We have triede for years to get a fair deal from our landlords Amicus Horizon but our best efforts just met with more lies and deceit from a landlord who simply do not care and who believe that they are above the normal rules and regulations and good coomon decency that most landlords would automatically abide by.
Our landlords have ignored requests for assistance from us for years now and even when those same requests have come from councils, disability services, even doctors they have not even bothered to reply.
They refuse reasonable requests for repairs even when they state in their tenancy contracts that they are specifically responsible for those repairs that have been requested.
They blatantly refuse to respomd to telephone calls or in reply to letters or emails and they refuse point blank to accept complaints even though they give specific timescales and guarantees for all of the above in their contracts.
They deliberately fake complaint decisions because they have no one to answer to other than the high court and they are well aware of the unlikelihood of anyone having the stamina to take that course to its conclusion which can take years and be extremely costly.
If we have managed to do anything over the past few years it is that we have proved to a point where our landlords Amicus Horizon can no longer deny that they have cheated, lied, probably broken the law, misrepresented themselves or their actions on their websites or in their magazines. They have secret unpublished policies that are commonly practiced by their staff and this fact has been recorded in meetings with their staff. For instance: Amicus Horizon state very clearly as does the Housing Corporations Charter that they will pay a set compensation to tenants who suffer unnecessary waiting periods for repairs. They say that they will pay a maximum amount of ten pound for the first day followed by two pounds for each additional day yet their own staff who are in charge of assigning that compensation have stated on tape that it is not the company policy of Amicus Horizon to pay such compensation.
Amicus Horizon say that they are not responsible for any loss or damage caused by their repairs or by their negligence but the law would argue with that statement because any of us would be responsible for damage or personal injury if our actions inflicted it upon any other person.
We did not want to have to drag ourselves or anyone else through the courts but we will not stop now we have started because if Amicus Horizon who are the biggest landlord in this area are allowed to openly and deliberately discriminate against disabled tenants then it won`t be long before smaller landlords start doing the same because doing things right costs money and many landlords will go to any lengths to save money.
Our personal experience is that if you have a grievance against a small landlord then you can rely on support from Hastings council and from the Hastings social services and other local groups but if your complaint is against Amicus Horizon then it is most likely that Hastings council will be an obstacle because of their reliance on Amicus Horizon. The same applies to local groups like The Bridge at Halton which until recently was governed by 1066 housing association now known locally in our area as the socil workers cafe they are unlikely to offer any real help that would put them at odds with this powerful landlord.
As for builders like Booker and Best if they were reputable builders they would put right their mistakes especially when they state on tape that the work they have completed is sub standard and dangerous.
So as difficult as it is to get through the stress and strain of taking anyone to court we will get through it and we will ask the court to take those hardships into consideration one thing we will not do is give in.
All that Amicus Horizon have to do to improve the services they volunteer to supply is train their staff properly and keep to the terms and conditions of the contracts they insist you adhere to.
If you have any unsatisfied disputes with Amicus Horizon please let us know. We will not notify Amicus Horizon of any information that you give us we just want to compile a true picture of how often they break their contracts or discriminate against vulnerable tenants.
