[emmapannell]

Hi – we had flooding in 2 of our properties a few years ago, and the residents did move out (staying in a very local travellodge for several weeks). The damage to the properties was extensive, an insurance claim was required – and the relocated residents’ costs were included (reasonable costs including daily food etc) as part of the claim.

Do you have insurance that might cover this eventuality?

Emma

[emmapannell]

Hi. This is from the NRLA website, about the credit checks (which are undertaken by an NRLA partner):
Instant credit checking – results available within minutes.
Check applicant’s previous address history.
Discover County Court Judgements (CCJ’s) from court records.
Detect bad credit history such as bankruptcy, IVA’s etc.
Verify electoral role registration.
Check for aliases.
Credit scoring giving the likelihood of applicant falling into arrears.
‘Pay as you go’ service – no account application or bulk buying required.

[emmapannell]

Hi Liz – I’ll email you the referral anyway. As far as I remember, they don’t ask about what type of landlord you are when you join. I suspect they’d be only too happy to let you join, and take advantage of their services, including the credit checking ones. But you could ask them the question and decide from there?
Emma

[emmapannell]

Hi Liz
We are a member of the NRLA (National Residential Landlord’s Association) as we have also had tenancies for some of the charity’s properties. We have used their services for credit checks, and they don’t charge much (£12 for our last check in 2023). Annual membership of the NRLA is £125 and we can refer you if you wish, as this gets us a discount on renewal!

If that would work for you, let me know and I can refer you.
Emma (emma.pannell@pinnocks.org)

[emmapannell]

Hi Tina – no we haven’t but have looked into doing so, and it’s probably a benefit to landlords of older / problem properties. We were told about these: https://www.airthings.com/en-gb/ and I’d be interested in anyone who has experience of them and the data / usefulness of the data.
And also – Aico: https://www.airthings.com/en-gb/

[emmapannell]

Hi Margaret – if this person has a disability which means that they can’t hear a traditional smoke alarm, these may be available FOC from local fire service. Certainly Kent Fire & Rescue can (and have in our case) provide one at no cost. And also RNID may provide the same, free of charge. I am not sure how this all applies under the equality act, but as there are options which should come at no cost to the charity, it’s something you would probably want to consider.

[emmapannell]

Hi – having never carried out financial eligibility checks, we implemented a comprehensive review in 2023 as we already certain that there were residents residing at our almshouses who were not beneficiaries.

We asked for information similar to Sarah’s above, but also evidence in the form of bank statements, etc, as we needed to be certain about each person’s eligibility. We also asked each person whether the information they provided on their original form was accurate. It was quite a big project (we have 62 almshouses). This evidence of financial status and need is, of course, the crux of an almshouse charity’s purpose – providing housing to those in need, and, with trustees legally liable for any breaches of the charity’s purpose you must be able to evidence that situation in each case.

We had planned for the fact that we may have had to conclude this review by asking some residents to leave, as they were not beneficiaries, but in the end, several made the decision to leave by themselves. They had effectively been able to live at our almshouses for many years, paying what was then an extremely low level of WMC, whilst protecting their own finances, and we knew (and they knew) that this could not continue.

We carried out the reviews ourselves. It was just a case of looking at their bank statements, and comparing with what they said they had when they applied. No specialist knowledge is needed – but it’s not an easy task, and requires asking difficult questions. It did also lead to several being helped by our Beneficiary Manager to apply for benefits which they had not realised they were entitled to.

We now routinely ask each applicant when applying to us, for evidence in the form of bank statements, benefit receipt, etc.

Wish you all the best with your review.
Emma

[emmapannell]

Hello. Much of this will depend on whether your charitable objectives allow people of any age. Some do, some don’t. But if there are no restrictions, like us, then you can choose your criteria. We base ours on whether someone is in receipt of Housing Benefit (if over retirement age) or Universal Credit (if of working age).

We ask for 3 months of bank statements and extra financial evidence as required, as part of our application process too, but the benefits situation means that a government agency has also already done those financial checks too.

We try to meet the person in their current home, or ask them to come in, and will check as far as we can about medical situation for independent living confirmation.

If someone is sofa-surfing, they may not be claiming any benefits, or know what they are entitled to claim, so you could carry out an indicative check by going to http://www.entitledto.co.uk and plug in the figures.

Not always easy to put in a priority order, and I’m sure some people have used grids for this type of situation before, so maybe someone can share that with you.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by emmapannell.

[emmapannell]

I asked almshouse association for an update on this today and Susan Brooks replied saying that Nick is still working on this and will update us all when there is any news.

[emmapannell]

Received yesterday from Danielle Hughes at Almshouse Association Support, who may well post to this forum too:

Good afternoon Emma

We are working with Housing Ombudsman to share guidance and make it more accessible for our members. This is being worked on over the next couple of months so should be ready for when you are required to submit.

Kind regards

Danielle Hughes
Member Support Officer

[emmapannell]

I’ve been in email communication with the housing ombudsman this week, following their request for the Annual Submission, which finally found its way to me this week. Their response to me yesterday was that our submission is not due until March 2025, and they said:

“We are currently working with the Almshouse Association, so please also reach out the them if you require any help and support. If you do require anything further before submission date, please do not hesitate to contact us again.”

They have been responsive to my various emails,, and I had explained to them that although we were keen to comply, we are a very small team (without a complaints department etc).

I will now ask the almshouse association direct about their advice on this.

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