Governing documents of the Lissenden Gardens Tenants Association:(constitution, equal opportunities policy and code of conduct)
The Constitution
[Proposal to update this constitution to the current Camden model constitution - this makes changes to 3a, 5f and 6a in bold below - with wording from the updated Camden model in italics with **. Changes to be voted on at the next General Meeting.]
1. The name of the TRA is Lissenden Gardens Tenants Association
The association will represent members in Parliament Hill Mansions, Lissenden Mansions, Clevedon Mansions, Chester Court, The Wedge and The House
2. Aims
The aims of the association shall be to promote the rights and needs of Camden Council tenants and leaseholders in relation to the maintenance and improvement of their housing conditions, amenities and the environment, which will benefit all the residents within the association/group’s area.
To do this the association/group shall have the following powers:
a. to represent all the residents within the group’s area
b. to promote, support and achieve changes and improvements to the quality of life for residents and the way the Council manages and delivers its housing service
c. to provide facilities for recreation and amenities and to encourage community cohesion
d. to promote equal opportunities and work for good relations among all local residents as detailed in their Equal Opportunities Statement
e. to regularly consult and inform all members
f. to represent the majority view of the residents
g. to be non-party political
h. to promote social, welfare and recreational activities for the benefit of the community
i. to promote open membership to the TRA for all members of the community
3. Membership
a) Full “eligible” membership of the Association shall be open to all tenants and leaseholders over the age of 18 which live within the area covered by the TRA (licensees between the age of 16-18 are eligible for membership).
**The following are allowed to be office holding members who are also entitled to vote:
Family members living with tenants [Must be over 16 and listed as family member on tenancy agreement].**
The following are allowed to be non-office holding members who are entitled to vote:
Freeholders who live within the area and pay service charges to the Housing Revenue Account.
Camden Council Members or employees
The following are allowed to be non-voting, non-office holding members:
co-opted members from outside of the immediate area covered by the TRA appointed until the next AGM (they must not be a council member or employee)
Residents from the association’s area of benefit who are not any of the above – these will leaseholders, freeholders, housing association tenants and private tenants.
b) Should a person stop living within the area covered by the TRA, they will no longer be a member of the TRA unless they are co-opted. Should this person be an elected officer of the TRA, the post will become vacant and an election for the newly vacated post must take place at the next general meeting of the TRA.
c) In the event of continuous or serious breaches of the constitution or code of conduct, a person’s membership of the TRA can be suspended or ended by a majority vote at the next general meeting. In case of a committee member breaching the code of conduct – membership can be suspended or ended by two thirds of the majority of the committee.
d) A member or committee member whose membership has been suspended in line with the above clause shall be entitled to have that suspension reviewed at the next general meeting. A guide to Good Practice is available from the Council’s Tenant and Leaseholder Engagement Team.
4. Annual General Meeting (AGM)
a.The TRA shall call an AGM each year to:
accept the resignations (and subsequent elections) of the TRA’s officers and its committee
Receive the annual report of the committee and the statement of financial accounts Receive reports of any member elected to represent the TRA on another body.
( e.g. District Management Committee representatives)
Agree the Constitution and Code of Conduct which must be available at the AGM Any proposed changes to the constitution, must be presented to the membership for consideration 10 days prior to the AGM. At least 10% of the membership (or 80 per 1000 members for TRAs with over 1000 members) must be present to endorse amendments. Any endorsed changes should be noted within the relevant section on the constitution.
Adopt the TRA Halls Memorandum of Understanding [see section 10] (If applicable)
b.The TRA must hold an AGM within 15 months of their previous AGM. Failure to do so will result in the TRA ‘lapsing’ and no longer being recognised by Camden Council. The bank account must not be used for TRA business during lapsed periods. In order to regain recognition, a full AGM must be held under the rules above.
c.A minimum of 14 days’ notice of the AGM should be given to all members.
d.The AGM must be moderated by an Independent Observer, to check that the AGM has been conducted in accordance with the outlined registration process. The Independent observer must be one of the following: Council Officer, elected Councillor, District Management Committee Chair or Vice Chair.
e.Quorum–AGMs must be quorate according to the following guidelines
TRAs with less than 50 households - 5
TRAs with 50-100 households – 10
TRAs with 101 – 250 households – 15
TRAs with 251 –350 households – 25
TRAs with 351 - 500 households – 35
TRAs with 501 – 1000 households – 50
TRAs with 1001 – 2000 households – 75
f.For the purposes of the election, only one vote will be allowed per household.
