Forum Topic

Hounslow council bully boys

Hounslow council, carried out a bodge up on my leasehold flat in brentford 4 years ago, despite assurances that i will pay the bill once they repair my door they have now put a solicitor on the case.They have sent out at least 30 people to inspect the door,the last one came about 2 years ago and made off with the draught excluder, i heard nothing until the solicitors letter arrived.The original bill was for £1800, it has now risen to over £3,000 despite the problem being the fault of their cowboy workers.This is a typical case of hounslow council doing exactly what they want and just walking over it's leaseholders, they have the tax payers money to play with and can afford the best of solicitors, i have limited funds to fight them,any advice would be very helpful as i've had very little help from our local concillors.

Dan Fenton ● 4979d24 Comments

This is from a while ago but I am sure Cllr Ruth Cadbury took the time to e-mail me to say she was trying to get a reply from you Dan.  It would be interesting to know how you got on resolving the issue as bills like this don't fold up like a paper plane and fly away.  Glad you are settled in your new home.  Cheers  Sarah.

Sarah Felstead ● 4840d

Ruth Cadbury was next to useless as were all the other local ego trippers i tried to contact, in all the years i lived in brentford the only Real help i got was from anne keen.The end result is that i sold up and moved away,i now have a freehold property,i lived in that area for 9 years and am so happy to have moved away from the corruption that goes on at hounslow council.Thank you to the one person on this forum who gave me constructive advice, you know who you are, as for the trolls on here, i feel sorry for you and hope you can find a better life some day.

Dan Fenton ● 4848d

Cllr Ruth Cadbury kindly sent me an e-mail to say that she has replied to Dan as had HH and she was waiting for his response.  Thank you Cllr Cadbury.  :-)Over to you Dan.

Sarah Felstead ● 4961d

Dan - following our exchange of emails, and some movement from HH as a result, I wonder if you have had a chance to see my email to you of the 22nd?  Ruth

Cllr Ruth Cadbury ● 4962d

This is something that I find I cannot get my head around - dealing with a Council run organisation.I don't have the time to write now, so all I can add is that I didn't get very far, again, with my conversations with their Personnel department about the quality of their Personnel reports.  The most outrageous part is they seemingly ignored my comments about what I consider to be a breach of the Data protection act, and repeated the information which if not a breach, is certainly an insult to the intentions of personnel confidentiality.Anyhow, the reason for writing this is to say that if you google ‘Hounslow Homes Diary’ you get the list of all meetings proposed for the year.  Their AGM is listed as tomorrow night, so you could pop along and speak to somebody directly.Annual General Meeting, 6.30pm25 OctoberLBH Civic Centre,Main Conference,ground floor,LPCC

Sarah Felstead ● 4964d

Dan, have you heard from Ruth Cadbury?

Sarah Felstead ● 4966d

God help you if you need Steve Currans help.He presides over a committee that carries out gross miscarriages of planning rules and is guilty of misconduct.Raise the issue with him and he will do his level best, completely convincingly, to sound concerned and helpful.  Once you are out of sight, he will just ignore you and carry on as before, lying and deceiving.He's a disgrace!

Asif Rana ● 4977d

http://www.brethertons.co.uk/Home/Business-Services/Property-Management/Meet-the-Team/Verity-Frangiamore.aspxPhil wrote (I suspect they are not real solicitors but debt collectors pretending to be solicitors - a common practice which in my view should be outlawed)Thank you Phil,that's exactly what they are, see link above

Dan Fenton ● 4977d

Dan says "pay to the council  a fair proportion of the cost of improvement".I hope Dan has plenty of photographic evidence.If the door is simply a replacement and not an improvement, then I would be querying why he had to pay at all. But in truth a housing lawyer should look at the whole lease and advise Dan, if he can afford it.In the absence of a court order I do wonder why the costs have risen.If he cannot afford legal advice he might as a long shot have a word with http://hounslowlawcentre.org.uk/ if it still exists, and ask for help or pointers.

George Knox ● 4977d

My reason for asking is this.  In the dim and distant past I represented two residents, in two different cases, at Brentford County Court.  Both had been asked by the London Borough of Hounslow to pay service charges which clearly could not be morally justified.In the first instance the resident had undertaken, under the terms of his lease, to pay any charges made against him in respect of communal areas in the vicinity of his property (the solicitor who allowed him to sign such a document ought to have been struck off, but that is by the by).The second had undertaken, under the terms of her lease, to pay "all reasonable charges".Both were in court because they had refused to pay.In the former case, although the court accepted that the demands being made of him were "unfair" he had effectively signed away his rights by agreeing to pay any charge that the council decided to ask of him.  The resident lost the case and was ordered to pay.In the latter case, the word "reasonable" was the deciding factor.  LBH admitted in court that it had not undertaken the work for which the resident had been invoiced, and the court ruled that it could not possibly be considered reasonable to charge a person for work which had not been done.  The court ruled against the council, which was also ordered to pay the resident's costs.It occurs to me that as you have undertaken to pay a "fair" proportion of any charges covered by your agreement it would, in a court case, come down to what is considered to be fair.  If the work has been bodged, and you can demonstrate this (and better still, if you can demonstrate that the council accepts it has been bodged) I would say you have a good chance.As for the "interest" being attached to your bills by the alleged solicitors (I suspect they are not real solicitors but debt collectors pretending to be solicitors - a common practice which in my view should be outlawed), you should ignore these demands completely as they will have no standing whatsoever in court unless you have signed an agreement to pay any such charges.Lastly, as Keith says, you should conduct all your negotiations with the council and any other agency in writing so that you have a paper trail which will be important if this ends up in court.I hope you find this helpful and wish you the very best of luck.

