foster carer prog - Council meetings - Lewisham Council

Appendices
windows were restored from the inside; they could have done it from
the inside. The scaffolding is coming down only to go back up again in
a couple of weeks which we’ll pay for again. There’s no downward
pressure on prices”
Security issues were raised:
“They were working on the inside of the property on the electrics and
left the flat door wide open. I complained to the liaison officer and
the same thing happened again.”
“Workmen left ladders up around our property so that people could
easily climb onto the scaffolding”.
Some people described problems with works:
“They’ve put new sealed windows in our estate and there’s
condensation that has now caused mould. My clothes, walls and
curtains are covered in brown streaks and mould”.
b) Charging and billing
Everyone commented on very large increases in service charges with no
clear explanation. There seemed inconsistency among leaseholders in
the same buildings where, for example, one member of the group was
charged £900 and another person in the same block was charged
£1700 for service charges.
One leaseholder said he had not received a proper bill for service
charges since 2007, just estimates and when he queried this he was
told to wait until the next financial year.
Errors were a concern:
“We were billed for a flat roof but we don’t have one”.
“Bills do not correspond with the work you’ve had done”.
Leaseholders also complained about a lack of itemisation and
transparency:
“They do things and don’t tell you and you are expected to pay”.
“I’m quite happy to pay but I need to know for what”
None of the leaseholders felt they had been offered viable options to
support payment of large bills:
“We have to pay £10,000 in 10 months. If you can’t pay they say you
should have been saving. £1,000 per month?! I can’t save that kind of
money.”
96 The Council’s obligations to leaseholders