5. The Committee
a. All TRAs shall democratically elect a committee to conduct the majority of their business. The committee shall be made up of no less than five members of the TRA unless the TRA has less than 50 members in which case this is three members.
b. As part of the committee, a TRA must elect officers: a Chairperson, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and a District Management Committee Representative (this increases to two if the TRA area of the TRA contain 300 or more eligible members)
c. The TRA may also elect officers to represent the TRA on any other relevant strategic group or body at a general meeting.
d. No more than one individual from a single household shall be able to vote on a TRA’s committee.
e. Only tenants and leaseholders of Camden Council are eligible to be officers or on the committee of a TRA.
f. The majority of the Committee and its elected officers should be tenants, in order to be broadly representative of the area covered by the TRA. Should exceptional circumstances make this impossible, a temporary relaxation of this rule may be allowed at the discretion of the Council.
**Committee membership should be broadly representative of the area covered by the TRA.**
g. The committee and/or its chair has the power to delegate business to sub- committees, for example finance. These can be chaired by any committee member.
h. Any vacancies on the committee or officers arising from a resignation or otherwise should be filled by an existing committee member [for officer positions] until the next general meeting. At this meeting, a replacement member should be democratically elected from within the membership of the TRA.
i. Copies of the constitution are free to all members of the association. The secretary must send out copies of the constitution within seven days of a person requesting it.
6. General Meetings
a. Each TRA should hold three general meetings and/or public events per year (1 of which should be the AGM). General meetings can form part a TRA social event to encourage attendance. TRA business can take place for a portion of the event.
**Each TRA should hold two general meetings annually [1 of which should be the AGM]. **
b. A minimum of 14 days’ notice of the general meeting shall be given to all members.
c. Where possible a reminder should be given
d. Meetings are open to all eligible members of the TRA [see section 3: membership]. Attendance records should be kept to show active membership.
e. The quorum for general meetings is as above in section 4e.
f. Decisions of the general meeting shall be binding on the committee.
g. Decisions of the general meeting shall be made via a simple majority of votes.
h. As with the AGM, there will only be one registered vote per household.
7. Special General Meetings
A special general meeting may be called by the committee or if requested by at least 10% of members. This request must be made in writing to the secretary at least 14 days before the requested meeting date. The secretary must then send written notice to all members at least 7 days in advance of the meeting.
8. Committee meetings
a. The quorum of the committee meetings shall be 30% of committee members
b. Committee meetings may be called by the chair and secretary or the request of one- third of the committee members. As least 7 days’ notice must be given to committee members.
c. All committee meetings are open to all members as observers on request. Dates of
Committee meetings shall be available to all members i.e. advertised in notice public boards (not less than 7 days’ notice for each meeting).
d. If a committee member misses 3 consecutive meetings without apologies, the rest of the committee may choose to suspend or exclude that member from the committee.
9. Code of Conduct
All TRAs must adopt and agree to abide by the Tenant and Leaseholder Engagement Code of Conduct at each AGM.
10. TRA Halls Memorandum of Understanding
a. All TRAs that manage a TRA hall must adhere to the Council’s TRA Memorandum of Understanding for the management of TRA halls.
b. All TRAs that manage a TRA hall must complete the Council’s TRA Hall insurance cover questionnaire and return the completed form as part of their TRA registration documents (please see Guide to TRAs for this information).
11. Conduct of Business
a. At all meetings (except those dealing with alterations to the constitution) decisions shall be taken by a simple majority of those members present and eligible to vote.
b. In the event of a tie in voting, the chair of the meeting shall have the casting vote. The chair of the meeting will not have a vote otherwise on any other resolution.
c. Conflict of interest must be declared. Members with a conflict of interest should then withdraw from discussions and voting on the issue in question.
12. Minutes
a. All votes at an AGM, general meeting, special general meeting or committee meeting shall be counted and recorded in the minutes.
b. All formal meetings such as committee meetings, special general meetings and minutes taken of AGMs to be formally approved at the next AGM meeting and posted on noticeboards in the area.
13. Finance
a. A simple record of income and expenditure must be produced each year at the AGM and should be available to all members on request.
b. Accounts should be independently audited if the turnover is over £5k per year.
c. Accounts should be open to inspection by the members on request.
d. All monies raised by or on behalf of the TRA shall be applied to further the aims of the TRA and for no other purpose.
e. Account(s) must be opened in the name of the TRA. Cheques, transfers and other banking instruments or instructions shall be signed by at least two signatories from separate households and are unrelated who must also be members of the committee.
f. Use of the TRA bank debit card can only be used with approval of the committee
g. Proper records of all transactions including petty cash must be kept.
h. The Treasurer must present quarterly financial reports to the committee.
i. After 15 months without an AGM, within six months of this date, the bank account shall be closed and dissolution rules followed below.
