foster carer prog - Council meetings - Lewisham Council

Findings
section 20 notice covering the works would be issued. As all major
works to Brockley Leaseholders properties are capped at £10k within a
five year period, we were told that if any additional works were
required to a property and the leaseholders had already been billed for
the maximum cap then the leaseholder would not be charged.
Lewisham Homes reported that Fire Risk Assessors were reviewing the
fire risk assessments on blocks of a similar design to the one involved
in the fire in Southwark. The Fire Authority were also inspecting these
buildings in conjunction with Lewisham Homes. The initial inspection
of these buildings had been completed although some more intrusive
examinations were now being carried out. At present there did not
appear to be any major concerns but leaseholders would be re-charged
for any necessary works.
Survey and focus groups
37. The survey and focus groups both assessed leaseholder satisfaction
with the standard of repairs, maintenance and major works. Evidence
from the survey suggested that:
• The majority of respondents (regardless of housing provider) were
dissatisfied with the standard of repairs and maintenance carried out
• The majority of Regenter B3 respondents were dissatisfied with the
standard of major works carried out
• Just under half of Lewisham Homes respondents were dissatisfied
with the standard of major works carried out (and just under a third
had no view or had not yet experienced major works).
38. Examples of comments left in the ‘free text’ section of the
questionnaire, relating to the standard of repairs, maintenance and
major works included:
Lewisham Homes
• “With ‘best value’ it is always the lowest cost (cheapest) bid that is
appointed for contracts. This results in the quality of work not being
of lasting value, and some work has had to be done again by a
better contractor. A specification of good quality should be set out
for contractors to adhere to and to meet. This investment in quality
would save money in the medium and long term”
• “The cleaning is not up to standard”
• “My roof was damaged in the past. They are supposed to have done
the repair but the job was not done properly. It still leaks when it
rains.”
The Council’s obligations to leaseholders
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