foster carer prog - Council meetings - Lewisham Council

Findings
87. We asked about the information provided to subsequent purchasers
of leasehold properties by Lewisham Homes and noted that (a) the
prospective purchaser’s solicitors would approach the housing manager
and enquire about the level of service charges, any arrears on the
property and any major works in the pipeline; (b) this service was
provided and charged for; and (c) the welcome pack sent to all new
homeowners contained lots of information on leasehold tenure and
was not charged for. We also noted that invitations to a Lewisham
Homes welcome evening had recently been sent to 200 new
leaseholders but only two leaseholders responded.
88. We noted that Lewisham Homes was currently undertaking the
planning and procurement process of the major works programme that
will be put in place once the Decent Homes funding is received. It was
suggested to us that they were going to considerable lengths to
involve residents in the process in an effort to improve the level of
satisfaction when the work starts on site. We noted that they had set
up a Residents’ Major Works Improvement Group open to all residents
including leaseholders and that, to date, the Improvement Group had
met on two occasions with a further meeting planned to involve
residents in the sequencing of the programme. In addition a
Stakeholder Conference was held for residents and the Residents’
Major Works Improvement Group were asked to nominate
representatives to sit on the Project Board. We also noted that
Lewisham Homes now wrote an introductory letter to the affected
residents prior to the commencement of all major works schemes
providing the name and telephone number of the Project Co-ordinator
so that residents could report any concerns immediately to the
appropriate person.
89. We asked Lewisham Homes if leaseholders had a single number
that they could ring if they had an issue with a bill or repair and asked
if, once they had made contact about an issue, they were assigned a
particular member of staff to see through their case to resolution. We
were told that it was usual that one officer would see an enquiry
through to resolution and that contact details were given on the
consultation notices sent, including the telephone number and the
name of the officer leaseholders should contact. Regenter reported
that it had a single number that leaseholders could use to contact their
dedicated full time leasehold manager to discuss issues they might
have.
90. We also asked both organisations if they had a target or
performance indicator relating to the time taken to respond to a
leaseholder query. Regenter reported that if a leaseholder raised a
question then it was logged as an item of correspondence and would
46 The Council’s obligations to leaseholders