Tanners Hill TRA General Meeting Minutes – Draft

Thursday 7 July 2022, 7.00 – 8.15pm

Attendees:

Cllr Brenda Dacres, Cllr Sophie Davis (by zoom).

Lewisham Homes: Janice Butterworth previous Housing Officer, Julianah Rotimi Housing Officer

Residents:

Deloraine House: Gillian, (Secretary TRA, Block Rep), Michelle, Joe – leaseholders; Martyna, Creg, Jan – private tenants, Peter Last – tenant

Heston: Barry, (Chair TRA, Block Rep) – tenant

Marie – leaseholder

Florence Terrace: Colin Connell, (TRA Treasurer, Flor Terr and Omega St Rep) – tenant

Omega St: C Campbell, G Flanagan – tenants

Heald St: Sebastian

Tanners Hill: Naomi (TRA Vice Chair) – leaseholder

Pitman House: Eve, Louis, Alvano, Rod

Item 1 – Welcome

Apologies: Nuala (Block Rep Heston House), Rosie Martin, Fred, Frances Connell (Flor Terr), Michael (Deloraine)

Item 2 – Agree Minutes of previous Meeting 27 February 20 – minutes agreed

Matters arising, no corrections

Item 3 – Consultation on Future Management of Estate

Cllr Sophie Davies (Cabinet member for Housing management) had emailed information along with FAQs, prior to the meeting, printed copies of which were provided to attendees (attached)

Cllr Sophie gave a short presentation and answered residents questions:

• a 3^rd party independent from either Lewisham Homes or Lewisham Council will be appointed to do the consultation

• the consultation will be funded by the Council, rents/charges won’t be affected

• I’m seeking feedback from other boroughs who have taken the service back in-house

• most staff will probably transfer

• we’re not sure yet how it will work re management and government structures but political accountability will be more direct than at the moment

• re Fire Safety is a Council ‘thing’ anyway, ie certain responsibilities

Barry: you could get feedback from other TRA’s too. The IT system, that’s a priority

Naomi: an overhaul was discussed 4 years ago, it comes up at every review, investment in this is a priority!

Pitman Resident: communication has been especially challenging with LH, so it’s a priority

Item 4 – Communal Repairs

Colin: tenants and leaseholders are reporting but repairs are slow or not done. Caretakers reports are ignored. The standard is poor with lots of changes in staff at LH, also contractors eg Gilmartins, Masher, Mullally are not monitored so their standard of work is often poor. Staff are back now after Covid but… widowpan is failing, repairs are failing, Nosings are falling off

Barry: clean up at the end of the day is poor eg white footprints on stairs, balconies, fluorescent strip lights were thrown in Heston bins

Colin: the compound in Heald St – we were told it would be there for 18 months, gone in 2018, it’s still there. They treat it like a rubbish tip then kids get in, Mullally are throwing glass and screws in skips Barry: and double parking in the rush hour on a bend in the road!

Pitman Res: if skips are full stuff thrown over the fence, after skip emptied stuff thrown in 7am

Pitman Res: lifts should be a priority, a cancer patient in Pitman who was elderly and ill couldn’t get out – I reported on Wednesday but no response til following Monday

Colin: Russell (Pitman res) told me there were 14 breakdowns in 9 weeks involving both lifts

Barry: in Chairs meeting it was raised as an issue on other estates

JB: surveys have been done on all lifts in Lewisham, there’s going to be a new contract – also lighting is very bad. If you report via an online form, it can’t be escalated to an emergency

Colin: the emergency line isn’t great, I was accused of being emotional!

Cllr Brenda/Cllr Stephen: CC us in! Gillian: and CC TRA please, too

Item 5 – New Parking Scheme

Gillian: Council painted double yellow lines ie parking restrictions in the car parks of blocks where cars have always parked in the 38 years I have lived on the estate – who should I email?

Also there’s a bike parked on the yellow box outside the community garden gate

JB: We’re dealing with it but DVLA are slow

Item 6 – Bike Racks

Background: the council had a private company install them, there was a token fee in the first year 2017, which increased to £60 per year after that. The private co has since gone bust so no fees now but the scheme isn’t managed ie whether any spaces have become free (they were all full), how to get a key etc. Each rack holds 3 bikes.

Residents: Council encourages cycling but we can’t keep bikes on balconies due to the Clear Corridors policy, and can’t chain to railings on the estate

Colin: when they were originally installed it was agreed with Cllr McGeevor that Flor Terr could have 2 but we never got them

Barry: at an estate inspection with Will Cooper in Dec 2021 (LH Community Relations Officer), we suggested using part of the basement of Heston ie the old laundry room for bike racks – Will said it should be possible (we also suggested charging points and a TRA meeting space there)

Martyna: we carry bikes up to 2^nd floor, some up to 4^th floor

Cllr Brenda: register your interest, the more people want them the more of a priority it becomes. Historically funding was provided by TFL, but not sure now.

Action – Cllr Brenda to talk to Will

Barry: maybe we need a steering group?

Item 7 – Decent Homes Tribunal update

Background: Major works took place on the estate from early 2014 – June 2016. The project over ran by 2 years, there were a lot of complaints from residents throughout the contract, particularly that LH were not adequately monitoring or inspecting the work of Contractor MITIE, resulting in a poor standard of work, work signed off that was not complete and work being done that residents objected to as unnecessary. This culminated in a vote of no-confidence in the management of the project by LH at a TRA meeting in March 2016. The LH Dir of Housing stated that if leaseholders were still unhappy when the final Bills were sent out, LH would bear the cost of a Tribunal. The final Bills were delayed for almost 3 years as LH and MITIE were engaged in a legal dispute over the major works. When the Bills were sent out many leaseholders were still unhappy with the charges although they had been reduced. The Tribunal took place in the first 2 weeks of April 2022, with the Judgement delivered on 30 June. Leaseholders from each block had received final bills that reflected the work done on their block, in every case the Judgement had reduced the total cost, some had been reduced more than others. In some cases items were removed from Bills entirely.

Action Gillian to provide summary of Judgement for posting on TRA website

 

 

AOB

Leaseholders TRA dues – it’s not a free service! The dues are deducted each week from tenants rent but leaseholders have tried and failed to have them included in charges so need to be collected – currently £7.00 per year

Damp – Cllr Brenda: we’re not privy to reports yet

Barry: issue raised at Chairs meeting – since then 2 TRAs are having more success with builders, it’s an ongoing process

JB: the damp survey isn’t yet completed so can’t provide a picture at this point – timeframe 3 months. We’ve done 2 flats in Deloraine

Barry: there’s 2 or 3 flats in Heston that TRA are aware of

JB: mould and damp was always dealt with as a tenant problem, which was a theory that was believed but this was reviewed by the Ombudsman and LH started ‘property MOTs’ last Jan/Feb, looking at whole flat. Mould and damp is not dealt with by Repairs section

Resident: I was surveyed, no report since 2 months. Name and address given to Cllr Brenda

Colin: damp/mould causes blown windows, spores grow, must get repaired, I got mine done

Hybrid Meeting – a big thank you to Naomi and Max (Baptist Church) for initiating and facilitating our first hybrid meeting. Creg offered some tech support for future meetings (with enough notice)

Meeting ended 8.30pm