Thanks to all 27 residents who attended our leaseholder general meeting earlier this month. Cllrs Saleha and Olga believe Housing Scrutiny should put Registered Social Landlord leaseholder issues into the programme of work for 2024-25 and will communicate this to Cllr Gadsby.
Present: 27 residents, including Cllr Saleha Jaffer (40% MTVH, 45% Southern Housing, 15% NHG)
Guests: Cllr Olga Fitzroy
Disband St Martins Leaseholder Action Group
The chair introduced the discussion. The St Martins Leaseholder Action group has not met since 2007. It has £1,000 in its bank account. This was funding it obtained from Metropolitan Housing (as it was then called).
The chair proposed to dissolve the St Martins Leaseholder Action Group and pass the funds to the residents association. This motion passed unanimously.
Saleha Jaffer, David Oronsaye, Stephen Kearney, Stephen Rothman and Sina Taiwo were elected as officers for the St Martins Leaseholder Action Group. Their role is solely to ensure the group is wound up.
MTVH service charges
13 people have asked MTVH for receipts to justify their 2021/22 service charges. Nobody received receipts initially. After putting in a complaint at least five people have received £75 to £85 compensation and two people have received receipts. But these receipts are inadequate and do not explain their service charges.
The local authority has the power to prosecute landlords who fail to comply with their legal obligation to provide receipts. Cllr Olga said this was not a priority for the housing scrutiny committee for the 2023/24 year. She advised residents to put in level 2 complaints and go to the Ombudsman even though she acknowledged it was “not fit for purpose”.
Agreed unanimously (albeit with some abstentions) that MTVH leaseholders who have asked for receipts should be encouraged to put in level 2 complaints and escalate to legal remedies if that fails. We will encourage these residents not to accept the compensation offered. ACTION: Chris [Minute takers note: Yemi Daji from NHG has gone through a similar process, see below]
The Housing Scrutiny committee has not decided its priorities for 2024/25. We will invite Cllr Paul Gadsby, the chair of the housing scrutiny meeting, to a future general meeting to give evidence on why leaseholder service charges should be a priority. The exact date is to be confirmed, we need it to be convenient for Southern and NHG leaseholders too. Cllrs Saleha and Olga believe Housing Scrutiny should put RSL (Registered Social Landlord) leaseholder issues into the programme of work for 2024-25 and will communicate this to Cllr Gadsby, and encourage him to attend a general meeting . Action: RA Committee
Antonio on Cyclical Works
MTVH have started cyclical works in most, but all, of the properties they manage. This includes work like communal drains cleaning and painting the communal stairwells. Most blocks MTVH does not claim to have completed. MTVH do claim to have completed 41 – 53 Roupell Road but have not yet billed leaseholders
Antonio does not believe the works in 41 – 53 have been done to a good quality. He has booked a professional surveyor to visit 41 – 53 Roupell Road at 12noon on Wednesday 26th July. The surveyor will give a quote for how much it will cost for a full survey. That will say whether or not, in the surveyors professional opinion, the work is done to a workmanlike quality. The RA committee will then decide whether or not to accept the quote on behalf of the RA. Action: RA Committee
The surveyor will not visit other blocks. There is no point as the work is not yet complete.
Southern Service Charges
Craig (a Southern leaseholders) has had his buildings insurance increase for 2023/24 increase from £17 a month to £40 a month. This is for a three bedroom flat Not only is this a massive increase, it is also poor value for money. A three bedroom flat in Sheppard House, managed by MTVH, only pays £20 a month (source)
Chris and Craig to work on a pro forma form which they will then ask all Southern leaseholders to sign. This will involve door knocking. They’d really appreciate help with doing this once the date is announced. Action: Chris & Craig
Cllr Olga requested she has a copy of all forms. She will then chase them like any other piece of casework she received. Agreed.
Transparent NHG service charges
NHG leaseholders have not received reconciled accounts since NHG took over management from MTVH in 2016. Yemi has exhausted the complaints procedure so made an application to a first tier tribunal.
NHG have now produced reconciled accounts and claim they will publish them to all residents by early August. If they do publish accounts by mid August we will go door to door asking NHG leaseholders to ask for receipts. If they do not publish account by mid August we will go door to door asking NHG leaseholders to demand them. Action: Chris & Yemi
To avoid the tribunal ruling on the reasonableness of the service charges, NHG provided reconciled accounts for the first five years that only charged Yemi for insurance and the examination fee, meaning she will get a refund for most of the charges she has paid. Although there was no ruling, this does show that if an individual tribunal application is made NHG will most likely refund charges to avoid a ruling. However, it is not a long term solution to the lack of transparency.
Yemi has also approached the ombudsman but they have said they will not have a response until December 2023.
Damp Leaseholders
The vast majority of tenants are happy with the work done to fix their damp. In most cases this has been through dry lining. No work has been done on leasehold properties.
SHG held a meeting with Bell MP and some SHG leaseholder affected by damp earlier this month. They took lots of notes but did not commit to anything
Any Other Business
Richard and David both requested a page on our website giving guidance on how to make a complaint. There is one already at https://stmartinstra.blog/repairs/individual-repair-issues/. We’d really appreciate feedback on how to improve it. Action: All meeting attendees
ENDS
[Minute takers note: I didn’t take a picture at this meeting so the picture as the top of the page is from last year’s leaseholder general meeting]
St Martins TRA 