Unkept appointment by Housing Association

cozzie

I have spent all day (with the exception of 1hr this morning) waiting for a surveyor from the Housing Association to come around, only to find at 4:30 that he has called in sick and that I have to rearrange the appointment and hope that he/replacement will be back soon.:mad:

The only reason I found this out is because I phoned their help desk.

I know that with many companies they have to pay a charge for unkept appointment, does anyone know if this applies to housing authorities as well?

trafalgar_2

I don't think it applies here ,but can I ask the reason for the surveyors visit.

Are you buying from them,them from you .

Ember999

Didn't know you could buy Housing Association Houses?

trafalgar_2

Ember999 wrote:

Didn't know you could buy Housing Association Houses?

You can if they decide to sell some off ,which may be the case here.

Pat__3

Ember999 wrote:

Didn't know you could buy Housing Association Houses?

Yes you can Ember999, as Traf says if they are up for sale.

Also if you lived in council property you kind off get a percentage discount for each year you are the tenant and this can be carried forward to housing association property and vice a versa, so you can end up with a good discount off whatever you are buying. ( council or housing assoc ).



Hope I have explained this OK for people.

cozzie

If you want to buy from a Housing Association you have an entitlement called "The Right to Acquire" rather than "The Right to Buy", or so I have been told. However that isn't the reason they were coming out.

My rear garden is in a terrible state, it drops 6ft from front to back(within a distance of 15ft), there is no gate on the garden (leading out to the road) as the fencing contractors who did the front garden decided to leave me a driveway and then when they came back to do the gate they told me it wasn't a legal driveway, the fencing at the side of my house is hanging off and has barbed wire behind it, but, the icing on the cake is that there is no fencing at the bottom of my garden and beyond the boundary is a sheer drop into a river.

The surveyor was due to come out and assess my entitlement to fencing and levelling as I have a 20month old who is desparate play "utsssside".

Ember999

Thanks for those three replies, guys and gals, it's nice to learn something every day and I just did. I am now just wondering if you can purchase Housing Association Houses by 'Right to Acquire' rather than 'Right to Buy' why on this forum, people have discussed that they cannot buy their Housing Association houses. I have no idea where the posts are, some I read maybe months ago when I was just a 'browser' rather than a participant. Maybe only some people can 'acquire' their houses? I wonder if anyone out there knows more information about this?

chugalug

You're right, not every HA tenant has the 'right to acquire' their property. If you contact your landlord they would be able to let you know if your property comes into this category. There are discounts but these are much, much lower than with council right to buy. I think the maximum amount is £16,000 (not a percentage as such) and the local authority sets the amount. HTH.

DilbertJones

Here is what I have found

"The Right to Acquire is a scheme giving eligible tenants of registered social landlords the legal right to buy the home they currently rent. The booklet available for download on this page explains how the scheme operates from 18 January 2005 following the implementation of the Housing Act 2004. Your landlord will also be able to help in explaining the scheme.

You are advised to take your own independent advice on questions relating to mortgages, insurance and legal matters."

http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/yourhome/rta.htm

Savvy_Sue

cozzie, I don't know that there will be any recompense for an unkept appointment, but if the HA has a website see if their Tenants Charter is on it. Even if they don't offer a payment, it's worth writing and asking for one, it really is inexcusable that they didn't phone you when the surveyor phoned in sick. His appointments should have been in a diary, accessible to a colleague. (Apart from the fact that this enables them to contact tenants if someone is delayed or unable to attend, it's basic health and safety that they should know where their staff are supposed to be, in case you are related to Hannibal Lector and someone doesn't get home the day they go to see you! I'm quite sure you're not related to HL but you get my drift!)

cozzie

Thank you Sue.

It never occurs to me to do the simplest and most obvious of things like looking at their website.

The surveyor actually came out today, whilst I was in the middle of a children's party. And of course, it didn't occur to them to ring me first to check that the time was suitable or not, (as the case may be). The end result being that in about 3wks time someone will come out and put up some sort of fencing at the bottom of the garden.

WHOOPIE DOODLES!!

It was mentioned to me today that I should be entitled to a refund if I were to pay for the work myself and make a claim against the Housing Association, but, I will look into that further as I don't want to be out of pocket to the tune of a few hundred for too long. (and it would probably have to come from someone else's pockets anyhoo, isn't that what parents are there for?)