From: "Pxx Bxxxxx" <pxxxxxxxxxxx@btinternet.com> Sent: Fri 22/01/10 3:04 AM
To: <gm@1066ha.co.uk> Priority: Normal
Subject: I admire your website Type: Embeded HTML/Text
Alert: The users email-address has been added to the addressbook
Hello there
I saw the example of a door hung by Booker and Best and could not pass by without commenting as you requested.
Me and my husband are landlords but the block where we own our flat is managed by 1066 Housing Association and Amicus Horizon. We tried to do something similar to your website on behalf of leaseholders but didn't manage to rustle up much support. We have a lovely tenant who I am sure will not put up much longer with the bad management of repairs in our block and the poor state of the roof which means her bedrooms are damp all the time. I am writing to let you know that we, too, are very unhappy with the state of workmanship of Booker and Best. They have tried lots of roof repairs and we have made endless complaints but all falls on deaf ears.
Well done to you.
1066ha. 22/01/10.
When Amicus Horizon sent us 28,000 bank details by mistake the local paper Hastings Observer leapt on that one so they know we exist but they choose to let the transgressors off the hook with everything else. Booker and Best and Amicus Horizon are regular advertisers they know who to tread on and who to grovel to so I would`nt hold your breath as far as the media goes but time passes regardless of how big and powerful you are and I think that Amicus Horizon will not be able to bully or grovel when these cases start. Also we are now trying to help a few others who want to take their complaints before a court especially in regard to works by Booker and Best on behalf of Amicus Horizon.
Amicus Horizon will not avoid their day of reckoning but they will no doubt continue to delay its arrival. When I complained to Amicus Horizon that my 15 year old son and 13 year old daughter had to share a bedroom because my sons bedroom was to wet to sleep in they responded by telling me that I was acting illegally by putting them in the same room. My sons room remains uninhabitable. The more people get involved and stand up against them the more likely it is that the courts will see the truth and change the way things are.
Dear Graeme,I was shocked to see the state of the supposed 'fire door' and the workmanship that accompanied it. Major breach of the (Fire Safety) Regulatory Reform Order 2005.
I am a member of the Sussex West Residents Panel for Amicus Horizon (Southern Horizon Tenant; see me on the AH website) and would like to offer you my professional services as well as support from another area suffering under the neglect of AH.
I am a Health, Safety and Environment Advisor by trade, and would like to assess and record some of the safety concerns your site has highlighted as part of my attempts to get the HA to get on the case of its contractors and asset management division to take resident safety seriously. I have been horrified by the multiple and flagrant breaches of safety and environmental legislation, particularly when it comes to resident safety.Please contact me as I would like be of some effective use here, or just to let me know what is going on in other areas. I am looking to form an informal network of people in the various areas to collate and present breaches of legislation and force remediation from SH.
yours
Julian Morgan BA(Hons) TechIOSH AIIRSM
Graeme & Lisa Morgan re your Booker and Best Video----- Original Message -----From: "Jules Morgan"
Graeme and Lisa,
Don't worry, I'm a resident of AH and definitely not on their Christmas Card list. The reason I wanted to complete an independent and professional report on the door is to add it to an ever growing file I have to pass on to the HSE. My governing body. The Disability Act is not the only breach there. Most of the sections of the Fire Orders and Control of Asbestos with at least three of the Health and Safety at Work and Management of Health and Safety Acts. For the 'Fire Door' alone, I can think of seven breaches not including subsection.
I have been fighting them on resident safety, fire, maintenance and repair issues for some years and have found my greatest obstacle to be Martin Jones, Area 'Customer Services' Manager for Sussex. His old pals act with the Board Members, including supposed resident members, has deliberately overlooked serious breaches of Legislation in these areas. Even to stage three of their complaints procedure. Their current Asset Management Team does not seem much better yet. They have been ordered to appoint a group HSE guy, but they are not sure when that will be. No surprise there. When the poor sod arrives, I intend to be on their case permanently, so watch for the smoke…
The new area panels are supported and monitored by TPAS (Tenant Participation Advisory Service) and have a degree of power over service standards. Not enough though… I want to get to the next level of resident governance, which gives access to the board. Our Panel is already getting a name for being troublemakers. Good.
