Our 2025 Annual General Meeting

Our AGM was held on Thursday 25 September 2025 at The Maitlandfield Hotel, Haddington.  This was our first digital AGM with the introduction of a new AGM website making the administration for Members and staff alike much easier.  As ever, there was a good turnout.

Our Director of Finance & Corporate Services, Gary Alison, was pleased to report that the Association has had another positive financial year, with high levels of investment in our homes. Gary reported that we had spent over £4m on maintenance and improvement during the year which included the replacement of 58 new bathrooms, 20 new heating systems, 150 new kitchens, and windows replaced in 15 homes.

Our Chair, Brian Logan, reflected that this has been another very busy year, streamlining our approach to Governance by replacing the Management Committee with a new more strategic ELHA Board.  He highlighted that one of the most significant challenges has been getting our rents right during this Cost of Living crisis, and to trying to offset the increase, we had partnered with Housing Perks who offer discounts to tenants of social landlords on everyday purchases – an important new benefit of the Key Tenant Scheme.

Brian also advised that we have developed our first ‘AI powered tenant service’ which produces transcripts of telephone calls and saves them as a summary in My Home accounts within a few minutes of the call ending;  that we are close to completing contracts for 80 new homes which should be on site in 2025/26, and that the highlight of the year was R3’s record pre-tax profit.  Finally, Brian reported that the position with Care & Repair remains a challenge.  Fortunately, we were able to secure funding for the core service for another year, but funding was lost for the Small Repairs Service.  This meant that unfortunately two posts had to go, and the service was closed.

Brian gave thanks to Shirley Evans on her retirement from the ELHA Board, noting that she had been a member for around 16 years.  The Association has benefited greatly from Shirley’s extensive knowledge on legal matters and Housing management issues, and sincere thanks were extended for her valuable support and commitment over the years.

Brian also announced that it was also time to say a final goodbye to Peter Hayman, who was stepping down as an independent member of the R3 Board, having retired from the Management Committee (now Board) in September 2023.  This farewell was particularly poignant as Peter is the last governing body member who was also one of our founding members.  As a thanks, Peter was presented with a copy of the framed photograph and citation which hangs in the ‘Hayman Room’ at our Head Office, which was proudly named after Peter, following his retirement from our Management Committee.

Following the AGM, a new member, Andrew Philip, joined the ELHA Board.  Andrew brings financial management experience gained across a wide range of sectors, as well as an involvement in local community groups and organisations.

If you’re interested in becoming a member of ELHA, and attending our next AGM, or joining the ELHA Board, please get in touch.  You can fill in a ‘join in’ form in your My Home account, or you can request a copy of the ‘Becoming a Member’ leaflet and application form by e-mailing us at enquiries@elha.com, or calling on 01620 825032 and selecting option ‘3’ from the phone menu.  Lifetime membership only costs £1.00!