Housing Association not managing its residents and impact on private owners/residents

sebtomato

Hi,

I live in a fairly upmarket estate located South West London. Estate is made of several blocks of flats as well as town houses, and some large communal gardens.

Two blocks of flats belong to a housing association (as per quotas imposed by planning permission rules) and a minority of some of their tenants keep:

* trashing the place (littering, discarding furniture outside etc)
* using drugs, drinking, gathering outside
* damaging gardens
* speeding, parking randomly
* playing football hitting walls and cars etc.

The Police is very frequently called to attend their block.

The HA is also quite poor at maintaining its own blocks, doing repairs, fixing damages etc. It takes them months to fix anything, including safety issues.

We have been in discussion with the HA management for several years, and have produced many evidences to them, but are making little progress. They just don't care that several of their residents are in constant breach of their tenancy agreement.

Can we take legal action against the HA? Could we for instance claim that property prices are affected by their lack of management? Can we charge them for litter picking, fixing damages on their own buildings etc?

Ideally, we would like those 2 blocks to be no different from private blocks in the estate, when it comes to trouble, maintenance and cleanliness. None of the other private blocks face any specific issues, so the 2 HA blocks really stick out. Many of their own tenants are also upset.

Thanks,
S.

Davesnave

Ever get the feeling you've been here before?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4711599

I suggest re-reading your old thread.

ReadingTim

Suspect you'll have very little success in dealing with this issue - neither the HA or the police have the time and resources to deal with this sort of low level anti-social behaviour. Furthermore, most of the examples you provide are frankly de rigour behaviour in many an estate, both in the inner cities and other deprived areas of the country.

You'd be better off putting your time, energy and money into moving to an area which contains more of the sort of people you'd rather be with.

The_Logans

It doesn't sound very 'upmarket' to me!

Pixie5740

Who is the "we" in your discussions with the HA? Did you form a residents association as was suggested to you in your previous thread? If so did you include the social housing residents as well?

45002

sebtomato wrote:

Hi,

I live in a fairly upmarket estate located South West London. Estate is made of several blocks of flats as well as town houses, and some large communal gardens.

Two blocks of flats belong to a housing association (as per quotas imposed by planning permission rules) and a minority of some of their tenants keep:

* trashing the place (littering, discarding furniture outside etc)
* using drugs, drinking, gathering outside
* damaging gardens
* speeding, parking randomly
* playing football hitting walls and cars etc.

The Police is very frequently called to attend their block.

The HA is also quite poor at maintaining its own blocks, doing repairs, fixing damages etc. It takes them months to fix anything, including safety issues.

We have been in discussion with the HA management for several years, and have produced many evidences to them, but are making little progress. They just don't care that several of their residents are in constant breach of their tenancy agreement.

Can we take legal action against the HA? Could we for instance claim that property prices are affected by their lack of management? Can we charge them for litter picking, fixing damages on their own buildings etc?

Ideally, we would like those 2 blocks to be no different from private blocks in the estate, when it comes to trouble, maintenance and cleanliness. None of the other private blocks face any specific issues, so the 2 HA blocks really stick out. Many of their own tenants are also upset.

Thanks,
S.

Davesnave wrote:

Ever get the feeling you've been here before?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4711599

I suggest re-reading your old thread.

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?79024-Housing-Association-not-managing-its-residents-and-impact-on-private-owners-residents


..............................

sebtomato

Davesnave wrote: »

Ever get the feeling you've been here before?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4711599

I suggest re-reading your old thread.

That's correct, I have posted something similar before, but didn't really get advice on where we stand legally and what actions we can take...

sebtomato

eggha wrote: »

so 3 years and 10 months after your first (?) post about this topic your well heeled fellow residents have either moved elsewhere or decided not to fund legal action of their own.
simple answer: move yourself as you have the funding to do so

Not many residents have moved (doesn't mean they are not frustrated), and you assume they decided not to fund a legal action, which is not correct. We tried to continue the dialog with the HA and find constructive ways about dealing with issues.

I am not going to move just because a couple of HA tenants are creating chaos, I am going to deal with the issue until it's resolved, as a matter of principles.

Apart from issues from a few HA tenants, this is a very nice estate, in a very nice location. Would be very hard to find something similar elsewhere, and any development would have its share of HA anyway.

sebtomato

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Who is the "we" in your discussions with the HA? Did you form a residents association as was suggested to you in your previous thread? If so did you include the social housing residents as well?

We have had a residents association for a long time, and the HA landlord is indeed part of it. Does not make any difference, they are not taking many actions to deal with their tenants.

sebtomato

ReadingTim wrote: »

Furthermore, most of the examples you provide are frankly de rigour behaviour in many an estate, both in the inner cities and other deprived areas of the country.

You'd be better off putting your time, energy and money into moving to an area which contains more of the sort of people you'd rather be with.

I already live in such area. A few HA residents are the exception in this estate, as opposed to the norm. The majority of the HA residents don't want trouble nor anti-social behaviour, but they get nowhere with their landlord either. Should everybody move then?

sebtomato

Penitent wrote: »

If you were unhappy with the responses you received previously, then the next step is to take professional advice (i.e. CAB or a solicitor).

We are getting a solicitor, but I was interested in other people's experience in dealing with similar issues. I am sure there are many other examples of a few HA tenants creating trouble to other HA tenants and private residents, and the HA doing very little to address this.

Surely, we are not the only ones in the UK dealing with such issues.