Dear Islington Leaseholders,
Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA) and fellow ILA Directors
The Next Islington Leaseholders Meeting will take place on Wednesday 11th January 2017
Category: Website
Islington Leaseholders Association Meeting
On
Wednesday 9th November 2016
In
Islington Town Hall
At
7pm – 9pm
Hosting the meeting: Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA)
Guest Speaker: To be advised
Website www.ila.org.uk
Twitter @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/Islingto
Volunteers wanted
The ILA are looking for a ‘secretary’ to take minutes and distribute them regularly to all the directors and asks for a volunteer to undertake this essential part of the work, to assist with the smooth running of the organisation. If you are interested please log into https://www.ila.org.uk/faqs/con
If you wish to join or renew your membership please contact our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms.
Please impress upon any other leaseholders that it is in their interest to attend these meetings regularly…..
Dr B.S. Potter Chairman (ILA)
Annual Leaseholders Fair
Will take place on Monday 17 October 2016
3pm – 7.30pm,
At the Resource for London,
356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA.
Islington Leaseholders Association will be attending
Please come and meet Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA) and ILA Directors.
LEASE advisers will be attending
__________________________________________________
Islington Leaseholders Association Meeting
On
Wednesday 12th October 2016
In
Islington Town Hall
At
7pm – 9pm
Hosting the meeting: Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA)
Guest Speaker: To be advised
Website www.ila.org.uk
Twitter @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/IslingtonLeaseholdersAssociation
Volunteers wanted
The ILA are looking for a ‘secretary’ to take minutes and distribute them regularly to all the directors and asks for a volunteer to undertake this essential part of the work, to assist with the smooth running of the organisation. If you are interested please log intohttps://www.ila.org.uk/faqs/contact-form.
If you wish to join or renew your membership please contact our websiteww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms.
Islington Leaseholders Association Meeting
On
Wednesday 10th August 2016
In
Islington Town Hall
At
7pm – 9pm
Hosting the meeting: Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA)
Guest Speaker: To be advised
Website www.ila.org.uk
Twitter @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/IslingtonLeaseholdersAssociation
Volunteers wanted
The ILA are looking for a ‘secretary’ to take minutes and distribute them regularly to all the directors and asks for a volunteer to undertake this essential part of the work, to assist with the smooth running of the organisation. If you are interested please log intohttps://www.ila.org.uk/faqs/contact-form.
If you wish to join or renew your membership please contact our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms.
‘Raid on ringfenced housing cash is one of country’s worst,’ say Islington leaseholders
Interview with Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA) from “Islington Tribune” 15 July 2016
Brian Potter: ‘Breaks the ringfencing’ Published: 15 July, 2016 by JOE COOPER
COUNCIL chiefs have been accused of using money ringfenced for housing on back office spending across other departments.
The housing revenue account (HRA) cash is taken from rents and service charges paid by tenants and is supposed to be ringfenced for investment in homes.
But Islington Council, along with many other local authorities across the country, is able to use a loophole to divert this cash to prop up general funds – by spending the money on finance and legal services used across all council departments.
Chairman of Islington Leaseholders’ Association Brian Potter said it was akin to “laundering money”, adding: “This breaks the ringfencing and is ripping off the HRA.”
Asked whether he thought cuts imposed by central government on local authorities justified the move, Mr Potter said: “Two wrongs don’t make a right. Islington is one of the worst in the country for this.”
Ken Lee, chairman of the housing panel at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, said: “As social tenants tend to be the poorest and are a minority in society, is it right that they should be supporting the majority in the community?
“We should be looking at strengthening [the HRA] ringfence and bringing it up to date.”
A council spokesman said: “The HRA represents 31 per cent of the council’s gross spend, and council housing represents 37 per cent of the total households in Islington.
“We have since our change of administration in 2010 brought our arms-length management organisation [Homes for Islington] and our housing repairs service in-house. These changes are reflected in the increased proportion of the CDC [corporate and democratic core services] paid for from the HRA.
