YulBrynner
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Comments (15)
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Comment on: The home MOT test
I'm stunned that this article is presenting a very old idea as a new Dutch initiative. Home MOT's and Repairs Caravans are well recognised initiatives for reducing the level of responsive repairs in the Uk. The CIH produced a best practice document detailing this very principle. The audience listening to this at inside housings repairs summit must have been biting their collective tongues. Well done Inside Housing for being at the cutting edge of industry education.
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Comment on: The home MOT test
I'm stunned that this article is presenting a very old idea as a new Dutch initiative. Home MOT's and Repairs Caravans are well recognised initiatives for reducing the level of responsive repairs in the Uk. The CIH produced a best practice document detailing this very principle. The audience listening to this at inside housings repairs summit must have been biting their collective tongues. Well done Inside Housing for being at the cutting edge of industry education.
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Comment on: Eaga grasps £300m for solar panel fund
I wonder if EAGA will still be quite so keen to deliver 'public sector policy' now that FITS have been slashed... Answers on a postcard!
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Comment on: Eaga grasps £300m for solar panel fund
Jonathan H, Glad you agree that you don't understand and lets further expose your hypocrisy... Recognise this comment; 'seems only fair seeing as no other landlord would expect to be given money to buy something and then earn money out of it whilst benefiting someone vulnerable possibly in fuel poverty.'
This is your response to the news that the HCA had banned landlords access to FIT's. 'You really should be encouraging this sort of investment and suggesting ways things that would make their investment better for residents rather than just complaining about everything'... So I should be encouraging landlords to invest in FIT's but you support the HCA limiting access to FIT's. You really are confused. -
Comment on: Eaga grasps £300m for solar panel fund
Jonathan H, the fact that this is about profit and not saving residents money was a point I clearly made, hence the comment, 'In fact they're designed to deliver investment companies pots of money at the taxpayers expense.' I'd suggest you stick to less complex debate that you might actually understand when you read it.
Discussions (1)
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Positive Discrimination
Well folks; i never thought I'd see the day but it's happened... I've been officially rejected for a post because I am apparently... 'overqualified.' Before I respond to the letter I've received from
Posts (8)
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Posted in: Damp,mould and disrepair- Professional Advice Please
Hi,
There's such a mixed bag of advice here, some good, some not so good and some terrible, that I felt the need to give a definitive response... Condensation is by far the most common cause of damp in social housing, however you cannot walk into a property and make a diagnosis based on nothing more than mould on the walls. Mould can result from any form of damp and at best can be a strong indicator that condensation damp is present. It's a great get out clause for maintenance surveyors or housing inspectors to put dampness and mould down to 'lifestyle' and abdicate responsibility back to the tenant but based on what proof? Condensation damp is caused by any one of a number of problems. Poor/inadequate heating, poor ventilation management, poor thermal insulation of the building fabric or occupancy. By occupancy we mean that even the process of breathing adds moisture to the atmosphere, cooking, bathing, drying washing, using non condensing tumble dryers etc can all add to the relative humidity in the property. In my experience there is always a need to address a combination of these issues and the reasonable and professional approach is to state that there is a shared obligation in resolving these issues. Residents hate to be told that they have to 'manage' these problems and landlords equally hate to be told that there are potential disrepair issues. My pet hate is surveyors who have habitually turned up to assess condensation damp issues and simply tell residents to open the windows and turn up the heating. This is plain bad advice... we know that warm air holds more moisture than cold air so why would you let that warm air straight out of the window and turn the heating up even more? Ventilation is important but it has to be carefully managed by judicious use of extractor fans or preferably heat recovery units which are starting to edge into the ventilation market.
If I do a damp survey then I turn up with kit worth a great deal of money. I have a Hygromaster which tells me the relative humidity and dew point temperatures, I have a laser thermometer which tells me if wall surface temperatures are below dew point temperature but I also have equipment that allows me to survey for other forms of damp such as deep wall probes to help me rule out penetrating damp. It's negligent to only survey for one form of damp, it's beyond negligent to make a diagnosis after having carried out no tests whatsoever and a court would see it that way. The industry is incredibly poorly educated to deal with damp and if you think you'll get a more knowledgable response from environmental health then think again, they have no expertise in this field whatsoever. It would be very easy to prove a case of disrepair against any landlord but you would need a full damp survey carried out by someone with expertise in this field, not someone from a damp company who has a vested interest in selling you dpc injection, they're very poorly qualified too and generally have a limited expertise in this area.
