Why it is crap

These are the notes we gave the Audit Commission:

Notes for Meeting with Audit Commission 29 June 2010

a)     Charges increased enormously last year and since Lewisham Homes took over

• We are told this is because we were undercharged before, except for Caretaking charges where we are told the increased costs are to buy more equipment which we haven’t seen used.
• Large increases are based on estimates which are later seen to be over-estimates, thereby causing unnecessary financial hardship by increasing monthly payments by 100% one year and reducing them by 30% the next year, making it impossible to budget.

b)     Service Charge Bills are unaudited

• Bills are full of errors due either to typing errors or because of charges for work that wasn’t done.
• Bills are accompanied by a letter that says bills are audited (when they are not), a misleading and fraudulent statement.
• Leaseholders are charged differing amounts for the same item, eg changing a light bulb
• Communal repairs, caretaking and grounds maintenance are often charged more to smaller blocks, and charged differently to same sized blocks.

c)     Charges for Repairs cannot be traced adequately

• With only 6% inspection of repairs, Lewisham Homes do not know whether a job is done or not, nor satisfactorily, and leaseholders know even less.
• Until Repairs can tell us what they’re repairing when they repair it and allow us to comment on its satisfactory completion or indeed whether it has been done at all, leaseholders do not know what they’re paying for up to 18 months later. (Highlighted by us for years, and now also by Scrutiny Committee. Persistently denied by Leaseholder Team, but now being considered by Potter)
• Due to lack of monitoring, we are charged for work that is re-done many times – there is no planning or understanding of persistent problems, eg no plans available for drainage networks.

d)     False claims for consultation

• At Leaseholder Improvement Group Meetings, issues that a clear majority want to discuss affecting whole estates are described as ‘individual’ problems and not minuted.
• Managers in Repairs and Caretaking have suggested ways forward but are then ‘silenced’ by their seniors – recommendations they make ‘in the field’ are not put into place.
• Meeting agendas are set by LH, and taken up with presentations rather than discussion
• Minutes are inaccurate if unfavourable comments are made, and are later not rectified.
• Changes to charges are made with claims that consultation with residents has taken place, when less than 0.5% have attended meetings where changes are presented.

e)     Querying charges

• Details of repairs only available by requesting a breakdown which are full of jargon with no glossary provided and are supplied variously in either date order or Repair Number, or a mixture of both, so are hard to decipher. Also sometimes supplied as Excel files.
• Anomalies become apparent when Repair Breakdowns for different blocks are compared. The average leaseholder has no means of comparison since no benchmark figures are available (eg average tariffs).
• Requests to see supplier’s invoices and queries on charges are unfulfilled.
• Photographic evidence provided by leaseholders has been persistently ignored.

f)  Caretaking

• Procedures are so poor in many cases that dirt and grime have built up to unacceptable levels. Persistent complaints about these procedures have been ignored.
• Charges for caretaking have increased for all leaseholders by as much as 300% with no visible increase in standards.
• On smaller estates charges are applied regardless of far lesser requirements
• On large estates, smaller blocks may pay more than larger blocks
• There is still no contract in place for cleaning bins, resulting in flies on all balconies on estates with bin chambers
• Pest Control: infestations do not get sorted until there are enough infested flats to do a block treatment, and we are charged whether it is successful or not.
• Inspections adhere to low standards and are marked high.
• If a resident attends an inspection they may point out repairs required that are otherwise missed. These are marked up to be actioned then recorded as done when they are not.
• Reports are not available to view on website as claimed.

g)     Grounds Maintenance

• A charge for sweeping was removed from Caretaking to be added to Grounds Maintenance – Caretaking charge went up anyway, as did Grounds Maintenance
• No provision of maps telling us where work is to take place. Work is now done according to need (eg grass height) – breaches of contract have already taken place. Leasehold Services said Estate Maps would be online by April. They are not.
• No effective monitoring of grounds maintenance contract, no inspecting during winter months (no contract was in place this past Winter)

h)    Value For Money

• Leaseholders must pay their own building insurance as well as a charge to Lewisham. Residents  often asked to claim on their own insurance because Lewisham don’t want to claim on theirs when it is usually their fault that a claim must be made.
• Antisocial Behaviour charged to Leaseholders on estates and not to those on street properties. The Scrutiny Committee recommends its removal as a charge. It Is totally ineffective (as proved by a recent focus group).
• Too much money spent on Lewisham Homes branding. A proliferation of institutional signs bearing the logo and Homes magazine are perceived by many as propaganda, serving no useful purpose.

