Dear Tom

Most recent posts

• From Nic Bliss, 22/05/2012 9:28 am in Resident-led Scrutiny Reports

  There is not a right or wrong way to do Resident Scrutiny Reports.  The key issue is what will best lead to outcomes that bring improvements for tenants and prospective tenants.  If a key reason to involve tenants in involvement activities, including scrutiny exercises, is so that they can constructively challenge how the landlord operates so that services, value for money or other aspects of the business can be improved, then not allowing tenants to raise the points they wish to raise would seem to be counter productive and not using the potential business advantages that tenant involvement can ...

• posted Anonymously, 21/05/2012 4:44 pm in What is Social Housing there for...

  Oh well, that's a surprise! I had a theoretical stab at this topic (anonymous 14/5) and it turns out that I pretty much anticipated Government policy

• posted Anonymously, 21/05/2012 11:56 am in My Housing Officer is very unhelpful

  I had a problem with a tree... I complained for more than 12 years  to the housing officers, many of them, their managers, their directors, their complaint department of the housing trust... It was so blatant how many problems this tree created, like covering up completely a neigbours window, entirely covered my small garden, you could not stand under it because of continued pollination, it's roots making the garden uncultivable, its shoots everywhere, crows and other big birds all over it fighting and cawing... you will not believe how many times i had to write, how many experts the ...

• From Sparkle47, 18/05/2012 10:12 pm in Rules on assignment

  Thank you both for your responce. I'm a bit worried about under occupancy, as it's a 2 bed flat, but at lest we know its all overbroad. :)

• From Will Nixon, 17/05/2012 6:17 pm in What defines a 'living' room

  The crux of the issue is whether the property is deemed to be "more extensive" than required and the criteria will be contained in the Landlord's own policies and procedures.

• From Shaun Aldis, 17/05/2012 11:13 am in Repairs ban

  There are a few factors to consider, which are dependent upon what is in the tenancy agreement by type of tenancy i.e. social landlord or private lease. Normally the landlord is responsible for repairs unless stated otherwise and they should be carried out within a reasonable period of time, however again unless stated there are no fixed time limits, and the length of time considered to be reasonable would depend on the type and severity of the repair.  Most landlords will normally undertake repairs once they have been notified about them, however if they refuse or fail to do ...

• From Paul Jones, 16/05/2012 11:04 pm in Tenancy status and mutual exchanges.

  Those with lifetime (periodic) tenacies swapping with another person with the same will still swap using a "Deed of Assignment" and take over eachother's tenancies, not begin new tenancies.  BUT, if fixed-term or "affordable rent" is involved on either side, new tenancies are started. I have studied the Localism Bill and this is what it says.

• From Blair Mcpherson, 16/05/2012 1:01 pm in Why be a tweet

  I have recently joined twitter. I was initially reluctant but my son was very enthusiastic saying it was better than Facebook because it was easier to use, wasn't restricted to your " friends" and the limit on characters keeps comments short and to the point. For me twitting is a way to promote my articles and books to let others who share my interests know what is influencing me and to pick up on what others in my areas of interest are talking about. Of course I am not immune to the temptation to follow the trend.

• From Shaun Aldis, 16/05/2012 12:54 pm in Fire risk or not?

  Where there's any question about the performance of a product, I would suggest that it's important to get the products in question back to the manufacturer or importer, for them to inspect them and advise you as to the cause of the damage. This response can then guide and feed into your risk analysis. This should be channeled through your product supplier, be that a wholesaler, distributor, or trade supplier. My experience of this is that the quality of manufacturers responses will be improved if details about the installed conditions, fault levels, cable run distance, Amperage/kW loading, and nature ...

• From Matt Murdock, 16/05/2012 9:42 am in London Housing Assocition not building Social Housing -WHY??

  In short the powers are devolved by government to the Mayor and, in London, the GLA will take on the role previously undertaken by the Homes and Communities Agency.