Phil Andrews ● 4977d

I take it you have outlined in detail and in writing why you are unhappy with the work and that you do not expct to pay for work that ids substandard.You could state that if the work is done to a good standard that you will pay but not until then Often refusing to pay does not endear your case legally to the powers that be.Photo's of the offending bodge would help possibly.Apologies if you have already done this.

Keith Iddon ● 4977d

Hi Phil, it says "pay to the council  a fair proportion of the cost of improvement" i'm not disputing this Phil, i realised that when i bought the flat from the previous owner who bought it under the right to buy.My problem is that i haven't been able to get anyone from the council to fix the door,despite numerous bodies having looked at it,they have all agreed that it needed repairing, the last one made off with my rubber draught excluder and has not been heard from since, as i said in a previous post i'm not trying to avoid paying the original bill but i feel that the interest and costs beeing charged by the councils solicitors even though the work has never been carried out are bully boy tactics.Still waiting to hear from Ruth Cadbury, her P/A has sent me a few emails, see below'I have forwarded your email to Councillor Ruth Cadbury unfortunately she is out of the office for the rest of the week and will contact you as soon as possible'Thanks for your concern Phil.

Dan Fenton ● 4977d

DanOn your lease, is there a mention of your obligation to pay "all reasonable charges" made by the local authority?  Or does it simply say "all charges"?There is a reason why I ask.

Phil Andrews ● 4978d

Local press? often concentrates the mind..........

Vanessa Smith ● 4978d

It is an ex council property, as i explained already they carried out 'major works' the contractors they used were a bunch of cowboys, the work consisted of 2 windows and a balcony door, the windows were ok, the door was/is a shambles,i've been trying to get the council to sort it out so that i can sell up and get away,Anne Keen was the only one who has chased them up and got them to send out their 'top man' but alas she is no longer in office, i've contacted other councillors who so far have done nothing to help,i've tried to find a solicitor who will take on this kind of case but after being passed on from one solicitior to another i gave up trying to find one.The councils solicitors (brethertons) are charging me interest and solicitors fees, i don't see why i should have to pay these extras when i am quite prepared to pay the original bill as i've said all along once they repair the door.i'm resigned to having to go to court as i'm not letting them get away with this.

Dan Fenton ● 4978d

As a builder who used to sub-contract work from LBH I can only guess that Dan lives in a ex council property and has had improvements forced on him we were put under pressure to :DO THE JOB: bodge it anyhow they are only tenants but unfotunately not everyone is .He has my deepest sympathy in his battle

Tom Corrigan ● 4978d

Does Dan live within the Brentford Ward, or the Syon one, or elsewhere?

Jim Lawes ● 4978d

"he could take it up with Steve Curran, the lead member for Housing"Good Luck with that one! Dan may well lose the will to live before getting any satisfaction!

Vanessa Smith ● 4978d

JohnAll local authority housing in this borough is owned by the council and managed by Hounslow Homes.  There is a very small amount of stock that exists outside of the Housing Revenue Account for historical reasons, but that tends to be isolated street properties rather than anything of a communal nature.Leasehold service charges have long been a source of contention and invoiced works in my experience have always appeared rather arbitrary.  Dan may well have a case and he should in my view seek external advice if he cannot find a councillor who is able and willing to take this up for him.

Phil Andrews ● 4978d

Responsibilities between tenants/leaseholders and the landlord depend upon the terms of the lease. I imagine that Dan is possibly living in a tower block or in a block with individual doors to a communal access where the landlord expects external doors to conform to a single pattern. I therefore have no reason to expect this post to be a wind-up.If Dan is having no joy from his local councillor on the matter he could take it up with Steve Curran, the lead member for Housing or with a member of the Hounslow Homes board. What I am not clear about is whether the landlord is the council or Hounslow Homes.

John Connelly ● 4979d

No sorry still don't get it really.  Is it a door to a communal balcony or something?  Why did the council get involved in the first place unless it is a communal door.  If it is communal how much was the total price?  Figures you give are huge if just for some sort of door.My daughter also has a door from her living room onto her balcony.  If something was wrong with it I am pretty sure she would be responsible for putting it right not the council. 

Bernadette Paul ● 4979d

If you own a leasehold property you are responsible for paying a share of any major works to the property, the door is an external door to a balcony, that is why i have to pay,it was "fitted" by hounslow council contractors and was never done properly,i'm not disputing the original bill, i just want  them to put right the door which wasn't installed properly, i'm responsible for any internal repairs,i hope this is a bit clearer for you.

Dan Fenton ● 4979d

I am so glad you posted Bernadette as I was wondering if this was a new form of wind up.  :-(

Sarah Felstead ● 4979d

I don't understand your post.  If you own a leasehold property and presumably LBH are the freeholders, why were they doing any work on your property or your door?  Usually the leaseholder is responsible for their own repairs etc., not the freeholder.  If these are some sort of service charges for general repairs to the block the council would have to prove that your share of the cost is a fair share.My daughter successfully challenged (in court) LBH where most of their service charges were proven to be unjustified.  She represented herself and the service charges were cut to about one third of what the council were claiming.I would have thought repairs to a door were your responsibility not the council's in any event.

Bernadette Paul ● 4979d