Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development presented proposals for a Leaseholder Charging Policy in respect of the Council’s fire door programme at high-rise blocks.

The Cabinet Member advised that the Council had an ongoing programme of replacing front entrance fire doors, which included both Council tenanted properties as well as leaseholders.  Phase 1 of the works were completed in 2020/21 and resulted in the replacement of 351 front fire doors within three high-rise blocks and one medium-rise block.  At that time, no leaseholders were recharged the cost of their front fire door due to the timescale associated with the works.  Having reviewed those arrangements for Phase 2 of the programme, it was proposed to continue that approach which would mean ‘gifting’ front entrance fire doors to leasehold properties within high rise blocks as a means of ensuring that the Council continued its proactive approach to fire safety compliance across all of its high-rise stock.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Adopt Option 2 as the policy of recharging leaseholders for front entrance doors (FEDs), communal doors and associated works, replaced as part of the Council’s ongoing fire door (high-rise) replacement programme at the 21 blocks listed in Appendix 1 to the report; and

(ii)  Note the current projected cost of £638,000 of adopting the new policy over the lifespan of a typical FED and the funding arrangements via the HRA Capital Stock Investment Programme.