Letter to the Mayor

The Council's own Scrutiny Committee reviewed leasehold services last year and produced a report published in Dec/Jan 2010 that contains many recommendations which cut a swathe through the garbage leaseholders have been fed by Lewisham Homes over the past year (see previous post). The recommendations must be passed by Mayor and Cabinet first. This was scheduled for 3rd March but has now been deferred to 24th March. We wrote to the Mayor on 2nd March but still await a reply.

Dear Mayor,

Lewisham Council's Scrutiny Review into Leasehold Services

We are told that tomorrow you will be responding to the above at the Mayor & Cabinet meeting. We sincerely hope that you will accept all the recommendations for service improvement.

Presently, gross errors are afforded by Lewisham Homes (and the council's) failure to properly audit accounts, with a corresponding dereliction of duty in scrutinising contracts and contractor's invoices against the actual work or service supplied. Since Lewisham Homes have collected or continue to collect payment, this is tantamount to fraud.

There is little or no monitoring of communal repairs and maintenance and standards of caretaking remain appalling. There is still no contract in place for cleaning refuse bins, nor – until recently – grounds maintenance. Overdue reviews of Repairs & Caretaking, and Leasehold Services are not scheduled to take place until 2012. Estate inspections are wholly inadequate and record fictional repairs. All residents, both leaseholders and tenants are still charged varying amounts for exactly the same services depending on the size of their block, and we have seen absolutely no benefit from the additional payment for Antisocial Behaviour and Resident Involvement.

In challenging Lewisham Homes we have met obsfucation and defiance from its senior managers, both in our own communications and in forums such as Area Panels and Special Interest Groups, where serious questions are ignored. There is widespread dissatisfaction across the borough, and because there are no checks and balances in place for communal repairs, contractors and workers are not held to account, and both the council and leaseholders are charged for work that is not done, or done badly.

We wish to reiterate the absolute necessity of the Committee's recommendations being implemented as soon as possible, since mismanagement of properties under Lewisham Homes' care has an ever increasing impact on the proper appropriation of public funds.

Yours sincerely,
Crossfields TRA

The Council's Obligation to Leaseholders

The Council’s Obligations to Leaseholders: A Review by the Public Accounts Select Committee

Last year, after a great number of complaints, there was a Lewisham Council Scrutiny Committee review of the leaseholder situation in the borough. It surveyed a small sample of Lewisham Homes and Regenter B3 leaseholders and published its report in early 2010. Before any of its recommendations can be implemented it must first be passed by the Mayor in Cabinet. Some of the recommendations are paraphrased here. Contact us for full text and report. Download the Recommendations with timelines here.

• The Council’s clienting procedures be reviewed, eg particular attention given to how the Council monitors how Lewisham Homes check the quality of repairs, maintenance and major works and whether the bills issued are accurate.

• A system to be implemented whereby Lewisham Homes are required to make a reduction to the annual service charge bill if performance targets fall below a certain level with a mechanism whereby leaseholder input can help drive forward this change.

• Service charge instalment arrangements to be reviewed; consideration given to extending the time allowed for the service charge to be paid from 10 to 12 months.

• the target to respond to letters, emails and phone calls from leaseholders within ten working days should mean that a meaningful response is received, and not just an acknowledgement.

• a strategy is developed to raise awareness of the complaints procedure.

• the way in which information on costs is communicated to leaseholders is changed to allow a clear and complete breakdown of costs (what work took place, when and how much it cost) to be provided with every service charge so that leaseholders can more fully understand what they are being asked to pay for. If feasible, service charge and major works files, including redacted invoices, should be made available on the Lewisham Homes website.

• Separate service charges for Anti-Social Behaviour, Customer Services and Resident Consultation should not be levied on top of the existing service charge as these services should be funded from within the standard service charge.