foster carer prog - Council meetings - Lewisham Council

Appendices
“We had our front doors painted. They were hopping over people’s
balconies to reach the properties to do the job as quickly as possible.”
“They removed our scaffolding and left lots of holes in the brickwork
and now we have wasp infestations.”
One individual had been waiting 3 years for external painting work with
no response from Lewisham Homes regarding the work. She has now
complained and is still waiting for an acknowledgement of her
complaint.
b) Charging and billing
There were serious concerns about the high costs being charged to
leaseholders for maintenance and major works.
Two leaseholders on the same estate said:
“They didn’t do any work for 40 years … They let it turn into a slum
and then they do all the work at once and we get a bill for £10,000. If
they’d maintained it, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
There was little evidence from the group of support regarding payment
options. One leaseholder had taken advantage of an option to pay
£300 for 6 months but was still getting letters every month demanding
payment. Others were advised to take out an second mortgage, which
was not a viable option for the pensioners in the group.
A few people mentioned bills sometimes coming in lower than the
estimates, and “sometimes being in credit”. Overall, however, the
group felt that bills for major works were not in proportion to the work
done, with final bills often being far higher than the estimates:
“We had a £5000 estimate for work including both roof and windows.
We had already had the windows done so they amended the estimate.
But the final bill came to more than the original estimate even though
they didn’t do the windows”.
“We had a letter through with someone else’s address scribbled out
giving us 24 hours’ notice for someone to come and fit a new
intercom. Luckily I had a half-day so I was there to let him in. He
arrived in an unmarked car with no ID. We had still not received an
estimate and the contractor said that lots of people had said the same
to him. He told me that phone cost £30 and the wiring cost 10p so I
was expecting a bill for about £200. They eventually faxed an estimate
– which was £800 each. There are 8 people, so that’s £6,400 for one
door!!”
One person had challenged incorrect bills and received an admission
100 The Council’s obligations to leaseholders