What the law says about tenant involvement – and what it means for you and your residents
Get things wrong and you, your residents and your organisation could be in a lot of hot water. Get it right and everybody is protected
Legal issues underpin almost every area of your work. Did you know that? It really is an underestimated part of your work. Get it wrong and the worst case scenario is that you and your residents could be liable for quite large sums of money.
Get it right and everybody is protected.
To make the day as useful as possible we have narrowed the day down to 6 of the most common areas of your work. If there are other areas that you would like guidance on let us know before the day and we’ll do our best to get you the answers on the day as well.
Tenant and community groups and the law
Still by far and away the most common form of resident involvement, but remarkably few people are clear about what the law means for tenants’ groups and how they operate. You must know how to work out what the legal status of any group is and what to look for if you are in any way concerned about a group’s legal standing.
We’ll cover:
- Should groups have any sort of a legal structure?
- How to tell what legal structure a group has
- How do you protect tenants from any form of liability?
- How do you go about writing a constitution for a group which is both simple and easy to understand, but also meets any legal requirements?
- What is incorporation, and when should a group consider it?
- What can you do if things go wrong or a group goes off the rails?
Public or open residents’ meetings
I am sure you would agree that this is a potential hornet’s nest of legal problems. We’ll thoroughly examine what the law has to say about public meetings as well as spending some time looking at:
- How to deal with disruptive behaviour
- At what point can you adjourn a meeting?
- What powers does have a chairperson have?
- What’s the legal status of decisions made at public meetings?
- What does the law have to say about free speech and liability, libel and slander?
Fun days and community events
There’s more here than meets the eye. You need to be familiar with these areas, so we’ll cover them on the day:
- What the law says about events
- What you need to know about health and safety
- What the law says about prize draws, vouchers and other incentives
Working with particular groups
The law is changing and you simply must ensure that you are you are protected when dealing with groups such as children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Neighbourhood charters, estate agreements and community contracts
The word contract, which sounds pretty legal, gets used an awful lot when people talk about agreements and charters. Yet it’s also said that these sorts of agreements aren’t legally binding. So what is the answer?
We’ll cover:
- What is a contract?
- When does a charter, a protocol or an agreement become legally binding?
- Can something which is called a contract be a mistake?
- When should and shouldn’t you use the term contract?
Data protection is critically important at all stages of working in the community. You simply must know what you are getting involved with when you involve and work with the community.
It matters at every stage:
- When you take bookings for events
- When you collect and process survey data and when you use that data and act on it
- When you take photographs, especially of children
- When you record details of service users or participants in activities
- When you take a laptop out of the office
- When you want to share data with other organisations
These are some common concerns that we’ll cover on the day:
Should community groups be prepared to share the information they hold with local statutory organisations that are either funding them or working alongside them?
How do you maintain confidentiality in a small community where the staff and volunteers meet each other and the organisation’s users socially?
How do you manage security when people work from home or have to take confidential material with them to meetings?
Where do you stand on the taking and using of photographs, especially when children are involved.
We’ll also cover these topics:
- Why data privacy matters for anyone working in the community
- What Data Protection means and how to set priorities
- How to apply the eight Data Protection Principles when working with community and residents’ groups
- How to work out which information is covered by the Data Protection Act
- How to draw up a confidentiality policy (or review an existing one).
- How to take appropriate security measures
- How to know when it is OK to disclose information to a third party and when it is not
- How to give people the information they are entitled to about the way their information is being used, and who by
- How to decide what options people should have about the way their information is used
- How to keep good records – and when to dispose of them
- How to decide whether the organisation needs to ‘notify’ under the Data Protection Act
It really does promise to be a useful and fascinating day so I do hope you can make it because the benefits promise to be huge.
To summarise them for you:
- You’ll learn an awful lot about the law
- You’ll have an important topic clarified and demystified for you
- You’ll get an opportunity to ask and have answered any legal question you have ever wanted answered on tenant involvement
- You leant how to make that you and your tenants are properly protected
- You’ll be better equipped to advise others
Why not run this course in house? The price is fixed no matter how many attend. Email me at rod@rodlaird.co.uk or phone 01494 872 836.
Your trainers:
What other delegates say about this course
"Almost every section was informative and enlightening."
Lisa Haigh, Resident Involvement Officer, Southern Housing Group
"Very useful course and very informative."
Laura Guttridge, Resident Involvement Co-ordinator, Rochford Housing Association
"Good to gain more knowledge of relevant legislation and to raise awareness of duties of responsibilities of organisations and voluntary groups. David was a knowledgeable trainer, targeted his audience at the right level and demonstrated a good understanding of delegates issues and concerns. This course just flew by as it was very interesting and engaging and has broadened my understanding of what the legal requirements are around tenant participation issues."
Paul Dawson, Principal Tenant Participation Officer, St George's Community Housing
"Excellent course, very informative, relevant and well delivered. Clarified aspects of what the law actually says."
Vicki Paxford, Community Development Manager, Cottsway Housing Association
"This course has been exceptionally enlightening and thought provoking. It's extremely beneficial to anyone engaged in community work, whether in housing or not. The course provided clear directions and created the basis for new ideas for implementation when I return to work. The information relating to contracts, liabilities and negligence were very valuable. A must for anyone with a quest for knowledge and a desire to work outside of the box."
Lindon Morgan, Customer Involvement Officer, Nexus (Midlands) Housing Association
"Excellent course, very informing."
Diane Maddock, Community Development Officer, Cosmopolitan Housing Association Ltd
"Very good. Glad you were able to put this course together"
Ewan Moar, Resident Involvement Officer, Newlon Housing Group
"Very interesting and useful to my work. Answered many 'grey areas'"
John Bloss, Community Investment Officer, Guiness Trust
"Excellent, really enjoyable course - thoroughly enjoyable. Course content was good, wide range of advice about legal implications of working with residents"
Tim Gray, Area Community Investment Manager, Guinness Trust