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Housing matters

Tenants are the real losers in the Odu-Dua Housing Association dispute

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The row over the management of Odu-Dua Housing association looks set to continue.  The tiny BME organisation is pursuing a case against its suspended chief executive Lara Oyedele after both sides failed to reach an out-of-court agreement last week.

A deal in which Ms Oyedele would resign, on the condition three board members also step down, fell through. The parties failed to agree a timetable for the board members standing down, and also disagreed about the terms of a pay package for Ms Oyedele.

The organisation could face a bill of up to £70,000 in costs if it loses, but even if it wins  it will have been paying for two chief executives for around four months.

I don’t propose to go into the ins and outs of who might be wrong or right regarding this dispute – that is for the county court to decide (assuming it gets that far). Both sides believe the organisation’s rules allowed them to act the way they did.

What I do know is that tenants are ultimately paying for two chief executives as a result of the row– and could be hit by a whopping bill equivalent to half Odu-Dua’s annual surplus if the association loses the case.

Nobody is winning from this dispute, and the losers are tenants. The two parties can settle at any time between now and 17 February.

I would strongly urge both parties to put tenants first and come to a settlement. It is obvious that the board and chief executive can no longer work together and in the meantime precious financial resources are being squandered.

Carl Brown looks at regulation, training, board members, pay and a host of other issues that impact the day to day running of social landlords

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