Hackney Council will purchase a property to house people in temporary accommodation in a deal worth £2.1 million. Councillors also discussed the council's procedure for procuring services from other local authorities.

Temporary Accommodation Property Purchase

The council agreed to purchase a property to house people in temporary accommodation (TA)¹ at a cost of £2.1 million. The purchase was added to the meeting agenda under the council's Special Urgency procedures. A Special Urgency Notice - TA Property Purchase was published ahead of the meeting, and during the meeting the Mayor of Hackney explained:

... the special urgency is on the grounds that we have an opportunity to make an offer on a property to increase our stock of good quality four-bedroom homes. And this opportunity is time-limited and we are in competition.

The report considered by Councillors was not made public, and the location of the property in question was not discussed in open session. However, the meeting heard that the purchase price of £2.1 million was below the District Valuer's valuation² for the property. The meeting also heard that the purchase was necessary because of the council's legal duty to house homeless households, and because of the high cost of renting properties on the private market. In 2022, the council pledged to continue to increase the supply of genuinely affordable homes, including new council homes for social rent, by building and buying.

Procurement of Services from other Local Authorities

Councillors discussed a report on the process the council uses to procure services from other local authorities. This process is governed by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015³. The report explained that the council sometimes needs to procure services from other local authorities, for example when it needs specialist expertise that it does not have in-house. The report noted that these rules do not apply to arrangements between local authorities that are governed by a Section 113 agreement. Councillor Harvey said that he was concerned that the council was not making enough use of Section 113 agreements. He argued that the council would be able to procure services more quickly and cheaply if it did so.

My question really is: are we clear that we are maximizing the use of 113 in Hackney? Because my sense is that we are not.

However, Jennifer Padmore, the council's Director of Legal and Governance, said that there were some risks associated with using Section 113 agreements. She explained that Section 113 agreements could only be used for services that were related to the functions of both local authorities, and that it was not always easy to demonstrate that this was the case.

No decisions were made on this topic.