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Dangers of signing up
• DOES Councillor Barbara Smith still feel Islington Council’s repayment options for leaseholders faced with bills of many thousands of pounds for major works is “one of the most generous support packages in London”?
I am waiting for an answer as I am not alone in believing the package is likely to be one of the most punitive and onerous in the country. That is because the repayment options require those signing up to do so at the earliest stages, before the real extent/cost of the work has been identified. In signing up, they remove their right of having the final bill questioned at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT).
This matters, because many leaseholders have turned to the LVT, believing their bills to be far too high and subsequently have had them dramatically reduced. For example, Andover estate leaseholders rightly had the cost of needless scaffolding removed from bills by the LVT as the scaffolding had been erected for no apparent purpose. It is understood the scaffolding costs were in the region of £230,000.
Furthermore, perhaps Homes for Islington (HfI)/Islington Council would care to explain why they recommend that leaseholders, desperate for financial advice, go to Chas Central London, whose contract with HfI/Islington Council severely limits the advice it can give?
MRS NEWSOM
N7
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