Actions required: Social housing providers must be held accountable for the treatment of tenants | Steve Bundred
onSeven years ago, scaffolding lived on the streets of North London where I live. The metal poles were built around the property next door to the House Association, owned by social housing provider Peabody, to allow for external renovation work. But today, scaffolding still exists-those repairs have never been done.
“This is another example of Peabody ignoring its residents at any time. They did not respond to emails from me or senior council officials, and also ignored the implementation notices of program officials,” said Martin Klute, Chairman of the Islington Council Planning Committee, Martin Klute, Martin Klute, Recently told Islington Tribune.
Peabody owns More than 5% Islington’s almost 112,000 attributes. And it’s good Below average performance On every key metric of landlord service. All-in-one concerns raised by Peabody tenants regularly when dealing with dangerous cladding, dampness, rodent infestation or broken lifts and failure to address neighbor nuisance or other forms of antisocial behavior.
Peabody, though one of the worst criminals, is not unique. Ask any councillor or citizen advice staff in our largest city to ask about their housing cases and they will tell you the same story. However, elected representatives are usually powerless.
Before 2010, I served as CEO of the audit committee regularly inspected the Housing Association. But for the social housing regulators created by the Conservative Party, the main concern is their financial viability. Tenant services are no longer their focus. This has begun to change since the Grenfell Tower fire. However, social housing remains the minimum responsibility for all our public services. In England, providers are not even bound by the Freedom of Information Act.
and Housing Appeal Specialist Four discoveries The serious bad management of Peabody last year also failed to drive change. In a finding last year, dangerous cladding was involved, the Ombudsman Famous Peabody responded to the issue before taking 24 emails and intervention from local lawmakers. In another case, Peabody reject Go beyond the problem that has lasted for eight years in the past six months, although it has previously admitted that its property has been “A very dangerous state
There is no doubt that my neighbor suffered from darkness, moisture and neglect for longer than during World War II. Klute, a critic of the Islington Council, obviously has a little point.
When asked to respond to many criticisms, Peabody said it spent £1 million a day on maintaining resident houses for every local team and trying to listen to residents to improve the “basic knowledge”. In this case, Peabody expressed regret for how long the scaffold had been rising. The building is listed, meaning any changes must involve the Council, the British heritage and everyone who lives there. “It’s all longer than we want, and we’re very sorry. Our goal is to get the job done as soon as possible.”
Residents welcome this. But the real problem is bigger than Peabody. Now, housing is the responsibility of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. She believes that in private rental properties, she is increasing the rights of tenants. But her Renters’ Bill of Rights has not addressed the growing crisis in the social housing tenant experience. Just like another Quango knockout that Labour promised, the Housing Association will lobby for a greater deregulation than has been suggested so far. To build other homes in the country that are desperately needed, they may have a little bit. But their tenants need more protection, not less.
This does not mean reintroducing the check, which is expensive and may be invalid. Instead, Reina’s many choices include giving local authorities a clear role in the industry’s accountability system. For example, she could allow the Council to request participation in an association’s public review meeting, which was believed to have overlooked their charitable roots. She can allow housing inspectors to consider Super Ritual From the Council, it’s like a legal class action lawsuit. She could extend the Freedom of Information Act as proposed by Labor MP Andy Slaughter in 2019. She can also make existing regulations more bite, impose tougher penalties and a new obligation to housing providers is to be good neighbors, requiring them to keep their communities informed. In my own specific cabinet, Peabody never provided any information about the property plans that its home was adjacent to, despite erecting scaffoldings that were spread throughout my windows.
But, most importantly, a change will force all housing associations, not just Peabody, to give their responsibilities as landlords the same focus they are now invested in development activities. The law allows the Council to order repairs to some properties in poor condition. However, the powers provided by the Town and National Planning Act of 1990 convey only trivial punishments of non-compliance. The Council can then do the necessary work on its own – but they cannot immediately recover the fees for doing so by billing the crime provider. Instead, they have to charge fees on the property and can only be recycled when sold.
The Council without cash shortages will easily take such steps. To address this imbalance, offenders should be forced to pay immediately after the repair is completed. And if they challenge the Council invoice in court, in each case, the responsibility should be placed on the provider to show that it has taken reasonable steps to avoid direct action on behalf of the vulnerable tenants.
Before Margaret Thatcher, when local governments mostly provided social housing, unfortunate tenants could vote against their landlords. This is often no longer the case, so it is crucial that we find other ways to enhance social tenants and make politics relevant to their concerns.
Meanwhile, Peabody’s CEO failed to reply to my neighbor and my letters to him that failed to organize and would soon become the president of London’s largest housing association. Therefore, he can be arguably the most influential person in the industry. When they meet, Reiner should tell him to get his house organized first. If he fails, she will enable the MP to do things right.
