Second Regular Update

New Cap on Charges

The Department for Communities and Local Government recently announced Florrie's law, capping the amount councils can charge leaseholders for repairs to their homes. Councils and housing associations will be required limited in the 'amount they can charge for future major repair, maintenance, or improvement works when they are wholly or partly funded by the government'. The new cap is £15,000 in any five-year period (£10,000 outside London).

Additionally, councils bidding for next year’s Decent Homes funding will be required to make clear what help is available, including loans and deferred payment options. They will have to offer affordable repayment terms and publish details of how they award contracts for the major works on their websites.

We contacted the Department for Communities and Local Government, who provided the following response.

'The new mandatory directions will not apply to service charges for major works where a local authority has already been awarded Government funding to carry them out, regardless of whether or not the works have commenced. Instead the directions will apply when local authorities and housing associations apply for funding on or after 12 August 2014 from new government programmes.

'At the moment, that means the next round of Decent Homes Backlog funding that the Government, via the Greater London Authority, will be awarding for major works to be carried out in 2015/16. Further details about how this funding will be allocated can be found on the GLA’s website.'

Status: No further follow-up required. This law will not impact leaseholders of Lewisham Homes this year.
 

Jet-washing: Pros and Cons

Residents of both the Tanner's Hill Estate in Deptford / New Cross and the Crossfields Estate in Deptford have separate long-standing queries outstanding with Lewisham Homes over the necessity of jet-washing their brickwork.

In both cases, residents have pointed out that jet-washing can damage the brickwork, leading to more re-pointing than would otherwise be necessary. Both sets of queries have also highlighted the fact that atmospheric soiling is not water soluble. Thus, in order to get the brickwork looking clean and even, quite aggressive washing would be required, increasing the likelihood of damage. One resident described the communications as 'we've decided to jet-wash. Now here's a list of reasons why people might choose to do so'.

On Crossfields Estate, they've also called in the Lewisham Council Conservation Officer, who is also querying these matters.

Status: To date, residents of neither estate have received satisfactory responses.
 

Independent Adjudicator Finds in Favour of One Leaseholder

A leaseholder on the ex-Crusader's Co-op Estate recently heard back from the independent adjudicator on the matter of his stage 3 complaint with Lewisham Homes regarding the major works programme that is being carried out. He raised serious concerns about those works and about the way Lewisham Homes treats its leaseholders in general.

The independent adjudicator found that the leaseholder in question had received contradictory information, late responses, and poor quality communications. She also found that a representative of Lewisham Homes had made a derogatory remark about the leaseholder. The IA's findings included the following: a formal apology from a senior officer a payment of £250 compensation for the 'significant time and trouble, stress and frustration' the leaseholder incurred.

Status: To date, the leaseholder has received neither the apology nor the compensation. The apology was due today; however, as today is a bank holiday, we assume this date has been extended until tomorrow, 26/8/14.
 

Scope Creep in Major Works Programmes

One paragraph in the independent adjudicator's letter referenced above may have positive ramifications for leaseholders across all of Lewisham Homes properties. The following is extracted directly from her letter.

‘Where a landlord proposes to carry out works of repair, maintenance or improvement which would cost an individual service charge payer more than £250, he must, before proceeding, formally consult all those expected to contribute to the cost (under Section 20 of Landlord and Tenant Act 1985). If the landlord fails to carry out the consultation process in the correct form or has not sought and been given a dispensation from the LVT, he will be unable to recover the cost of the works from the leaseholders beyond the statutory limit of £250 per leaseholder.’

Looks like Lewisham Homes may want to pay more attention to these matters in future.

Status: No further follow-up expected at present.

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First Regular Update

Published: 9/8/14
Updated: 25/8/14

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Customer Satisfaction Survey

MEL Research is conducting a customer satisfaction survey on behalf of Lewisham Homes. Survey invitations were apparently sent to all current leaseholders; however, it seems their database was seriously out of date.

If you haven't received an invitation, please contact Gareth Mostyn at LH and have him update your details in the database. You'll also need to reach out to Jack Harper at MEL Research so somebody on his team can send you an invitation before the survey closes.

