1066ha.07th/10/10.
According to David Cameron
"Our Country Needs Us"
Start up organisations he tells us, groups. Lead the way with community invlvement. He might find out just how difficult that is if he was to come back to Hastings and actually take a look at an estate instead of a supermarket. I have sent him an email with a brief history of Amicus Horizons and Hastings council attitude to local community groups and of course a link to our website. If I get a reply (lol) I`ll put it up here.

I know they can be a pain but we are allowing advertising on this site and #onereddrop from next week so if they get on your nerves just click them off.
We recieved the template for our book cover this morning, as soon as the back cover is complete I will put it up on show.
You are all in it :-) not just Amicus Horizon, it finishes with the name of everyone who registered with #onereddrop so if you want to see yourselves in a book you`ll have to buy a copy:-D

Tim`s repairs are not going so well, apparently he has been up all night, "It`s like sleeping under Niagara Falls" he says lol. Repairs are being carried out by Booker and Best Ltd Satisfaction Guaranteed! in the meantime we still have no hot water first reported to Robin Deane about 3 weeks ago, reported on the Amicus site, reported again to Robin Deane yesterday, although this has been rewired three times now Lisa is a bit nervous of even turning it on or off now because the switch gets so hot, its the water thats meant to get hot of course not the switch!

1066ha.08th/10/10
Once again they prove they cannot be trusted even when there are written agreements in place. Amicus Horizon really are the shoddiest company, no matter how hard you try to compromise they just cannot bring themselves to behave honestly.
Our next #onereddrop campaign will start this month make sure you are apart of it.
Amicus Horizon seem to think that our demonstration was a non event having forced themselves to believe the lies printed in the Hastings Observer so we are going to have another one, again starting at queensbury House and then going down to Hastings Town Hall, this time lets make it so they cannot lie or cheat. We know how to organise this event members of Right to Work have already promised to attend so lets not waste their support

#onereddrop 1066ha.09th/10/10.
The house in the picture on the left belongs to Tim and Brenda long suffering tenants of Amicus Horizon housing, this is a Booker and Best Ltd repair. Tim called Amicus Horizon to tell them that his hot water cylinder was leaking one night last week. Amicus Horizon did what they do so often to disabled tenants and gave him instructions on what "he" should do but of course he could`nt, he was told it would be quite a long wait for a repair so he came to us and I passed on his repair request to an Amicus Director who very kindly arranged for Booker and Best to visit. Magically a new hot water cylinder somehow materialised and Booker and Best Ltd came out and installed it, the overflow pictured above was running for fourteen hours following the repairs and of course there was other damage to the inside of Tim`s home. The quality of these repairs is far below what should be acceptable by any responsible landlord who most of the time don`t even seem to care that they are not getting what they are paying for, Tim will have to be careful how he proceeds with his complaints as he is being threatened with being labelled as a vexatious complainant but as far as this repair is concerned he is clearly in the right.

DavidFoot.10/10/10
 
David Foot    View profile   Translate to English (UK)Translated (View Original) 
  More options 7 Oct, 22:17 

Newsgroups: uk.politics.misc
From: "David Foot" <da...@davidafoot.plus.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 22:17:01 +0100
Local: Thurs 7 Oct 2010 22:17
Subject: The Housing Corporation and crime: AmicusHorizon Ltd.
Forward | Print | Individual message | Show original | Report this message | Find messages by this author
The HOUSING CORPORATION is a very powerful quango that allows some memebers
with not the best reputation to operate in a very dubious way, this was the
case of Crystal Palace Housing Association in 1991 which went about
miss-representing leases to the public in the media and by any means it saw
fit, in order to sell its leases in difficult times it presented them to
first time buyers as a far superior product.

The Housing corporation member I am referring to has many names and has new
name now: Crystal Palace Housing Association, South London Family Housing
Association, SLFHA Ltd, Horizon Housing Group and now has started calling
itself AmicusHorizon Ltd.


*THIS WAS AN OPERATION OF ABOUT 70 to 80 PROPERTIES: 4 to 5 Million Pounds
of 1991 money! And values were falling, there was a crisis.


