April 26 2004

Following receipt and consideration of comments on the draft Partnering Programme Agreement (PPA), the final PPA is now available. The changes are:

• a statement that intermediate market rent levels are not expected to exceed 80% of the market rent for an area; and
• the section on employer contributions (key worker living) has been revised to state that the contributions will be collected by ODPM and placed in a central fund and that there will be no facilities in IMS to identify the contributions.

There is also a revised self-assessment procedural compliance checklist in Appendix 4. A variety of changes have been made to the original checklist including additions and deletions of questions.

April 13 2004

• For the 2004/05-2005/06 programme, 80% of resources have been allocated to 71 housing associations or groups under this route. A new chapter entitled Partnering Programme Approach is contained within the revised guide.
• Information and procedures related to the new Intermediate Rent and London Key Teacher Challenge programmes will be in a new chapter entitled "Key worker living programme", which is still in preparation.
• Section 2 of the GENERAL Chapter relating to scheme processing is currently being rewritten. Meanwhile associations should direct any questions to the Programme Manager at the Corporation's office at Maple House, telephone 020 7393 2182.With effect from April 2004 the minimum cost limit of £500 for Aids and Adaptations has been abolished. Housing associations should now refer to the Corporation's Regional Housing Programme for guidance.
• Repair: With effect from April 2004 the minimum cost limit of £500 for Aids and Adaptations has been abolished. Housing associations should now refer to the Corporation's Regional Housing Programme for guidance.
• Homebuy: Total Cost Indicator rates for Homebuy have been abolished with effect from April 2004. Several of the sections within this chapter have been amended accordingly, including the sample documents in section 7. Homebuy, Section 8, subsection 1 has been expanded to clarify issues in respect of applications for a Consumer Credit Licence, which housing associations need to provide equity loans (e.g. what to do when the licence expires or if there is a change to license details). Clarification relating to the maximum mortgage (in terms of % of equity) that can be applied for, has been provided.
• A new section ,"After Sales", has been added to the SALE chapter. It provides information relating to Interim Charging Orders.
• Following the introduction of Land Registration Rules 2003, housing associations should read SALE-9, para 1.7.
• Grant Recovery: A number of changes have been made to the procedures relating to the completion and submission of Recycled Capital Grant Fund returns. Of particular note will be changes to subsections 10, 11 and 12 of REC-4, and the policy change relating to Market Renewal Area Pathfinders, which extends the recycling period from 3 to 5 years.
• Right to Acquire: The section that sets out the exclusions to RTA (RTA 2, Para 4.1) has been clarified to explain what an arrangement with creditors means. A paragraph has been added making clear that housing associations cannot make retrospective applications for RTA or Voluntary Purchase Grant that may have been overlooked.
• Compliance Audit: GENERAL-9 contains amendments in relation to the new Partner Programme Agreements and the Key worker living programme.
• Management Arrangements: Most of GENERAL-8 was previously advice on the content of management agreements and procedures for operating them. The prime source on this subject is a Regulation interim guidance note ("Housing associations and managing agents: Interim guidance on monitoring" (July 2003)) so a reference to that replaces those details. New material includes a reference to the Brent Protocol and advice on dealing with loss or threatened loss of revenue funding for supported housing schemes.