Status: The survey remained open as of Friday (7/8/14), although it is unclear how much longer it will remain so.
Update (25/8/14): Unclear whether the survey remains open. Results have not yet been published.

Disappointing Unexpected Delays

Leaseholders on the ex-Crusaders' Co-op Estate were due to have their leaseholder sign-off this week, at the end of their much-delayed major works programme. The sign-off meeting had previously been postponed three times (by Lewisham Homes), and it was hoped that this fourth scheduled meeting would take place as planned.

The day before the meeting was due to take place, one leaseholder discovered that the LH manager who arranged the meeting was on annual leave for two weeks, not returning until the 18th of August. He also noted that several of the agreed items of work remained outstanding at that time.  

Status: The meeting did not take place, and management of LH have yet to provide an explanation.
Update (25/8/14): The meeting has been rescheduled for 29/8/14. Several items of work remain to be completed before the meeting can take place.

When is a Complaint Not a Complaint?

Leaseholders on Tanner's Hill Estate sent a series of nine written complaints on a single issue over a 12-day period beginning on 18 July 2014. The messages were clearly marked as complaints and were sent to the complaints team at Lewisham Homes.

It wasn't until the ninth message in the series that LH logged the matter as an official complaint. As such, they started the clock from 31 July 2014. Their complaints policy gives them 10 working days to resolve the matter (14 August 2014).  

Status: To date this complaint remains open. 
Update (25/8/14): Residents received an official response on1/8/14. On 5/8/14 residents requested an additional item be completed before the complaint be marked as closed. Lewisham Homes have not responded to this request. Additionally, the problem which led to the complaint in the first place has recurred at least once.

Whose Job is it Anyway?

Leaseholders on Crossfields Estate have queried the ownership of sewage pipes that run from their buildings to the main sewer. Their SoW includes for pipe repair (at significant costs, naturally), and leaseholders are also charged for on-going maintenance to road drains outside their buildings in their yearly service charges. In October 2011, Thames Water took on ownership of all private pipes, sewers and drains. Sewer pipes to blocks of flats are their responsibility to maintain.

At Crossfields there is a combined sewer system so Thames Water are also responsible for the surface water drains in the estate's roads and forecourts. Leaseholders have requested to see proof of whether Lewisham Homes has chosen to 'adopt' the drains and pipes from Thames Water. If they have, this means they have chosen (without consultation) to subsidise a major private corporation in their responsibility to maintain items in their ownership, and leaseholders will also have unwittingly been subsidising Thames Water.

Leaseholders are paying for the maintenance of drains in their water rates, so would appear to be paying twice. If Lewisham Homes has not formally 'adopted' the drainage systems on their property, the management has failed to register that the drains and pipes are not their responsibility. Whilst Crossfields has confirmation that their pipes and drains are owned by Thames Water, this may have ramifications for all Lewisham Homes properties across the borough.

Status: Crossfields leaseholders raised this issue on Friday afternoon, so management of LH haven't had time to respond. The question remains open as to whether or not the drain works are within LH's remit. 
Update (25/8/14): Lewisham Homes have instructed Mitie not to carry out any drainage works until this issue is resolved. Residents are due to meet with Lewisham Homes management on 11/9/14 to discuss. No word from Lewisham Homes on whether or not this issue impacts other estates.

It's Only an Estimate!

Numerous leaseholders on a variety of LH estates have reported errors in the statements of work they've received from Lewisham Homes. The response from management of Lewisham Homes has been that as long as the work done falls within the statement of work it's fair game. So, if they quote 100 of something, but only do 85, it's fine. Conversely this implies that residents would be consulted before any work beyond the statement of work was undertaken.

Leaseholders on Tanner's Hill Estate recently uncovered significant additional work being performed that's within scope of their SoWs (brickwork re-point increased to 2,000 sq. metres from 30 sq. metres). This work is expected to add at least £65,000 to the cost of the work on the block. This works out to an increase in the final cost of more than £2,500 per property.  

Status: Management of LH have promised to look into this issue.
Update (25/8/14): Management of Lewisham Homes are looking into the matter and have promised leaseholders on the block a formal response this week.

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