Aibu to think this housing officer has it in for me?

[pippaharriden43]

I moved into my house 6 months ago.
The house was filthy and I mean filthy..urine and waste stains on bathroom floor etc.
I'm a full time carer for my mum with dementia and two kids so it was a struggle but finally got it looking lovely.
Spent over £2500 on flooring /furniture and decorating etc.
My housing officer came for a inspection and said "wow for someone who doesn't work you've done quite good"
A week later a card is pushed through door "please remove rubbish urgently from garden"
I live in a corner house and we had bad wind a few things (crisp packets had blown in).
Kept on top of that and made sure I checked daily for anything that had blown in.
A week later another card "please trim Bush,it looks untidy "
So I trim the Bush ...
Friday another card ..."please remove weeds from garden otherwise I will open a breach of tenancy which will lead to eviction"
I sat and cried my eyes out..I've put so much work into this place ..I'm not super woman.
It's honestly a few weeds (the garden was awful when I got the keys)
I've been around taking pics of the other gardens (with more weeds than mine)
I feel she has it in for me.

By cards, do you mean a compliment slip type thing?

If you can bear it, pop in to the office and speak to the tenancy liason manager and while not making a complaint, for now, raise it with them and say how it's making you feel, impacting on the 'quiet enjoyment of your home' and so on. Ask for a printed copy of their complaints procedure, for 'future reference' - make sure to be polite and calm, so they cant say she's right to treat you like that, as you're aggressive and rude...

If the cards /slips keep coming go to your local mp, they'll love supporting you with this, as it's good PR for them.

Good luck and enjoy your new home

Mermaid we have been in ours for 24 years.

You see the thing is i have to do monthly estate inspections so I will be knocking on doors to speak to residents if things are not quite up to standard, now that may mean 'can you lift the litter' to 'your garden is an eyesore and you need to deal with this' and if you don't well. commence legal action.

If the tenant is not home a calling card is left stating the reason, time and date and the officer that had called, this is then generally followed up with a letter and copies of any photos. It is just part of the job.

There are some folk who never have any contact from me because there is nothing to say and other folk who I speak to, card and letter every single month. some people will have a notice served on them because their garden is a mess and they do not engage with me and discuss a way forward. Most people come and speak to me and we can put a plan in place.

I would be horrified is someone thought I was harassing them, really i would. However, I have to report all estate failures monthly and report what I'm doing about it. My director also takes a walkabout and if I've not reported an issue where it is obvious there is one, I'd be hauled over the coals. So really not worth not doing my job in case some gets upset.

@Helena, that sound really poor on your HA's part. Easily resolved with a bit of thought.

I hope some of that puts it in perspective for you OP.

Social housing is changing

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3294972-to-think-social-housing-tenants-are-being-priced-out-Merseyside

crystal it was not just really poor It was a breach of the Equality Act

But apparently its their policy.

Some HAs are approaching things differently these days OP. In that they have housing officers who are effectively neighbourhood officers who deal with all issues on the estate and expected to be very visible.
If you are on a starter tenancy you should be having visits at around 3 times during the first year (usually 3/6/9 months) at which point any issues should be discussed and if they are looking to end your starter tenancy this would need to be made clear.
I’ve managed teams of housing officers for a number of years and it doesn’t sound like they are looking to end your tenancy but perhaps the HO is trying to make a stamp on the estate to keep it looking good. I would doubt its personal but would urge you to speak to her if you feel uncomfortable so you are clear on her expectations and you can explain how it’s made you feel. It’s not an easy job being a HO and maybe she’s carded you a couple of times without realising, similarly you are in a difficult position yourself and it would be good to make her aware of this if you feel comfortable.

Of course @Helena. I actually struggle to believe someone would behave like this (not that I don't believe you, I do). I hope they've all had training on the Equality Act and how this should be implemented.

OP . If you don't want to complain, I'd still get advice:
england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/Eviction_of_housing_association_starter_tenants
Does she know you are a carer? Not that it should matter but it may change her opinion of you.

I work in social housing and my advice is to report this.

Keep all the cards. Take photos of what offended her. Give her enough rope.

Thanks for your advice everyone.
Feel less upset /annoyed today

Some good advice above but I wanted to add if that doesn't get you anywhere, is there a friendly (I.e. not ideologically opposed to social housing) councillor in your area? If so get them involved. Any councillor worth their salt will want to know this is happening and as they're your HO's boss's boss's boss they should be able to do something about it.

You can't keep quiet about this because it's over such petty things you have no control over that it will continue.
Go to your local citizens advice bureau and ask them how to proceed.

This will wither be an over zealous HO with an idea in her head of the type of people who should be living in her properties and the standards to which they should be kept. Which is resulting in harassment for you (maybe even discrimination) and is breaching the quiet enjoyment terms of your tenancy. Or it is someone who isn't performing very well at their job trying to look like they are doing better. Either way it's severely negatively affecting you and just trying to stick your head in the sand while she continually move the goalposts is going to affect your mental health.

I agree with placebo. I think this will escalate if not nipped in the bud.

How are things now OP?

OP do keep all cards sent to you, log all calls made, any incidents you deem strange etc.

My HO harassed me for ages. I still am not sure why. But she ended up being removed from post when her behaviour escalated to calling me 8pm in evenings (ie outside Office hours) saying that there's been complaints from neighbour re the way I parked my car, noise (2 noise incidents she mentioned, Id been away on holiday so not even in the property, it was empty!) just all sorts of things.. sounding as if she was rambling . I had to stop answering the phone when I saw it was her calling.

I also had ansaphone messages from her whereby she'd called on a Saturday afternoon a few times, again outside office hours.

I complained and it was dealt with via their harassment policy. Senior management visited me, I gave them the log I'd made and also played back messages so they could hear for themselves when the calls were made. Then, she was gone. Strangely back then, I didn't report it early on as I thought it wouldn't be taken seriously as (a) it wasn't a man hassling me & (b) she was a member of staff.

Older and wiser Id deal with that sort of thing differently now. It was a horrible time as DCs were very little, and she made me worried and anxious about the roof over my head.

You're not a Housing Association tenant by any chance are you...

Don't let her get away with it OP. Good luck sorting it out.