“All of this is contained in our annual, democratic, budget-setting process and reporting. As a general point, it may be unhelpful to compare councils’ CDC data, as there are likely to be inconsistencies in how different councils classify CDC costs.”
Councils step up raids on housing budgets
4 July 2016 7:30 am | By Keith Cooper ( Inside Housing)
Cash-strapped councils are increasingly drawing cash from their housing budgets to plug gaps in back-office costs, an exclusive Inside Housing investigation reveals.
This significant raid on their Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) has been revealed by an analysis of financial figures from 100 council accounts.
HRA cash is derived from rents and service charges paid by tenants and is supposed to be ringfenced for investment in homes.
But town halls are able to use a loophole to use this cash to prop up general funds – by billing HRAs for ‘corporate and democratic core services’, back-office services such as finance and legal which are used by all council departments.
According to our analysis, the 100 councils’ cut the overall budget for these services by almost £90m between 2011/12 and 2014/15. But over the same period they hiked the HRAs’ contribution to this cost by £1.7m.
Just under a quarter of council landlords billed their HRAs for more than 15% of the cost of back-office services in 2014/15. The average contribution across all 100 authorities was 8%.
In extreme cases, councils billed their HRAs for close to half their ‘corporate and democratic core services’ costs.
Reading Council charged its HRA for 54% last year. Islington boosted its housing budget’s share from 38% of its total cost in 2011/12 to 44% in 2014/15. The average contribution in London boroughs was 7%.
While the Chartered Insitute of Housing and Local Government Association declined to comment on these findings, a public finance expert said they raised questions about the fairness of charges.
Ken Lee, chair of the housing panel at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, said: “As social tenants tend to be the poorest and are a minority in society, is it right that they should be supporting the majority in the community?” he asked. “We should be looking at strengthening [the HRA] ringfence and bring it up to date.”
Checks on the patency of the ‘ringfence’ intended to legally protect housing resources, had been weakened since the abolition of the Audit Commission, Mr Lee added. “District auditors were keen on checking this kind of thing when the Audit Commission was around,” he said. “This role has now gone to private auditors.”
Islington said council housing represented 37% of total households in the borough. Reading declined to comment.
Fellow Leaseholders,
Please click on and view this: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/land-reg-petition-consshare
The government wants to privatise the Land Registry – a huge public database that records the sale of all houses and land in England and Wales. If private corporations get their hands on the Land Registry, they’ll have just one thing on their minds – profits.
A privatised Land Registry would mean a hike in prices for all of us, or a fall in standards because of cost-cutting measures. And experts have said the privatisation could cause corruption and abuse in the land and property market.
The government is hoping they can go full steam ahead on their plans – but if we can show overwhelming public opposition, they could take privatisation off the table entirely. Can you add your voice and stand up for the Land Registry, a profitable and transparent public service?
Just click this link to sign the petition now:
Regards Dr B.S Potter Chairman (ILA)
Islington Leaseholders Association Meeting
On
Wednesday 11th May 2016
In
Islington Town Hall
At
7pm – 9pm
Hosting the meeting: Dr Brian Potter Chairman (ILA)
Guest Speakers: TBA
Website www.ila.org.uk
Twitter @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/IslingtonLeaseholdersAssociation
Volunteers wanted
The ILA are looking for a ‘secretary’ to take minutes and distribute them regularly to all the directors and asks for a volunteer to undertake this essential part of the work, to assist with the smooth running of the organisation. If you are interested please leave amessage here.
You can join the ILA, or renew your membership here
38 Degrees say The government’s plans to sell off the Land Registry – the profitable public service that records the sale of houses and land. 38 say its It’s a short sighted move to make money. So 38 Degrees member James, a legal services property expert, is campaigning to stop the sell-off.
You can sign the petition here
Here are some of the original In/Out EU vote promotional materials, from Dr Potter of the ILA, to help inform Leaseholders regarding the history of the process that we are about to vote on.
Gov say to vote yes Vote Yes Vote No