Scaffolding going up - no notice given & no one knows why?

So scaffolding is going up outside our building. Thank you to the council for letting us residents know. Of course they have not.

The erection of scaffolding is a problem for resdients in that it can effect any insurance you have for the contents of your flat. If you have a break in and the insurance company do not know in advance they may not pay out it may void your policy. So I guess the council are accepting full and all liability in respect of this for any loss a resident suffers.

So I called the Decent Homes contractor, H&F Homes South who told me to speak to the Repairs Department, who told me to call H&F Homes again and ask for the Technical Department. I did ask to speak to our housing officer whoever that is at the moment and was told they wouldn't know about it anyway. The Technical Department are in a meeting. So 4 phone calls so far. I eagerly await to see if they know anything.

I would have thought our housing officer would have knowledge of major works including the erection of scaffolding. You know as it is the estate they are supposed to deal with.

So no communitcation internally and externally to us the residents.

I though "putting residents first" was the new ethos. Clearly it has yet to get off the ground.

Service Charges for Council Tenants.

Service charges for council tenants has been an issue that I have been trying to gain some clarity on for some time. Reading the last Audit Commissions report it recommends Service Charges for Tenants. It also mentioned that H&F council had been in discussion on this matter. See the previous blog entry for the report.

I submitted this question to the last council meeting -

"Question to: The Leader of the Council.

Further to my question of 27 February 2008-

QUESTION

“Does the current administration propose, during the course of its current term in office to make an additional charge to council tenants, in addition to rent, for the provision of Estate Maintenance and up keep? If so, when?”

RESPONSE:

There have been no proposals put to my Administration either by Hammersmith &
Fulham Homes or by Council Officers recommending separate service charging for
services provided to Council tenants although of course council leaseholders are already separately service charged for a range of housing and estate management services.

Current issue arising.

I note that the Audit Commission’s report of June 2007 for Hammersmith & Fulham ALMO states -
“
108 Service charges have not been introduced for tenants. Charges for communally provided services such as grounds maintenance have not been de-pooled and applied as a separate service charge. HFH and the Council have agreed a way forward for the introduction of service charges but will only do this when efficiencies are achieved in key service areas. “

So my questions are –

Why was I misled with the previous response? Given that the report is the subject of consultation with the council over a period of time.

Within what time frame do the council propose to introduce this charge?

Will rent lower as a result of the service charge being “split out” or “de-pooled”?

What is the “way forward agreed by HFH Homes & the council for the introduction of this charge”, that is what is the plan?"

The response is above.

You can make you own mind up about when service charges will be forthcomming.

Cllr Ivimy

Though there was a motion at the last council meeting calling for the resignation of Cllr Ivimy following her comments.

This didn't succeed and the current administration saved her.

Personally I feel that having made the comments the only decent thing she could have done was to resign her seat.

I have not heard nor found from hunting around the Internet any comments from Shaun Bailey on her position. He must fear that this issue will come back to haunt him in the future.

Hammersmith & Fulham Homes- 1 Star - June 2008 Audit commission report.

Well H&F Homes score 1 star again in the Audit Commission Report of 12th June 2008.

You can see the report by Clicking here.

What is of concern, and I have yet to read the report thoroughly is the recommendation on Page 11 R3 is "introducing service charges for tenants".

Also of note is that the service fails to make buildings accessible for disabled "customers" and the service doesn't meet the Commission for Racial Equality code of practice.

Tory councillor 'sorry' she blamed Indians for litter thrown out of the windows

Thanks to Stephen Cowan for this.

You can see the story at "Tory councillor 'sorry' she blamed Indians for litter thrown out of the windows" on the Daily Mail web site.

You must draw your own conclusions on this story. Personally I find it's overtones racist and would be concerned at future decisions she is involved in and more particulary the motivation. I don't care about the political affiliation she has. I do think however that any party should be very hard on any elected member who is this foolish.

If this were a council employee I am sure they would have been subject to a disciplinary process possibly loosing their job.

Maybe I should ask her to deal with the rubbish that is dumped in our estate and more often than not by private residents from the gated estate and surrounding large houses, mainly orange bags, because our homes are less important.

Maybe she would have more effect than our local housing office with the trees that over hang from the gardens from the gated estate, that drop leaves and sap on our parked cars. They have been told to cut them back but they feel they can just ignore the council.

I wonder why white middle class private residents are allowed a permanent amnesty from tidying up thier litter. You will have to draw your own conlusions on this.

Looking at the part of Fulham in which I reside. I have noticed the signs about fines for littering have gone up but the number of street side bins has decreased.

Its been a while and our Decent Homes is complete ..

Well the nightmare, that was just a kitchen to be done under the Decent Homes Project is all but done.

The workmen we dealt with, those actually doing the work, were pleasant & helpful. Pat their supervisor has been great and a pleasure to deal with. Bringing common sense to into the equation.

The Relationship Managers were also good to deal with.

We did have an issue with one person and this is from where most of our problems eminated. Oir plan done many months ago (last year in fact) and following an agreement from Balfour that it would be redone for all tenants (they forgot us). Was wrong as it hadn't factored in the fact the space would be smaller given conduits & pipes.

I thought having thoroughly agreed and understood all that was going to happen well in advance of the project would have left us with an easy time of it. Clearly wrong.

This such a shame as our bathroom, done last year was such a success.

Hope yours goes well.

Decent Homes has started with us. (Week 2)

Week two of "Decent Homes" has started. I would like to say we have been looking forward to this however the upheaval has been great.

I would like to say that the experience has been as good as when the current contractor undertook the upgrade to our bathroom. However as time goes on, the stress & level of frustration grows.

There seems to me a major communication problem. Loads of managers that come round and talk to you about issues but this doesn't translate to the expectations they set being delivered. It is very much an excerise in passification. There seems to be a "wall of silence" between the managers and the workmen, who do work hard when they are in.

I have tried hard to be patient but the "attitude" of one of the people we deal with is lets say very poor and actually does more harm than good. I don't want this person in our home again.

We had a plan. Seemingly not worth the paper is was printed on. OUr involvment should be minimal the only thing left to be sorted out was the electrical points - nightmare. Every step is a battle.

Such is the level of dissatisfaction thus far I feel I need to share it and make others aware.

They seem to completely ignore the fact this is OUR HOME. As we have disabilities we are home during the day. Don't get me started about the dirt & cleaning!

Thus far & not a fault of the contractor. People that expected to have showers fitted so they had the choice of a bath or shower. Are having the shower fitted but the bracket is just above the bath and they are not fitting the typical shower pole to allow you to stand and shower. This was a change by the council but seemed not to have been relayed to the tenants.

Thus far we have had to replace one electrical item as when they were in last week the power kept switching off. By which I mean whenever the workman turned on his tools ALL the power in the flat would trip. It must have done so at least 30+ times during the day.

I would be interested to hear about your issues email me at enquiry@fulhamresident.com or add a comment to the post.

You maybe interested in this story about some of the construction companies employed to undertake the Decent Homes Project.

Building firms 'rigged contracts' - from BBC News.

OFT issues statement of objections against 112 construction companies - from the Office for Fair Trading.