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Two months to mend a leak
• I PURCHASED my one-bedroom flat in April, 2006, and had I known then what I know today about Homes for Islington (HfI) I would never have bought it.
It took HfI three months from the date I purchased the flat to transfer the account into my name. Once the account was in my name, it only took HfI a month to demand I pay a service charge. Even then, important information about my service charge was not forwarded as its database is not centralised, only enough to make sure the service charge is paid, never mind informing you what it is being spent on.
In December my bedroom wall was wet and full of mould and mildew. For more than two months I had to keep calling the HfI surveyor allocated to the case to ask when the cause of the problem would be ascertained, and maybe even fixed.
HfI kept missing self-imposed deadlines. I called the contractor (Kier Islington) as well as the sub-contractor (Westgate). No one called me back or followed up. Westgate said Kier Islington had not given it sufficient details. Kier Islington said it had only received a request to investigate and not to fix, and that HfI was not following up the case. The HfI surveyor said he had given the full details and did not understand why the job had not been done.
I knew someone at HfI from a steering group I am a member of and he followed up on the issue. By coincidence the same day I met a customer service manager from Kier Islington and finally the issue was dealt with.
Had I not been so involved in leaseholder issues, I would not have known where to turn. Two months to find the cause of a leak is unacceptable. Had there been a leaseholders’ association, someone there would have been able to help me.
LISE HUSEBO
Hillrise Mansions, N19
• WHY were we not consulted on the draft constitution for the proposed leaseholders’ association or on the need for an association? Why the urgency on balloting?
The draft constitution mentions a management committee of 12 people, elected for two years, but does not provide a recall mechanism whereby the membership can call them to account. There are no provisions for the members to call extraordinary meetings. With such a weak constitution we would be electing a powerful management committee, which we would be saddled with.
I call on all leaseholders to vote No, on the principle of not having been consulted and a proper debate initiated.
If we vote Yes we will be setting up a “quango” we will not be able to control
JORGE MELLA
Marlborough Road, N19
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