Simple questions to ask yourself are:
1. Do you live in a well insulated property with double glazing?
2. Have you got a controllable heating system with heat emitters in every room?
3. Have you got extractor fans fitted to the kitchen and bathroom?
4. Is your property water tight?
If the answer to all these questions is yes then there are probably no disrepair issues and you'll need to manage your heating and ventilation better you have been. However, if you feel you fall short in any of these areas then you might have a case for disrepair. There is case law in this area. I think it's Welch V Greenwich Borough Council. the Tenant Miss Welch took her landlord to court and was awarded damages for her landlords failure to resove dampness to her property over a seven year period.
One last thing I will say is that I've seen properties with condensation damp running down the walls for no other reason than the property was severely over-occupied. In these cases housing management have to step in and consider relocating to a larger property, I've had to do this on one occasion.
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Posted in: Budgets for Resident Led Scrutiny
Some time ago I read that the average annual cost for resident involvement comes to about £30 per resident. So say we have a small RSL with 3000 residents then their annual cost for resident involvement is circa £90k. Now ask yourselves whether the vast majority of residents would want this money spending resident involvement or service improvements? I firmly believe it's the latter and costs for resident involvement should be carefully managed and fully justified.
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Posted in: VAT OR NOT?
My understanding is that improvement works generally fall under the 'VAT shelter' which means HA's can claim the VAT back on these works; however this is a once only deal. VAT can't be claimed on the same improvements second time round.
VAT is payable on repairs but you do not pay VAT on directly employed maintenance staff so theoretically it should be cheaper to carry out repair works with an internal trade team. -
Posted in: Remove of Scaffolding by Landlord
It is good practice though not necessarily a legal requirement that you were notified in writing of the impending work, particularly because there was scaffold involved; it was remiss of your landlord not to have done this but I do not advocate that landlords should be writing to every neighbouring resident whenever maintenance work is required.
In terms of justifying the expense; the landlord does not have to justify the expense; working at height regulations quite often dictate that scaffolding must be erected to complete works at height. If the expense had to be justified then we'd have lots of tenants with a leaky roof due to minor damage. Access equipment is expensive unfortunately but your landlord can't do anything about this.
Even if the neighbour did tell the contractor to leave the scaffolding then so what. Contractors aren't generally in the habit of making mischief or causing trouble at the request of tenants. It was probably a scaffold company rather than the contractor who erected the scaffold. If it was then look for the number on the scaffold and give them a call to take it away. Failing this, ring your landlord, tell him that the work is finished and that you want the scaffold removing because its causing a nuisance. Scaffold is not paid for on a daily rate, generally its erected for an agreed fee so once the job is done it is essentially dead money until its erected elsewhere.
If you're suggesting that your landlord should intervene every time there's an allegation of a neighbour passing 'unwarranted comments' then I'd say that no they shouldn't. However if you're saying that you have evidence of anti social behaviour then this is something that your landlord may well be interested in. Please note that I place very heavy emphasis on the word evidence. Some local authorities do some neighbourhood dispute mediation work but it is never their job to take sides in these matters. -
Posted in: Compensation Claim against my landlord
I'm failing to see how the dog caused your family so much pain, loss and suffering? Was it aggressive, was it barking all night or fouling the shared communal area?Leaving aside all the emotive content in your e-mail then if what you say is true your landlord has breached their own tenancy agreement. I do not see the breach of a policy as a major issue and in fact your landlord can amend their own policies at any time they see fit. Presumably you moved by mutual consent rather being evicted? Your neighbour physically assaulted and harassed you but you were the one arrested? Your neighbour considers himself disabled or is he actually registered disabled or have a recognised heart condidtion? I also notice that you state your landlord failed to recognise 'our' diasabilities. What are those disabilities because if mulitiple members of your family have recognised or registered disabilities as you suggest, and these were ignored then this would be your best avenue to pursue. However I've got to say that I'm extremely sceptical and would love to hear the other side of the story. As things stand and in the absence of any evidence I would say that you don't have a strong case at all for compensation. If there is an award then I'd expect it to be in the low hundreds rather than thousands. Your landlord is absolutely right to suggest a method of alternative dispute resolution or out of court settlement and in fact a court would frown on any defendent who had not pursued this as a course of action.