John Mills, Policy Officer, ARHM

Tell us a little about your background and how you came to your role at ARHM?

I am a Lancastrian who began my career in housing as a rent collector for a local authority. I moved to the housing association sector and managed an early leasehold scheme for older people, which I really enjoyed. I then worked for two large housing associations and in the private sector for the Peverel Group.

In 1997, I decided to become a consultant specialising in leasehold management topics. In 2000, I was approached by the ARHM to take on the role of policy officer as it expanded. I had been a former committee member and chair of the ARHM and supported its role in setting standards, so I accepted.

What do you see as the greatest challenges affecting you in this role?

At present there are several things the ARHM wants to change:-

Trust Taxation

We are campaigning for the Government to sort out the mess of taxation of interest earned by service charge funds. The rate of tax has changed three times in the last four years. At one time it was a punitive 40%. Last year the Treasury decided to give a reduced rate of 20%, but only to housing associations and local authorities. This decision was grossly unfair and has no real justification.

The ARHM believes that there should be no tax at all. The Government passed a law to make managers hold funds in trust to protect them, not as a stealth tax device. At best we want the 20% rate for all leaseholders, not just in the social sector.

Separate Bank Accounts

The Government intends to make all private sector managers put the service charge monies for each block into a separate bank account. The ARHM supports this move and many of our members, both private companies and housing associations, do it already. But the Government seems to want to make things too complicated. It appears to want separate bank accounts for each schedule of service charge costs, so one scheme may end up with several bank accounts. For example a scheme of three blocks with separate cost schedules per block, plus another schedule for shared grounds and parking, would have four bank accounts.

Supporting People

Supporting People is a Government programme to assist tenants and leaseholders in retirement housing with their service charges. Unfortunately, leaseholders are being squeezed out. We have some leaseholders this year on the Government poverty line for income who had SP payments withdrawn because they are no longer considered a priority. The only way those people can remain in their homes is to spend their Pension Credit Guarantee on topping up their service charges, taking them below the poverty line.

What do you see as your greatest achievement so far?

The ARHM was the first ever organisation to have a management code approved by Government in 1996. 2006 saw a new revised and updated version also approved.

What is the ARHM’s USP?

It is an organisation that crosses the great divide between social housing and private sector management organisations. We have shown for the last 16 years that it is possible to work together and set common standards to the benefit of leaseholders. We have campaigned for a level playing field approach in law and tried to remove the anomalies that give fewer rights to lessees in social housing. There are complexities of local government finance which impact on leasehold management, but nothing that should deny rights to lessees.
For example, the Government has just announced its new ‘Homebuy’ initiatives which create more shared equity and shared ownership schemes. The leaseholders of these schemes are left in a weird no man’s land, with few of the traditional legal rights of other leaseholders. It is disappointing no one is setting standards for them.

Tell us a little about your members?

Two-thirds are housing associations and one-third are private companies. Most are landlords as well as managers. There is not a lot of agency work in this sector or a lot of frequent trading of freeholds. The result has been a commitment by most managers to long-term good customer relationships.

How do you plan to grow your Association?

ARHM members already manage about 95% of the retirement housing market, so growth in members is limited. We hope to extend our influence into new areas such as mixed tenure, and assisted living and retirement villages where housing and care meet. There are a number of owner/mangers here who are not our members.
We believe the ARHM’s code of practice is helpful, but probably needs extending. It is vital that good publicly recognised standards are set for assisted living schemes and we are keen to assist in this aim.

The ARHM only operates in England & Wales at present. We are jointly exploring with the Property Managers Association of Scotland whether it would be helpful for the ARHM to be available in Scotland.

ARHM’s principal services and benefits include a monthly briefing newsletter relevant to leasehold management and older person’s housing; a members’ helpline desk for queries; regional forums; two annual conferences - summer and winter - and good practice notes.

What are the principal ways in which ARHM can improve the way property managers deliver their service to lessees?

The code sets the overall standards and in addition we issue good practice notes on particular issues, such as health and safety. We carry out compliance checks on about one-third of members each year to check standards and give feedback to members where things are going wrong. We investigate complaints of breaches of our code by members and will send in external consultants to vet members in depth if we think there is a particular problem.

Do you think there should be a recommended fee structure for ARHM managers?
No that would be anti-competitive.

Do you think that property management should be a regulated industry?

It is becoming a good self-regulated industry. Statutory regulation would be helpful, but it will not happen now and perhaps not for many years. Property management has got much better with improved self-regulation, taking away the pressure for statutory regulation. What has not improved is the behaviour of some landlords who still think freeholds of blocks of flats are an easy way to make money, who simply want to find ways to ask managers to levy unreasonable charges. Easier enfranchisement and the right to manage have helped resolve some of the worst cases.

Are ARHM managers sufficiently trained and qualified? How can this be improved?

ARHM members use the Chartered Institute of Housing and/or the Institute of Residential Property Managers for qualifications. The ARHM was a sponsor of IRPM and it has taken the lead in training and qualifications for block management.

What legislative changes would most benefit your members?

Reverse the decision to put leaseholders in retirement housing in to the Supporting People programme. Go back to assistance with service charges from the Pensions Agency. Then private retirement housing can go back to helping those with modest incomes, which it has always done. The Government has driven the private sector away from helping older owner-occupiers with low incomes to buy into retirement housing.

Tell us a little about your non-professional interests?

Nothing quite as exciting as Mike Biles’ surfing that you mentioned last month, I’m afraid! But I do enjoy hill walking and watching cricket.