14. Dissolution
a. The TRA can only be dissolved by a special general meeting called to consider a motion to dissolve the TRA with 14 days’ notice to all members of this intention.
b. The TRA can only be dissolved if all members are notified of this intention 14 days in advance and two thirds of the members present vote for the motion to dissolve the TRA.
c. The meeting shall decide on the disposal of any assets remaining after the satisfaction of debts and other liabilities.
d. All assets of the TRA must be applied to charitable purpose agreed with the members of the TRA
e. Any Council assets the TRA has been permitted to use, but which have not been transferred into ownership of the TRA by the way of outright donation or gift must be returned to the Council.
(Each TRA may decide to include specific clauses which are relevant to your area.)
This Constitution was adopted as the Constitution of:
Lissenden Gardens Tenants Association at a public meeting held at the Heath Education
Centre on 21st June 2014 Signed
St.John Wright (Chair)
Equal Opportunities Statement
Lissenden Gardens Tenants Association (LGTA)
· Camden has a diverse and multi-cultural population with people of various backgrounds and abilities. The Lissenden Gardens Tenants Association (the LGTA) recognises that all sections of the community have a positive contribution to make to the life of the borough. The LGTA will represent the interests of all local tenants and residents to the best of its ability.
· We will take steps to make our group as representative of the local community as possible. We will ensure that all meetings and any other group activities are accessible and welcoming to all local residents.
· All individual members of the LGTA will be responsible for helping the group to meet these aims.
· Any resident who feels that they have not been treated fairly and equally by the LGTA can raise this with Camden’s tenant and leaseholder engagement team.
Lissenden Gardens Tenants’ Association (LGTA)
Code of Conduct for Resident Involvement:
Introduction
This code of conduct sets the standards for how residents, including co-optees, should behave towards each other when doing any work for their tenants or residents group or when involved in any other tenant participation activities. It includes behaviour both at and outside of meetings.
The code sets standards of behaviour for residents who are:
· members or co-optees of tenants and residents’ associations
· members or co-optees of other tenants and residents’ groups or tenant let meetings
· involved in other tenant participation activities.
The chair of any meeting is responsible for enforcing the code with the support of the other people present. For other tenant participation activities, the organiser will be responsible for enforcing this code.
To be recognised and supported by the Camden, tenants and residents’ groups must agree and adopt this code. They may also add to the code to suit the needs of their own group.
Personal conduct:
At all times residents are expected to:
· work towards achieving the aims of their residents group
· operate within the rules laid down by the constitution of their residents’ group or within the rules of any resident meeting/or activity they take part in.
· treat each other with courtesy and respect at all times. Respect each other’s views, even if different.
· conduct themselves in a way that will not cause offence to others. This includes racist, sexist, abusive or discriminatory remarks or behaviour.
Residents should not:
· be involved in harassment and anti-social behaviour against others either in person, by phone, in writing, in text email or internet.
· Behave in any way that brings their residents’ group or tenant participation generally into disrepute.
Conduct at meetings:
Residents at meetings are expected to:
· arrive on time so that meetings can start on time
· co-operate with the chair to help them get through the business of the meeting
· listen carefully to what each other has to say – without interruption.
· work together by supporting the collective views of the meeting – even if you personally disagree.
· come prepared to meetings by reading all the paperwork before and bringing it along
· work positively together.
Confidentiality:
Residents must:
· declare any conflict of interest that affects their ability to remain impartial in any matter being discussed.
· use the agreed Council procedure for reporting repairs or making other enquiries about their property.
· never use their position to seek special treatment for themselves, their family, relatives or friends
· not represent a political party in their role. In addition, the business of all tenant and resident groups must be non-party political.
Finance:
Residents must:
· only use grants for the purpose that they were applied for. This includes grants from the Council and any other funder.
· only claim out of pocket expenses as set out by their resident group.
Dealing with the media
Residents must:
· follow the rules of their residents’ group before making any statements on its behalf to the media or other organisations.
Breaches of this code conduct
Breaches of this Code by a resident will be dealt with either:
· a verbal warning or a five-minute time-out for simple breaches
· temporary exclusion – for a serious or persistent breach
· permanent exclusion – for a serious or persistent breach
A decision to exclude a resident temporarily or permanently can only be taken after a quorate * meeting to discuss the breach where a majority have voted in favour of this action. Temporary exclusion can last only for a maximum of one year.
*quorate means the minimum number of members needed to carry out the business of the tenants and residents group are present at the meeting. This is written down in the constitution of the group.