HOUSING ASSOCIATION TENANT FAILURE

24/11/2008 11:58 am

Yes, this has been my experience with Riverside/ECHG- it is a contiuing nightmare and, as one tenant put it, 'they take over your whole life'.
I even had one staff memeber enter my flat without my permission, have been threatened with eviction for non- existant arrears, rents have been lost and I have had to provide proof of payment on at least four occasions.

26/11/2008 6:58 am

Should RSL CEO's be geographically elected by the tenants who pay their salaries.

On the same Parr as a local councillor.

26/11/2008 11:25 am

Why not go one better and appoint tenants as officers and directors of social landlords. What would it solve though? As nice as it sounds, if you sat with a bit of paper and worked it out how much improvements to services would cost, one would then be faced with the task of deciding how improvements would be funded. Where would the colossal amount of money needed to improve services come from if council tax payers don’t want to see increases? There is an old Geordie saying that you can’t make honey out of dogs muck, and in the case of improving housing services, this has never been a truer saying. You can’t buy champagne with lemonade money.

27/11/2008 9:23 am

Be careful; being a CEO is a complex and important skill. The reason they get paid so much is that it'll cost you a sight more if they get it wrong. If CEOs get it wrong it could cost you millions, and those millions will all come out of your rent. But it's right that they should be in some way accountable to the tenants, tenants are, after all, the point of us. And Billy Bob it's very unlikely that contractors are handing in the service One Vision paid for; you've let OV know they're being short-changed on your behalf?

27/11/2008 10:56 am

I am a housing professional and have been for over twenty years. I have worked as a temp and contract worker for over eight years so I have worked in many of the HA's and a couple of TMO's for varying amounts of time.
I have seen the worst and I have seen the best. The worst being committee member bullying staff to obtain services and offering flats to vulnerable mothers for sex. Staff taking it in turns to take sick leave, weeks at a time, staff not answering the telephone and not returning calls, staff making appointments with tenants and not keeping them.
The best being- now I have to think about this, a manager helping out an elderly lady with carpet because she had no way of helping herself out.
I have always tried to assist tenants and leaseholders to a very high standard- this is why I wanted to work in social housing, but I have to say that some staff are lazy and shiftless and do not give a damn about the tenants and this is why frustration is so high.
I am also a HA tenant and I have grown very tired and angry with the attitude of staff, haughty, rude and I would not mind if they could their job but they are paid quite substantial amounts when they do not know even the basics of housing management.
I recently went to an interview for someone to sit on a tenant advisory board- another committee, another set of rules for tenants to negotiate. I pointed out that the procedures were in place for tenants to be heard but that no-one was listening. What tenants do now need is another procedure to follow. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. Now is it... :)
I have been looking for work now since July so if anyone is looking for a dedicated and hard working staff member who does know the meaning of tenant particpation and knows how to treat people with respect please contact me.

28/11/2008 10:35 am

I have to disagree strongly when you say that a Chief Executives role is ‘complex and important skill’, Ged. Let’s get back to the nuts and bolts here. Most, if not all, council officers started out in life as being guys and girls on the tools. They knew every bit of their job inside out, then as new polices were parachuted in, they worked (debatably) their way up to an office job where they secured some sort of newfangled title. And this being part of the crux of the problem, such a move took them away from the stuff they could once do on-the-tools blindfolded. The skill of riding a bike was still there, nonetheless, like at lot of officers who have an inflated sense of omnipotence, they became deluded into thinking that all this rubbish about “diversity and inclusion” would make them more intelligent. It didn’t. And I am sure that many forum members can give thousands of examples of instances where a worker has gone from £20,000-a-year wage on-the-tools to become a Chief Executive on 130,000-a-year and remains totally ineffective because they have lost touch of the little things that are important to tenants. In fact, I throw down a challenge to any Chief Executive in the country to allow a tenant to take over their role for one week, and let’s see how simplified the tenant can make their role.

28/11/2008 11:34 am

I notice that out of all the hits to this subject not one has given you any advice or comfort.
My advice is this: arm yourself with the knowledge you need to fight back. One tenant I dealt with had arrears on her account for 3 years, in reality these arrears did not exist. She let the housing association know and provided proof of payment and thereafter remained silent. She had nothing further to prove and the onus was on them to clear up the mess they had made- which they never did I might add.
Go to the CAB to obtain information about the issue and where you stand legally. If you are in the wrong then obviously you should put things right but if they are tell them what steps you have taken and give them the information that you have been given by CAB and remain silent thereafter. If they become threatening report them to the police and do not forget to get a crime number which you will of course use if any issues go to court. My guess is that they will leave you alone when they realise that you cannot be pushed around.
It is not unknown for cowboys in the sector to issue notices willy nilly and to threaten tenants with eviction.I once came across a case where a housing officer was terrorising a tenant because they had left their wheelchair outside of their flat. the poor woman could barely walk and was worn out and afraid of what would happen to her.
I could write a book.
Good luck and I hope things turn out well for you.

28/11/2008 4:34 pm

if you can give good advice as this - then you got to write the book! I will be the first to buy it.

11/02/2009 11:58 am

I find it really starnge that people have so many problems with their landlords. All RSL's have their complaints procedures, you can also raise concerns via cllrs/MP's etc and if nothing else the ombudsmen.

11/02/2009 12:19 pm

"Jason johnson
Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:58 GMT

I find it really starnge that people have so many problems with their landlords. All RSL's have their complaints procedures, you can also raise concerns via cllrs/MP's etc and if nothing else the ombudsmen.".................................................................................................................................

And it's not even stranger that - if you manage to go through all that - by losing time, work, social life and becoming mentyally ill, drugs dependent etc - a tenant still gets nowhere?... But it's great to hear from someone like you who is blissed not to have such worries. Maybe we should swap flats if you really want to experience being a London and Quadrant tenant.