Homeownership policy

Date approved: August 2022
Review date: August 2024

Please be aware that this full policy may include acronyms or technical jargon used internally within Raven. If you have any questions, please contact us.

1. Purpose of the policy

1.1. This Policy sets out Raven’s commitment to meet housing need through homeownership schemes and services.

1.2. Raven will deliver new homes for ownership as part of its own development programme and lease/management arrangements with partners; in particular, developing schemes that support customers to own their home who may not be able to on the open market.

1.3. Raven will provide advice and assistance to eligible residents who wish to exercise right to buy or right to acquire in line with current legislation and tenancy rights. Where applicable, Raven may either enable customers to acquire the home they live in or receive a portable discount to buy another home.

1.4. Following Board approval and in line with regulatory requirements, Raven may also develop homes for outright sale.

1.5. This policy sets out the management services Raven will provide to leasehold, shared ownership and other types of homeownership property, many of which are within mixed use blocks or estates where Raven also owns and manages rented homes.

1.6. This policy also sets out how homeownership services meet legislative and regulatory requirements.

2. Scope of the policy

2.1. This policy is applicable to all homeowners with a contractual leasehold relationship with Raven. For most customers, this will be a landlord relationship and all elements of the policy will apply.

2.2. Where Raven is not the landlord, but manages or leases a scheme for a partner, there may be differences in services provided based on individual agreements with third parties.

3. Legislation and regulatory requirement

3.1. This policy will be operated within all relevant regulatory and legislative requirements. This includes future legislation that may supersede the terms of our leases. Some examples include, but are not limited to:

i. Landlord and Tenant Acts 1985 and 1987, as amended

ii. Housing Acts 1985 and 1988, as amended

iii. Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

iv. Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 (not into force until 1 April 2023 for retirement properties)

v. Homes England’s Capital Funding Guide

vi. NHF voluntary Right to buy scheme

4. Key principles

4.1. Customer Service

Raven will provide consistent, high quality customer service for all customers, including those who own or lease a home from Raven, or express an interest in doing so. We will meet Raven’s customer service standards regarding response times, offering flexible ways to contact us, making is easy to do so by offering self-service and out of hours options.

We will seek to put things right if we get them wrong, ensuring homeowner feedback and complaints are listened to and acted upon. We will ensure customers are given advice about the route to address complaints, for instance first tier tribunal or Housing Ombudsman scheme

Where concerns are raised about the welfare of homeowners, Raven may signpost to support services.

We will publish easy to read information, including details of any statutory timescales. We will signpost customers to sources of help and information where appropriate.

4.2. Customer Engagement

Raven will comply with best practice and legislation to consult with homeowners about proposed works and services that may substantially affect them; in particular, where a share of the costs of the works and services would be payable by the homeowner.

Raven will seek to involve a wide cross section of customers in decision making, providing flexible options for engagement from strategic level, through to surveys, groups and feedback on services. Homeowners are encouraged to join the customer voice panel to support accountability, performance management and transparency.

4.3. Terms of the lease

Raven will include the following information in its leases:

• Services we provide, how payment for services is calculated and when payment is due, including the presence or otherwise of sinking fund contributions.
• Processes for assigning a lease, appropriate to the type of property and type of lease in operation.
• Processes for sub-letting, where it is permissible.
• Processes for the lessee to carry out alterations or improvements, including where this prohibited.
• Rights and responsibilities that Raven and the lessee must observe that are relevant to a particular development or scheme.
• Unless precluded from doing so by funding conditions or planning requirements; where purchasers under the assisted home-ownership schemes will be allowed under the terms of the lease to staircase to a full lease (in the case of a flat) and to freehold ownership (in the case of a house).

4.4. Payments and collecting debt

Raven will collect sums that are properly due. We will offer a variety of payment options where possible. Some leases require payment by Direct Debit. We will ensure payment options available are clear for homeowners.

Raven will make regular statements available for homeowners to explain their account with us. We will operate procedures for collecting rent and service charges due and enforce debt management procedures to collect outstanding sums. Arrangements will be agreed with owner occupiers in financial hardship and we will consider all options including downward staircasing or buying back the property. These options are at Raven’s discretion and are available only in exceptional circumstances. Each application will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with our current processes and criteria, which are subject to change.