i)    Poor communications

• The website is difficult to use (the search facility is poor)
• Enquiries are only responded to when a councillor is copied in.
• Letters to Andrew Potter, Adam Barratt, and other senior managers are rarely replied to (also letters to the Mayor). A letter from Joan Ruddock to Potter was replied to by the Council’s PR Head.
• Complaints via the Complaints Team about service levels are forwarded to Leasehold Services who spend so long ‘investigating’ that the complainant gives up and the Complaint is deemed closed.
• Leasehold Services hinder rather than help to obtain information about services and do not want us to talk to other services.
• These meetings with the Audit Commission were not publicised until one day before via Homes magazine. A handful of residents were contacted directly. Those wanting to attend who are awaiting transfer to L&Q whilst experiencing an abysmal level of service were denied access.

Stair Cleaning History

This week the Audit Commission have been inspecting Lewisham Homes.
For the past two weeks the caretakers seem to have been working overtime to clean things up a bit.
And a special caretaking team came in at the end of May and spent the week cleaning the stairs...
Who for? Not for us!!!
We wish the Audit Commission came every year, then perhaps we'd have and environment to be proud of.

MONDAY 24th MAY 2010

Stairs finally get a bit of a clean

Last Monday and Tuesday the Holden House caretaker was out on both days cleaning the stairs. The normal cleaning day is Wednesday, but on the Monday he did the normal perfunctory routine with the mop and bucket of cold water. The next day he was accompanied by another guy in white overalls who watched while our guy used a plastic bristled broom to really scrub our filthy old stairs. This was the result:

The stairs didn't look much better, and the caretaker was unable to get to the areas between the bannister uprights with his six inch broom. Also, having worked up a bit of a dirty lather, much of it was spread to the unpainted concrete surfaces of the balconies, which are now quite badly stained on all floors.

The dirty lather also dripped down the sides and stained the paintwork there.

Today, more caretaking operatives were working on the stairs, attempting to clean the areas between the bannister uprights. They were at it all day and I spoke to one of the guys, Jim, who explained that first they were using a scrubbing brush with a special cleaner that would lift the dirt.

Then another guy was a couple of flights behind him with a vacuum cleaner...

Both were critical of the surface, which was laid over ten years ago. Jim suggested it was Health & Safety gone mad that had led to a paint surface mixed with grit to prevent slipping. Such a surface was impossible to keep clean, he said, and he thought the best thing to do would be to remove it, but he wasn't sure how. He later set about some already chipped areas with a knife and removed quite a bit from the first mezzanine landing, in an attempt to see how easily it might come off.

I suggested that their cleaning operation was just a precurser to the stairs being painted again because last October Leasehold Services told us they wanted to trial a new paint surface, but we'd said the stairs were too filthy to take any sort of paint...(they didn't go ahead with it and actually blamed us for holding them up). He said he'd seen some new paint surfaces over at Honor Oak and that they were no better and would not last. But he knew nothing of any plans to paint our stairs.

This exercise, which is apparently going to be done on all the blocks that have painted stairs, must surely be in advance of the AUDIT COMMISSION's visit next month, when Lewisham Homes will be tested on whether they have done enough to qualify for Decent Homes government money – if any is still available.


27 APRIL 2009 (http://crossfields.blogspot.com/p/wall-of-shame.html - SCROLL DOWN)


Just after cleaning...with one bucket of cold water and a mop...These photos are dated January, February and March 2010, taken at Holden, Wilshaw and Farrer. The important thing to note here is that the unpainted stairs are just as badly stained.

