News
Leaseholder Subletting £30 Rip-Off?
23rd October 2009
If you look on the Hackney Homes website Leaseholder section, you will find a statement that “Many leaseholders sublet their homes. Where this occurs a notice must be served to Hackney Homes informing us that this is happening. There is also a small charge payable for administration.” It turns out this might not be true! If you have been charged the £30, or if you are considering subletting your home, read your lease. If it does not say you have to inform Hackney Homes, or if it does not say you have to pay a charge for notifying Hackney Homes, then you probably don’t. This came to light when a professional letting agent questioned Hackney Homes. After much prodding and repeated requests, Hackney had to admit in a letter dated 13th October 2009, that in fact they had no right to know and definitely no right to charge £30.
Penshurst Road Major Works
7th August 2009
Home owners of Penshurst Road have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £11,331 each!
Shaftesbury House Major Works
5th August 2009
Home owners of Shaftesbury House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £25,708 each!
Stuart House Major Works
4th August 2009
Home owners of Stuart House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £29,129 each!
Malpas Road Major Works
28th July 2009
Home owners of Malpas House have received Section 20 Notices informing them they may be liable for Major Works to the value of £16,186 each.
Gooch House Major Works
17th July 2009
Home owners of Gooch House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost up to £18,668 each.
Maury House Major Works
17th July 2009
Home owners of Maury House have received Section 20 Notices informing them they will be liable for Major Works in the order of £19,040 each.
Myrtle Walk Major Works
15th July 2009
Home owners of Myrtle House have received Section 20 Notices informing them they will be liable for up to £36,311 each of Major Works charges.
Dovedale House Major Works
15th July 2009
Home owners of Dovedale House have received Section 20 Notices informing them they may be liable for Major Works to the value of £4,947 each.
Sundridge House Major Works
8th July 2009
Home owners of Sundridge House have received a Section 20 Notice informing them their Major Works may cost up to £12,021 each property.
Oakfield Lodge Major Works
7th July 2009
Home owners of Oakfield House have received Section 20 Notices informing them that they may be liable for Major Works to the value of £16,098 each.
Church Crescent Major Works
7th July 2009
Home owners of Church Crescent have received a Section 20 Notice informing them they may be liable for Major Works to the value of £11,153 each.
N16 Resident’s Story
6th July 2009
Since early 2008 Duriya has been charged over £20,000 for ‘Major Works’ done to her block and estate. Already a full time worker for the NHS, Duriya has been forced to take on a second job working her annual leave and evenings in order to try to pay back these charges.
“I and my daughter have been devastated by these charges. I’m working every hour possible to try and repay the charges but it’s impossible. I can’t remortgage and I have exhausted all my credit cards. I’m disappointed that the estates were kept in such poor condition that has now resulted in high ‘Major Works’ bills.”
Hackney Homes also states that it is “Achieving our service promises whilst being cost conscious.” Yet Hackney Homes contractors often cost several times more than an independent contractor.
Elm House Major Works
3rd July 2009
Homeowners of Elm House have received their Major Works Section 20 Notice informing them they could be liable for charges of up to £16,417 each.
Coopersale Road Major Works
24th June 2009
Home owners of Coopersale Road have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £17,670 each!
Hayward House Major Works
24th June 2009
Home owners of Hayward House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £23,275 each.
Carey House Major Works
24th June 2009
Home owners of Carey House have received Section 20 Notices informing them they are liable for up to £22,158 of Major Works charges.
Response to 10 Year ‘Arrangements’!
23 June 2009
In response to Hackney Homes Ltd Notice of Intention to enter in to 10 year arrangements with Major Works contractors, the Chair of the Forum has written the following letter…
“Dear Hackney Homes Ltd,
Reference your letter 12th June the Notice of Intention. As Chair of the Hackney Borough-Wide Leaseholder & Freeholder Forum I have spoken to a number of relevantly professionally qualified and local interested people and would like to make the following comments.
How does the contract value being over £3.5M negate your obligation to allow Residents to nominate alternative contractors to undertake work? Merely bundling contracts together cannot be a justification, when the work is charged on a block by block basis.
Can you advise where and how copies of the Surveyors’ reports establishing works are required be obtained?
From my research, ten year contracts are not used by building owners to procure services for maintenance and repair in the private sector. Why is it felt appropriate for Hackney Homes to do so? By entering in to such contracts, Hackney Homes will severely curtail their ability to procure competitive commercial terms in the market place for the duration of the contract. In particular, what methodology have you used to demonstrate that such long term agreements are better value?
In general, it is felt the letter you have sent is not very clear and ordinary people who have not been part of this process previously are not likely to be able to put together a suitable response in the limited time you have set. Therefore, I ask formally for an extension of the 30 day consultation period. Also, it is not just a case of extending the period of time, but I believe that you have not made enough effort to explain to Residents the full implications associated with choosing Works’ Providers now. Therefore, I also formally ask that you renew your efforts to made clear to all Residents what all the possible implications may be in the future for making these decisions now.
Further to the above request, what period will there be between the ending of the Consultation period and the issue of the Notice of Proposal and what feedback on any comments received, will be given to Residents?”
