Together Winter 2022

Be ready for Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016

Read more on what the new law will mean for tenants on page 2

• On 1 December 2022, the way you rent will change

• Do we have your up to date household information?

• We need this for your new occupation contract

• If you’ve already sent yours back, thank you! If you haven’t, please sent it back as soon as possible enquiries@cartreficonwy.org / Customer Service: All calls with Customer Services are recorded. Audio and print copies of this newsletter are available.

We want this transition to be as smooth as possible for everyone.

For more information on Renting Homes Wales Act go to www.gov. wales/housing-law-changingrenting-homes or scan the qr code to watch a short video.

WHAT IS HAPPENING:

• The new law (Renting Homes Wales Act 2016) comes into effect on 1 December 2022

• You will convert automatically to the new contract, you don’t need to do anything

• We will send you a new written Occupation Contract. These replace all existing tenancies and licences

• We will send out written copies of the new contracts between December 2022 and May 2023 to each of our tenants

WHY IS IT HAPPENING?

• To make it easier and more consistent when you rent a home in Wales

• To make sure everyone who rents in Wales has a home that is fit to live in

• To improve consistency of standards, whether you live in a home rented from a social landlord like Cartrefi Conwy, from a Council or a home rented from a private landlord

• To give people living in private rented homes better security

IMPORTANT NEW TERMS FOR YOU TO REMEMBER:

• Cartrefi Conwy – will be known as a community landlord

• Tenant – under the new law you will be known as a contract holder

• Your tenancy – will become known as the occupation contract. The contract will explain what you can and can’t do, and what your landlord can and can’t do

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU AS TENANT?

The new law will make renting easier and give you greater security. It gives:

• More flexible arrangements for joint contract holders. This means you can add or remove someone from a joint contract without having to start a new contract

• Improved succession rights if you die. This means you can pass your home onto other people, to continue living in

• Greater protection from eviction. If you haven’t done anything wrong, your landlord must give you at least six months’ notice if they want you to leave

• Some new rules for dealing with anti-social behaviour

OTHER CHANGES TO HOUSING LAWS: FITNESS FOR HUMAN HABITATION

Landlords must make sure that homes are fit to live in. For example, we must make sure your electric is safe by testing it every 5 years and make sure that your home has working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. The Court can decide whether a property is unfit based on standards set out in the new law.

Save money and keep warm this winter...

Visit our Warm Welcome hubs; helping you to stay warm this winter across the county. Over two hundred tenants have come along so far.

Did you know our Money Support team has supported tenants to claim over £530,000 in benefits this year.

Visit https://gov.wales/get-help-cost-living or scan Conwy Voluntary Services Council QR code to see what help is available. Our team have drop-in sessions in our hubs in Llandudno, Chester Avenue (Kinmel Bay) and Parc Peulwys.

Warm Walestackling fuel poverty in Wales

We’re working very closely with Warm Wales Support Officers in our hubs who offer help with:

Energy help and advice with understanding energy bills, support with fuel debt, smart meters, savings, and discounts

Water information, advice, and support with tariff reductions and water meters

Heating support with applications to Nest, a Welsh Government-funded scheme, providing replacement boilers, central heating systems, and insulation to qualifying households

Speak to the Warm Wales Support Officers when they visit our hubs or talk to our team who can refer you to get the support you need.

Community roundup

Second Chance Furniture

Furniture and other household goods are delivered to our Second Chance Furniture storage space on a regular basis by Creating Enterprise’s Property Turnaround team.

These items are available free for tenants for your homes. You can collect, or we can deliver free of charge for Cartrefi Conwy tenants. Visit our website to view what’s available. To register your interest, call: Barbara on 07436 225069 or email barbara.roberts@creatingenterprise.org.uk

Free hygiene/ sanitary packs for tenants

Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm Chester Avenue Community House, Kinmel Bay Community Hub, Llandudno train station Tuesday 1-2pm Parc Peulwys Community Centre

We’ve already given out over 70 packs so far.

Healthy eating cooking courses

We’ve started running air fryer cooking sessions in October and will continue through to March 2023. The course runs over 4 weeks and tenants taking part get information on the benefits, cooking demonstrations, healthy eating tips and other energy and money saving tips. 30 tenants on the courses will also get their own air fryers to take home, tasty low fat air fryer menus and bag of shopping to help get them started. We can run events like this for free because of the support we get from our suppliers to give something back to our communities.

Did you know that the annual savings of using an air fryer could be up to £279.66 per year. Air fryers on average were found to run at £55.91 per year, versus gas cookers at £121.06 per year and electric cookers at £335.57 per year.

Source Utilita August 2022

Working families wellbeing and cooking group

This group get together and recently one of the parents taught crocheting as others got stuck into making homemade pizzas.

This is made possible with thanks to Jasmine our Working Families Coordinator for Llandudno, Rhos on Sea & Mochdre and to The National Lottery Community Fund/ Cronfa Gymunedol y Loteri Genedlaethol!

Many tenants asked for DIY sessions, and we held our first in the Y Fron Community Centre.

Ricky in our trades team gave tenants tips on how to prepare your home for winter. We’re working on rolling this out to other areas so look out for this timetable and attend one near you.

Over 250 tenants celebrated age month

The events celebrated age and life and gave tenants the chance to say goodbye to Nerys Veldhuizen our Independent Living Coordinator for over 10 years. Tenants and colleagues wished her well and thanked her for everything she had done to bring tenants together over the years to support living independently and oh yes, having lots of fun along the way.

Kelly Williams is the new Independent Living Coordinator and look out for what she’s planning to help spread some cheer this Christmas.

