Housing Association repairs nightmare - would you send pre-emptive threat this time?.

[Rewilderness]

Unless there’s water cascading through the ceiling or your heating has packed in and it’s -20 outside, routine repair requests are pretty much ignored by my housing association.

I’ve been trying to get the same set of internal and external repairs dealt with for over 4 years now. I’ve had 3 visits from 2 surveyors who both approved the work but nothing ever gets sorted regarding someone coming to actually do anything. The last surveyors visit was last July. He said I’d need to wait about a month because there weren’t any contractors who were good enough to do the work. I chased and chased and eventually the surveyor phoned me to say he’d like to talk to me in person. He wanted to explain why the work hadn’t been done and to apologise. He said there wasn’t a budget in place for rolling maintenance to the exteriors of these flats but nevertheless it would be done before Christmas. I think you can guess whether that’s happening.

At a tenant satisfaction survey result meeting I brought up the matter with the HA member of staff I initially contacted over 4 years ago and who I’ve reminded about it on and off since. He said he’d not received any messages/pics (despite the fact he’s replied to all my emails with the pics attached). He was embarrassed at being called out and this Monday the repairs dept phoned me to make an appointment for another surveyor to call round. The last guy has apparently left and not passed on any info about my repairs and what he had told me.

My patience is wearing thin. I expect nothing will happen yet again after this surveyor has been. I have drafted a letter to the CEO of the HA with a cc to the guy who said he hasn’t seen the pics I sent, saying that if these repairs aren’t carried out by end of next Feb I’ll make a formal complaint to the board of directors and contact my local MP? I don’t know whether to send it though.

I’ve been a good tenant for over 10 years. Fully paid rent on time each month, flat is spotlessly clean and I’m considerate and quiet . I’ve kept my side of the tenancy agreement. They aren’t fulfilling their side to carry out maintenance that they’re responsible for. Do I go all guns blazing? I’ve been calm and patient for over 3 years and have got absolutely nowhere.

Send the letter, tomorrow. You’ve been more than patient.

What’s the repairs?

I think at this point all guns blazing is the way to go. You’ve asked nicely for long enough haven’t you.

Not at all UR.
Send the email.

Clarion by any chance?
If so I'm setting up a campaign, I've also been invited to write a report for a national paper. Pm me if you'd be happy to share your experience.

OP this is not unusual im afraid despite what housing officers who post on this site say Ive been trying to raise awareness for years.

Hi Mini i remember you from when i had my previous username

I know about some of the stuff going on with Clarion. Including the useless IT system.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2901354-Housing-associations-Are-you-having-problems

Right thank you everyone. Will send tomorrow. No it’s not Clarion Mini. This HA wasn’t too bad when I first got my flat but the last 5 years they’ve been grim. I just wondered now they’re sending someone on Monday to give them the benefit of the doubt one more time but I think threats are now the only way forward. Hard copy letter by registered post I think bearing in mind the guy I’ve sent emails to over the years suddenly has total lack of memory of ever having received them (despite replying to them 🙄). Stupidly I’ve not saved the emails which with hindsight was remiss.

Have you tried environmental health? They have the power to appoint a 3rd party to the repair & bill your landlord for it.

It sounds like the repairs are getting rejected at one end but no one is informing you. It could be that the way it is being reported or the way it looks on the pics for e.g doesn't make it seem necessary to be done (likely being pushed back to when the planned replacement scheme is to take place or similar). And communication is failing between the surveyors and office staff there.

This used to happen a lot at a HA I worked at, especially the lack of feedback after a survey. We had one surveyor especially, who didn't seem to understand the repair procedures and would promise tenants the world, but wouldn't take responsibility in telling them when the repair wasn't authorised.

I only used to deal with various reports and the like but it pissed me off so much having to question the same repairs cropping up on my reports, I would end up basically micromanaging it from survey to completion. I didn't even bother directing the tenants back to proper department.

The only way my old HA would pay attention is if you followed their official complaints procedure (and there were conditions to be met for it to be classed as a complaint, such as a clear failure like missed appointment). No matter how much contact there was, unless the official process was followed by the tenant, it wasn't treated as a proper complaint.

The complaints officer/manager would then wade through all of the information available, from the date stated by the tenant, follow up with different staff etc and try to get a clear answer. They schedule a resolution date and a prompt to follow up afterwards, to ensure it has all been done. Or they would atleast advise why it won't be if that's the case.

In our case the ceo would probably have passed this straight to the complaints dept too in the first instance.

If yours have a similar thing re complaints, try that first (but copy higher ups in if you want, it won't hurt).

1984 thank you that’s really helpful .

BentNeckLady the repairs are:

levelling off of a patch of land by the front door which turns into a swimming pool every time it rains. The water has seeped into the interior wall which is damp and crumbling and the window sill has a big crack through it. The crumbling wall inside needs re-plastering and the window sill replacing according to the surveyor.

One wall in bedroom is crumbling and has a big crack running through it and another crack through the windowsill

Crumbling wall in kitchen that needs replastering.

Wrong filler used in bathroom and water has got in behind tiling.

Outside - stonework crumbling Away at bottom of front door

Paintwork on wooden trim under lounge window has peeled off after scaffolding was put up about 6 years ago.

So nothing urgent but leaving the outdoor area where water collects for so long has caused a much bigger and more expensive job to need doing. Seems very short sighted to leave something till it’s big and expensive,

Write to the CEO of the HA, whenever I’ve done that I’ve had the repairs done within days

Well I sent email to CEO this morning and got an instant reply. He is coming to the meeting with the surveyor next week. Getting anything dealt with shouldn’t take threats of making a formal complaint to the Board and if necessary a local MP but It certainly got a quick response!

@MiniTheMinx

You may find this interesting.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/gavin-barwell-lands-board-appointment-at-major-housing-association-64545?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Gavin Barwell lands board appointment at major housing association

NEWS
16/12/19
BY RHIANNON CURRY

Former housing minister Gavin Barwell has been appointed to the board of Clarion Housing, the UK’s largest housing association.

Mr Barwell, who was also chief of staff to Theresa May when she was prime minister after losing his seat in the 2017 election, will join the landlord with immediate effect.

He said: “I have long been a champion of the role played by housing associations in tackling the housing crisis, having been fortunate enough to witness first hand the vital contribution they make, during my time as housing minister.

“I look forward to continuing to contribute to the sector by joining an organisation committed to building homes and communities for the long term.”

Mr Barwell held the housing brief at the time of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, and was criticised after Inside Housing revealed that MPs had sent him seven letters asking him to review fire safety rules which were not acted upon during that time

He said last month that he expected to be called to give evidence before the public inquiry into the fire

Alongside Mr Barwell, Clarion has also appointed Tom Smyth, a vice-chair in financing advisory and an advisory partner at Rothschild & Co, to the board.

During his 23 years at Rothschild & Co, Mr Smyth has advised the boards of the biggest listed and private equity-owned companies on their funding, risk management and treasury strategies.

He will replace Tania Brisby as chair of Clarion’s treasury committee when she stands down in February.

David Avery, chair of the Clarion Housing Group board, said: “I am delighted that Gavin and Tom are joining the board.

"They join a strong team of non-executive directors with the skills and talent to help to run the largest social landlord in England. These two appointments now complete the refresh of our board due to time-served retirements

We live in a council house. Just got z new roof after 7 years of leaks. Still tryng to get the broken stair lift replaced. Complained to our councillors, they said we had to make official complaint to council housing, give them 3 months to action and then go to ombudsmen if nothing happened.GOOD LUCK