Where owner occupiers are experiencing financial hardship, Raven will also signpost them to sources of possible help to maximise income, reduce expenditure or to consider the prioritisation of debts. As with our Rent Payments and Arrears Recovery Policy we will use discretion to vary our approach in sensitive and appropriate ways. Leaseholders operating as landlords will usually be expected to pay on demand.

4.5. Repairs

As per Raven’s repairs policy, leaseholders (including shared owners and sub-leaseholders, as applicable) are responsible for all repairs and maintenance within the demise set out in their lease. Raven has no responsibility under this policy for repairs to the demise under a shared ownership lease.

Where a leaseholder, shared owner or sub-leaseholder is unable to complete a repair due to personal circumstances, Raven will consider if it is in the best interest of the property and the duty of care to the customer to complete the repair. Appropriate reasons for an exception would be a vulnerability, welfare concerns, risk to the property if repair is not done, or where neighbours have raised concerns, and the lack of repair is causing a nuisance to them or impacting their own property. A repair for a homeowner or tenant within a homeowner’s property must be approved by the Head of Property Services or an appointed deputy in their absence. If a repair is completed, Raven takes no responsibility for any future works/repairs needed regardless of whether they are related to the initial job.

Rechargeable repairs

For repairs and maintenance works which take place within the communal areas of the building, all residents will be charged a proportionate amount for these works as per the terms of the lease. The sum of these works will be included in the service charge for the building. For rental units, this is the responsibility of the landlord.

If Raven have approved a personal repair for a Homeowner as an exception as above, this will be recharged to the homeowner, unless approved by the Head of Property Services or an appointed deputy that this should be covered by Raven.

4.6 Regulatory and partnership requirements

Homes England Requirements

When devising and implementing assisted home-ownership schemes, Raven will have regard to the requirements of the Homes England and its guidance in relation to capital investment, allocations and the advice of its solicitors and agents.

Right to Manage

Raven will act in accordance with right to manage legislation in response to any applications made by homeowners, whether or not properties meet the qualifying legislation.

Eligibility

Raven will operate eligibility criteria for its assisted home-ownership schemes, in consultation with local authorities and other relevant partners.  We will ensure purchasers meet any legislative or other requirements and can be reasonably expected to afford to purchase and sustain a home taking all other expenditure and financial commitments into account.

5. Responsibilities

5.1 The Director of Homes is responsible for initial voluntary sales, market sales, shared ownership (including re-sales) and shared equity sales.

6.2 The Director of Customer Experience is responsible for services provided to existing homeowners, services to shared owners, excluding re-sales; and statutory sales and re-sales of properties sold through right to buy or right to acquire schemes.

6. Related policies and references for more information

ASB policy

Safeguarding policy

Health and safety policy

Data protection policy

Complaints policy

Corporate debt recover policy

Rent and service charge policy

Hoarding policy

Customer charter

7. Implementation procedures

This policy will be available on Raven’s website.

Specific procedures will be operated for the different elements of this policy, for instance collecting rent and arrears or customer service standards.

8. Policy impact

This Policy has a direct impact on Homeownership customers. It supports their lease terms to set out the main areas of relationship Raven has with them and the services customers can expect.

The IA has considered whether there is specific impact on customers due to protected characteristics. Overall, the position is positive as the Policy puts a framework in place to protect customers, ensure their voices are heard and ensure customers can raise concerns/complaints.

The IA highlights that there may be greater financial challenges for homeowners requiring physical adaptations to their homes as this is their responsibility.

Feedback from homeowners over the last 3 years has been taken into account to update this Policy. Examples of resulting changes include increasing access for homeowners to support to manage money, consistent customer service standards and services such as ASB management. Improvements in communication are being developed within procedures that sit under this policy. Examples include improving rent and arrears letters, making service charges easier to understand and developing new processes as part of Better Connected that will increase control for homeowners, extending more services 24/7 via ‘MyRaven’ customer portal.