Fulke House Major Works
19th June 2009
Home owners of Bianca House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £21,391 each!
Banbury House Section 20 Response Deadline
12th June 2009
The Leaseholders of Banbury House have been told that they will be charged between £11,351 and £13,339 for their Major Works. The deadline for their response, like all Section 20s is 30 days after the Notice; in this case that means no later than 7th July. But are the residents aware of the consequences of note responding by that date? At the Forum, we suggest that any Section 20 is contested. The most important document to obtain is the Surveyors Report that is used as the basis for the Major Works. It is also advisable to get an independent Surveyors Report, as that is strong evidence should Court action be required down the line.
Leaseholders of Charmian House Section 20 Whopper!
12th June 2009
The Leaseholders of Charmian House have just been served their latest Section 20 Notice. They are being charged anywhere between £5,400 and £34,104 for works to roof, windows, concrete and brickwork repairs. Important questions need to be asked of our Council. In particular, under what ground rules are the use of Section 20 Notices controlled. The Leaseholders of Hackney are not made of money and in these hard economic times, the streets are not paved with gold?
Why a Leaseholders Advisory Group?
9th June 2009
Hackney Homes Ltd are attempting to form a Leaseholders Advisory Group (LAG). If it gets off the ground, it will consist of volunteer Leaseholders and will be run and funded by Hackney Homes. The stated purpose of the is to provide ‘regular feedback on the service leaseholders receive’. There will be no fee to join the LAG, because any costs it incurs will be born by Hackney Homes. This in effect will mean that the hard pressed Residents of Hackney will have to pay for the LAG in one form or another.
What seems strange is that fact that Hackney already has a number of bodies which exist solely to do the same thing, namely provide feedback from the community to Hackney Homes on Leaseholder issues. This Forum is just one example. The Forum is independent. Will the LAG be independent?
Could there be other reasons why Hackney Homes are looking to duplicate what already exists? It could be argued that by duplicating the Forum, Hackney Homes intentionally or by accident will dilute the role of other independent bodies making them less representative of the community they serve. Also, is it right that in these economic times, Hackney Homes is using resident’s money to set up and run duplicate organizations. Would it not be more effective and efficient for Hackney Homes Ltd to listen more to the independent groups that already exist, like the Forum?
Falstaff House Major Works
5th June 2009
Home owners of Falstaff House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £27,367 each!
Micawber Court Major Works
4th June 2009
It looks like the roof and windows Section 20 Major Works at Micawber Court are going to cost the leaseholders on average up to £24,000 each.
Do Clayton House Leaseholders Need Support?
3rd June 2009
In the latest flood of Section 20 Notices, the Leaseholders of Clayton House Hackney are going to be forced to pay out an extra £18,000 for Major Works. This news comes in the standard letter sent out by Hackney Homes Ltd dated 3rd June.
If you are a Leaseholder of Clayton House (or any Leaseholder in Hackney), contact us at the Forum and we can share what we have learned through having to deal with these issues time and again and help you stand up for your rights!
Juliet House Major Works
26th May 2009
Home owners of Juliet House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £31,680 each!
Bianca House Major Works
20th May 2009
Home owners of Bianca House have received Section 20 Notices informing them of Major Works that will cost them up to £33,559 each!
Marshall House Major Works
18th May 2009
Home owners of Marshall House have received Section 20 Notices informing them that Major Works to their properties will cost them up to £36,371 each!
Lansdowne Road Major Works
29th April 2009
Home owners of Lansdowne Drive have received Section 20 Notices informing them that Major Works to their properties will cost them up to £31,314 each!
Athelstan House Major Works
22nd April 2009
Home owners of Athelstan House have received Section 20 Notices informing them that they may be liable up to £25,203 each for Major Works.
Mason House Major Works
21st April 2009
Home owners of Mason House have received Section 20 Notices informing them they may be liable up to £17,710 each for Major Works.
Kinder House Windows Cost A Packet
9th April 2009
Window replacement, concrete and brickwork repairs are likely to cost the leaseholders of Kinder House in the region of £34,000 each! What questions did they ask to ensure they Works were necessary and value for money. In such cases, it is often advisable to get your own Surveyor in to write a report. Only a proper report will be admitted as evidence should leaseholders want to take this matter to a Leaseholder Valuation Tribunal.
New Electrics for Edward Friend House & Lorship Road
7th April 2009
Renewal of lateral mains, raising mains and replacement of main distribution boards is likely to cost each leaseholder in the region of £16,000 to £45,000. These are very large sums of money. Do the leaseholders know what to do in order to ensure they are getting necessary work and value for money? Perhaps they need to be calling in their own surveyors to ensure Hackney Homes Ltd is doing only what is necessary? Questions need to be asked as to why a sinking fund was not created a long time ago ijn order to spread the cost of such Major Works over the full lifetime of the mains.
Avebury, Napier & Alford Courts’ New Doors
31st March 2009
Hackney Homes Ltd is spending an estimated £179,000 on providing a controlled Door Entry System for Avebury, Napier and Alford Courts. This will mean that each leaseholder will be expected to pay up to £4,218 under the Major Works Section 20 Notice. Is this good value for money?
