river clyde homes

Standards for Tenants and Residents Associations

River Clyde Homes recognises the value of tenant involvement in delivering an effective service.

As part of our strategy to achieve sustainable communities River Clyde Homes aims to develop and support active and responsible tenant and resident associations that are involved in their communities and have positive relationships with local staff, agencies and elected members.

The standards below apply to groups who wish to play an active role in developing and monitoring River Clyde Homes’ policies and procedures and to groups seeking grant funding. These standards are intended to make sure that groups have a mandate to get involved and are accountable.

Groups must meet the standards set below:

• Adopt a Constitution, which complies with the minimum standards set out in the constitution for Tenants & Residents Associations Registered with River Clyde Homes.
• Comply with River Clyde Homes Equal Opportunities Standard by encouraging the membership of tenants and residents from all sections of the community and being aware of and responsive to their needs.
• Hold regular meetings, including an Annual General Meeting. Meetings require a minimum attendance before decisions can be made and should always be minuted.
• Membership is open to everyone living in the area covered by the group.
• Communicate regularly with all members through letters, leaflets, posters, newsletters and notices. Groups should report their achievements and must give good notice of public meetings and events to all tenants and residents so as to encourage maximum participation.
• Keep open financial records and annual accounts which must be presented at an A.G.M.
• Sign the Grant Aid Agreement each time an application is made for grant funding.

In addition to the above points River Clyde Homes’ expects tenants’ and residents’ associations to:

• Play a positive role in responding to local estate issues and problems.
• Take advantage of opportunities for consultation and involvement locally and River Clyde Homes wide. Establish regular meetings with local housing staff and other service providers and contribute to agendas for the area.
• Attend conferences and seminars arranged by River Clyde Homes to enhance groups’ knowledge and to enable increased involvement in their communities.
• Develop good working relationships with local staff

Guidelines on the Conduct of Tenants and Residents

Association Members Courtesy

Committee members should behave in a reasonable and courteous manner towards staff, other committee members and the general membership of the association. River Clyde Homes may request that groups take action to deal with committee members who fail to act in accordance with this guideline or whose behaviour brings the group or River Clyde Homes into disrepute. In the case of abusive or threatening behaviour this may include the removal of the offending person(s) from the committee.

Confidentiality

Committee members should treat as confidential all information given to them by a tenant or resident where action is required on that person’s behalf. Deliberate disclosure of confidential information of any kind may result in River Clyde Homes requesting the removal of that person(s) from the committee.

Disputes

River Clyde Homes may temporarily suspend communication with tenants’ and residents group during disputes. This could include disputes between two or more groups, between tenants’ groups and River Clyde Homes, or between committee members of the same group. This is to allow time to investigate the cause of a dispute and to make recommendations to resolve it. Tenant and resident associations will be expected to comply with recommendations resulting from any investigation or mediation. During the period of suspension groups will not be eligible for grant support, training or involvement in consultation initiatives.

Financial Monitoring

Where it is found that deliberate financial mismanagement has taken place, River Clyde Homes will expect committee members involved to be de-selected from the committee. Such persons will be excluded from further involvement with registered tenants groups. Where necessary, River Clyde Homes may instigate Police involvement in investigations.

Political Allegiance

River Clyde Homes requires that all tenant and residents associations act in a non-political manner when conducting association business. Councillors cannot be committee members of a tenant group, but can be invited to attend committee, public and annual general meetings in either a listening or speaking capacity. However, they must not participate in committee votes.

Complaints

If your tenant group is dissatisfied, or has complaints about members of staff regarding their dealings with the group, the committee should:

• Discuss the matter, and vote on the appropriate course of action.
• Direct a written complaint to the appropriate line manager.
• Await an initial response before deciding and taking further action.

Where individual residents have complaints about staff, these should go through River Clyde Homes’ formal complaints procedure.