussed concerning ongoing checks once a tenant is in place. One member explained that they understand legislation covers the provision of detectors but not checks. Members offered good practice examples where they utilise dynamic repairs scheduling systems for their internal repairs team jobs with positive outcomes. 

• The group continues to be a place for members to share policies and strategies. Shared policy examples related to ICT, GDPR and data retention.  
• The group is also a space for members to ask for recommendations on service providers and networks. Requests were made for AI and GDPR experts and offers were put forward for people to speak to members Digital Lead and ICT manager. 
• Members expressed their interest in understanding approaches to benchmarking ICT spending, and contacts were provided to join Campbell Tickell’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) WhatsApp group. This latter group has discussed issues affecting CIOs including procurement and delivering new housing management IT systems. (CIOs are welcome to contact James Tickell or Greg Campbell to join the group.) 
• Members were asked their opinions on the ease of use of the Rubixx Housing System and alternative scheduling software currently in use with other members.  
• Members took time to welcome new members and identify who would be attending the Housing 24 Conference (Ocean Media Group) in Manchester in June or The Housing Community Summit (NHF and CIH), in Liverpool in September.  
• Members also shared thought-provoking articles, podcasts, events and book recommendations on such subjects as affordability in Holland, challenges the police face dealing with suspected domestic abuse, the rise of homeless families, AI in social housing, and 1950s planning and building of estates. 

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