For more info look at AH website. The whole shooting match is on there courtesy of their compliance with the improvement order they got. Once you get through all the bull, there are ways to get these complaints on to their company minutes. Then they can't ignore them. AH is appointing a Project Manager to oversee emergency works on Asbestos and Fire, but he is a business type without the wider H&S brief. So monitoring of contractors is still a grey area.
The willful disregard for resident safety includes;
· No Asbestos register.· No fire risk assessments on properties.· No mains wiring tests on properties.· No maintenance of fixed mains fire/smoke detectors in properties.· Lack of regard for public safety during works.· Failure to monitor safety of contractors. Prior and post works· Failure to inspect and assess repairs.
Under the Offences Act 2008, the top three carry a sentence of 12 months and/or a fine of £2000 per offence. That technically means that the board and senior management team, down to responsible managers are liable for each offence in each property that has been neglected. The others carry varied sentences on conviction, but put all the breaches together and they add up to a massive and wilful disregard for the Law over a number of years. Chances are not good though, and they rely on different areas not being in touch over group matters. So far that has been successful for them, but with a bit of a network and concerted effort, I think our job will be a whole lot easier. Hence my contacting you. I would like to meet, and have no problem with travel. Give me a ring this week, I'm working from home, and have a chat, see what you make of me.
So, if any of the evidence and transcripts of complaints at every stage that I have collected could help you, let me know. I keep the originals. Otherwise, I am always available to professionally assess any safety problems you may come across in the future. I fully intend to nail the Mr Jones throughout AH to the wall with their own words. Any AH problems I work on are pro bono as this is a personal project, not work related. Julian Morgan (not related)
Director of ServicesRisk Assessment Statement It is likely that the performance of Booker and Best will continue to give concernDespite client efforts to effectively manage the contract and ensure an efficient responsive repairs service Booker and Best regularly fail to achieve good performance standards. Non-urgent minor repairs remain outstanding for excessive periods of time and the cost to the Council in terms of management effort and one-off allocation to other contractors
I am a door and window fitter and I have seen some bad installations in my time but this is one of the worst good luck with it all. Dave.
ROTHER COUNCIL SAYIt was envisaged that Booker and Best would offer Rother District Council access to a wide range of trades including carpentry, painting/decorating, brick laying, plumbing and electrical.In reality there have been some concerns about the ability of the contractor to provide this range of trades to an acceptable quality, response time or at a competitive rate. Booker and Best regularly fail to achieve good performance standards.
Booker and Best did my roof 3 times and it got worse with each repair
My second letter came from Mr John Lawson-Smith who advises us that a new ruling was passed in the high court in June which in effect rules that All housing associations/charities from now on will be treated as "Public Bodies" this ruling gives new and extra protection to social housing tenants in particular to those who may be facing eviction
Many social housing tenants will now be protected by the Human Rights Act after an intervention by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in a landmark human rights case judgment at the Court of Appeal.
The Court found that some Registered Social Landlords (such as charities, companies or co-operatives that provide social housing) will now be treated as public authorities and subject to the Human Rights Act. These Landlords will now be required to have regard to a tenant's human rights - such as the right to a private and family life and right to a fair trial - when deciding whether to make an eviction order.
"Increasingly the Government is using private bodies to carry out public functions in areas such as social housing, care homes and detention and deportation services. It is only correct that Registered Social Landlords, who are providing these public functions, be treated as a public authority and be subject to the Human Rights Act. This will require Social Landlords to consider the proportionality and reasonableness of their actions, by taking a human rights approach.
"This recognition will benefit those who live in social housing. As we found in our recent Human Rights Inquiry, where a human rights approach is incorporated into public services both users and providers benefit."
While the High Court found the Trust had not breached her human rights in this case, it did find that its role in allocating, managing and terminating social housing was a public function, making the Trust a public authority for those purposes and so subject to obligations under the Human Rights Act.
Judy:Charity commission will not help you, nor will housing ombudsman. My social landlord sent a gas chap out - and turns out the replaced air bricks they recently did are illegal. Have they been in touch? Been back to rectify? Course not. There is much corruption - most are run by ex council employees, and you complain to the council, they dont want to know. We had a woman called Belcher. So incompetent and corrupt - one tenant filmed a conversation with her then sent it to the board to prove she was lying and shouldnt be running the show - kept her greedy mits in the money pot, then as she was going to be forced out for being incompetent and proven so, she got redundancy package which included her being taken on as a consultant. Just like Downing Street isnt it - but calling themselves 'charities' - ha ha. Good luck to you in your fight.
