Housing partnership seeks providers for £700k legal services contract

A housing partnership in South West London is to appoint legal advisers to a three-and-a-half year contract worth £700,000, with scope for extension to March 2022.

The Sutton Housing Partnership is responsible for providing the day-to-day management of housing services to approximately 6,500 tenants and 1,500 leaseholders.

It manages the stock owned by the London Borough of Sutton and all the properties are within the council boundaries.

The proposed contract would have three lots. Lot 1 would cover the provision of legal services for:

• Governance;
• Procurement and contract;
• Asset management;
• Estates and commercial.

Lot 2 would meanwhile cover the provision of legal services for the following:

• Income recovery;
• Housing management including injunctions, fraud, anti-social behaviour etc.;
• Leasehold management and service charges;
• Gas safety and other access;
• Disrepair;
• Boundaries, party wall etc.

Lot 3 is a combination of the first two lots.

The intention is to let a contract, or contracts, for a period of three-and-a-half years, commencing on 3 November 2014. There would be an option to extend for a further three years to 31 March 2021 and an option for a further extension of one year to 31 March 2022.

The Sutton Housing Partnership said the approximate annual value was £200,000, giving the contract a potential value of £700,000 (excluding all extensions).

The contract will be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender in terms of price (weighting: 40) and quality (weighting: 60).