Lewisham Homes and the Audit Commission

On page 7 of the latest Homes magazine, tenants and leaseholders are invited to give the Audit Commission our views on the services provided by Lewisham Homes, via three focus groups to take place over the next two weeks. Please ring Adele Stevens on 020 8613 7651 if you want to take part.

I did. Apparently there are only two focus groups, one for tenants and one for leaseholders, and the leaseholder one is at the Town Hall on 28th June...the tenant's one is probably next week – not much notice, eh?

Number Crunching

Meanwhile I was interested to read on page 9 the results of a National Housing Federation survey of residents, carried out on Lewisham Homes' behalf. "The results show that we are seeing results..."

At the end of this article it says "See more performance information online, or register to take part in surveys and have your say!" But if you go to the Lewisham Homes website, you will be hard put to find where on the site you can do this.

Meanwhile, the Council's Housing Select Committee found a less rosy picture in an independent survey on the service provided to leaseholders:

71% were dissatisfied with the standard of major works carried out
74% were dissatisfied with the standard of repairs
67% felt charges for repairs and maintenance were unfair
82% felt charges for major works were unfair
70% were dissatisfied with the billing process
64% felt their housing manager did not keep them informed about repairs and maintenance

Perhaps leaseholders are a more whingeing bunch!

(The Committee's report can be downloaded here)

Audit Commission Inspects Lewisham Homes in June

The following is taken from Lewisham Homes' website. You can download the Audit Commission's Draft Report on Lewisham's Housing 2007 on our Appendix page here.

Introduction

Lewisham Homes was set up as an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) on 22 January 2007. It is responsible for managing Council housing services on behalf of Lewisham Council. The Council is still the landlord.

Lewisham Homes is being inspected by the Audit Commission in June 2010 and we are aiming to achieve a two star rating or good service rating.

Who are the Audit Commission?

The Audit Commission is an independent organisation set up to drive efficiency and effectiveness in local public services. They work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue service. For more information visit the Audit Commission website.

When will the inspection take place?

The on-site inspection will take place over two weeks beginning on Monday, 21 June through to Friday 2 July.

What does the inspection involve?

Inspectors from the Audit Commission will meet with Lewisham Homes staff, our Residents, the Council and our contractors to assess the quality of housing services being provided. They will also assess whether there is potential for services to continue to improve for residents.

How does the Audit Commission score the service?

The Audit Commission makes 2 judgements:

   1. ‘How good is the service?’ (also known as Judgement One)
   2. ‘What are the prospects for improvement?’ (also known as Judgement Two).

The first judgement is scored by a three star rating system. Stars are awarded depending on how well the housing service perform.

0 star rating = poor service
1 star rating = fair service
2 star rating = good service
3 star rating = excellent service

The second judgement is an indication of how well we are set up to provide continuous improvement:

    * Poor
    * Uncertain
    * Promising
    * Excellent

What is the Audit Commission's current star rating of Lewisham Homes?

This will be Lewisham Homes first inspection since it was set up in 2007. In November 2008 we invited the Audit Commission to carry out a voluntary mock inspection in preparations for the real inspection in June 2010. This inspection was not rated. The Mock Inspection report is available to download from our website. (It is pretty damning - Crosswhatfields)

What will the inspection mean for Lewisham Homes residents?

We are aiming for a two star rating which will enable us to access funding which will be used to bring all homes up to the Decent Homes Standard (DHS). A guide to the Decent Homes Standard is available from the Communities and Local Government website.

The Government has advised all Arms Length Management Organisations making applications in Round 6, including Lewisham Homes, which had not yet got a two star rating by the Audit Commission, that they would not be able to access Decent Homes funding until 2011/12. This announcement means a delay in the commencement of work in Lewisham by about six months. To access this funding we must get two stars in our inspection in June 2010.

When will Lewisham Homes know the result of the inspection?

Following the inspection, the Audit Commission will write a report that highlights the strengths of the services we provide and will make recommendations of the areas we need to make further improvements. The report is expected to be available by the end of August 2010 and will be published on our website and in our resident magazine.

Your views on the services provided by Lewisham Homes are welcome on the Crosswhatfields website.