Don’t miss out on free events and activities or chances to win – stay connected to us online or pop into one of hubs.

Help us to listen

We’ve asked a company called Acuity, to carry out satisfaction surveys with our tenants. They might call you:

• As part of a yearly, balanced mix of tenants to ask you how satisfied you are with our services

• After a recent repair

• If you’re a new tenant

• If we’ve recently closed a complaint that you’ve made to us Acuity advisors try up to three times to reach you to take part in the survey and call between Mon - Fri 9.30am - 8pm and Sat 10am - 4pm

The number will usually show as 01273 093939. The feedback you give us in these surveys is so valuable in helping us to listen to your views and take action to keep improving your customer experience.

You can also ask to carry out the survey in Welsh. The caller from Acuity will always tell you who they are and that they’re calling on our behalf.

If you prefer to check with us first though you can ask the Acuity call handler to phone you back another time.

Here are some survey result stats and examples of actions we have taken after listening and hearing your views.

STAR Tenant Satisfaction

Overall Tenant Satisfaction 82% Your neighbourhood 86% Your rent gives value for money 86% Your service charge gives value for money 77%

We listen and act 68%

You have opportunities in decision-making 62%

We are easy to deal with 84% Quality of your home 80% Your home is safe and secure 88%

Dealing with ASB 72% Repairs and Maintenance 75%

Have a say in how services are managed 64% Our staff are friendly and approachable 91%

72% of tenants are happy with the way we handle ASB

We’ve been involved in meetings and visits with partner agencies including North Wales Police and parents of youths causing issues in Rhos on Sea and Llandudno. This has resulted in three acceptable behaviour contracts being issued. Also, we have a CCTV budget in place to support preventative work and reduce ASB issues.

2021 – 2025 Business Plan update

Social Impact Strategy

Tenants, with your help we developed our Social Impact Strategy. Social impact sits at the heart of our mission and values to create places where people want to live.

Sustainability Strategy

Tackle the Climate Crisis

As we look to become a ‘greener’ organisation, we have looked at different ways we can ‘decarbonise’ our homes and make them more energy efficient. We have worked with other social landlords to try different technologies such as solar panels and airsource heat pumps to make our homes ‘greener’. Read our new Sustainability Strategy on our website, it sets out our vision up to 2035.

Develop an Innovative Workforce

Even before the Covid restrictions, we were looking to shift to a more ‘agile’ way of working to make sure we offer you and our colleagues a quality and flexible way of working to deliver the best services. We have been developing a framework to make sure we have the right technology in place to do this.

Creating FuturesWe’ve moved…

Did you know that Creating Enterprise’s base recently moved from Mochdre to Abergele?

It’s fantastic to have Cartrefi Conwy and Creating Enterprise back under the same roof!

Did you know?

We offer paid employment opportunities to tenants. As well as a 12-month fixed term contract, these roles come with a fantastic training package, a workplace ‘Buddy’ for day-to-day support, and a Mentor who will help you to develop and progress into a job at the end of your contract. Keep an eye out for vacancies in the autumn!

Beware of scams

If you ever receive a suspicious email/text and are struggling to tell whether it is genuine, Creating Enterprise’s digital support officer Mike Millership can help.

Mike has drop-in sessions at Llandudno Community Hub –Monday afternoons

Chester Avenue Community House – Wednesday mornings

You can also email: Mike.Millership@creatingenterprise.org.uk or phone 01492 588980

Remember to report scams to the Police on 101.

Community Hubs

We’ve got lots going on in our Community Hubs. Visit our website for the timetables or pop in and look at what’s going on. www.creatingenterprise.org.uk/en/creating-futures/community-hubs/

What’s on at Llandudno

Help to write or update your CV

Help to prepare for interviews

Cambrian Credit Union - offering expert advice and support on savings and loans on the first Tuesday of every month

Warm Wales offer advice and support to help you reduce the cost of your energy bills

Department for Work & Pensions work coaches from Jobcentre Plus are based in the Hub every Wednesday

Oaktree project supporting young people aged 11 to 25 with any aspect of housing or homelessness

Mind the mental health charity hold a confidential weekly drop-in session

Become a volunteer - pop in for a cuppa and a chat with our Volunteer Co-Ordinator

Improve your basic digital skills to help you get online

Essential Digital Skills - six weeks course to build your confidence and boost your basic digital skills

Creating Loyalty supports local businesses and saves you money when you sign up to the Creating Loyalty scheme

What’s on at Chester Avenue

Parents & Toddlers group

Coffee & Chat group

Play Sessions - suitable for children of all ages but under 5’s must come along with an adult

Improve your digital skills to get online

Help to prepare for interviews

Warm Wales offering advice to help you reduce the cost of your energy bills

Help to write or update your CV

What’s on at Parc Peulwys

Parents & Toddlers group

Coffee & Chat group

Play Sessions - suitable for children of all ages but under 5’s must come along with an adult

Improve your digital skills to get online

Help to prepare for interviews

Warm Wales offering advice to help you reduce the cost of your energy bills

Help to write or update your CV

Do you know about the Creating Loyalty app?

• You live in Conwy County

• At least 1 person in your household is working

• You have at least 1 child

• You sometimes struggle to afford local products and services

This is a Lottery funded project delivered by Creating Enterprise that helps working families across Conwy County to access discounts and offers from over 70 businesses in our local area.

It includes discounts on fitness, entertainment, fish and chips , ice creams, beauty, photography and more.

Do you know of a business who could benefit from everything Creating Loyalty has to offer?

Call Jasmine on 01492 588 980 or email admin@creatingloyalty.co.uk