*The leases were misrepresented at the time of sale targetting specially
people without experience, while the "professionals" who drafted the leases
and sales contract appear to have catered for this process of supplying
people without experience illegal information behind their legal advisors
back, because the lease / sales contract combine to disown anything
guranteed during the process of sale, leaving the public exposed to that
dishonesty:


"Calling first time buyers" they said in the Evening Standard 31-07-91
and
"Absolutely no requirement to buy the remainder" they also assured us
and
"Does the rent ever go up?" they asked in their own leaflets
"Yes it goes up in line with inflation" they answered


And ten years later the dishonest sellers (CPHA now AmicusHorizon Ltd.)
wrote the following words to us: (from their letter 16-03-99)


"As you are aware..." !! "In October 2000, the 2(b) applies... Obviously
this has some " CONSIDERABLE FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS" to all "LEASEHOLDERS
WHO DO NOT OWN 100%" !!


(the implications to which they referred: 40 % rent rise indexed year on
year 2 % ABOVE inflation and something more or less the same a few years
latter according to this lease described above as with ABSOLUTELY no
requirement to buy the remainder!)


So here is what they were advising us now:


"and I suggest that you may wish to consider staircasing in the percentage
you currently own." !!


The sales contract dis-owns any mis-representations the dishonest landlord
made to us, even publicly and in the press!. Was this premeditated? Did they
read the lease and the sales contract? What advice did their solicitors give
them? The Housing Corporation says this is not against their regulations!
But the Ombudsman foudn some evidence of mal administration!! Fantastic
regulator the Housing Corporation.


All this I have documented.


So there you have the 4 million pound question, and which curiously is the
same one they have the courage to ask me: "and what did "THEIR" solicitor
tell "THEM"?"


And crucially: "Did "THEY" read the lease?" In the falling market with their
out-dated prices (as these were falling still further towards the end of
1991).. was this premeditated?


Was all this in deed a deliberate plan as it appears to be? I understand
that the then CPHA now AmicusHorizon Group actually was responsible for
chosing this type of lease themselves! for this 4 million pound plus
operation!


The Housing Corporation doesn't want to look in to this ! and it also told
me that I should have gone with a guy put by CPHA and who was peddling
pension endowment mortgages, possibly an ex employee of CPHA.. it was all
not very clear if he wanted to give legal or financial advice or both on
CPHA premises during their "Sales Seminar". They also say that my landlord
..didn't breach any Corporation procedural guidelines.. wow!.. what a
regulator! and what guidelines!


Should public organisations, landlords, lawyers, etc have freedom to operate
as other professions can't (and shouldn't) when they sell something to the
public who have less experience and technical knowledge?


Should public bodies be allowed to compete with the private sector in this
unfair way protected even from Parliament by a Quango and criticising the
private sector which most likely was a ton more honest than them?


So much for the integrity of operations with public funds through the
Housing Corporation.
Misrepresenting leases in the process of sale should be a crime just like
any other way of deceiving the public. Actually it may be a crime.. there
was a law in 1991 against misrepresentations, but I am not sure.


Even worse this is coning the public with public money. That is our taxes
being used without integrity through a Quango to deceive the public. This is
why the Regulator is not doing what it is supposed to. Is the new regulator
the Tenants Service Authority going to consider like the Housing Corporation
that mal-administration is one of its valid guidelines for the sector?


Thank you for your attention and if you would like copies of the
documentation supporting these claims or you think that you may be able to
recommend a solution please write to me at adrianf...@hotmail.com quoting
CPHA so that I know it is not junk mail.


Kind regards
David A. Foot

1066ha.11th/10/10
We recieved the new Amicus Horizon Residents Handbook today and as they are spending so much on fake P.R lately it`s only right that residents should have somewhere to go where they can get a clearer, more accurate interpretation of this wasteful misleading publication.
Page 15. Repairs.
Phone them anytime day or night? That does`nt work ask Tim he tried doing that only a week ago and despite knowing that both he and his wife are disabled he could get no help at all. (see above comments and photo from Tim.)
There is no water? Well my hot water went off almost a month ago, I reported to Amicus Horizon then when that did`nt work I reported it to Director of Amicus Horizon Robin Deane in a face to face meeting, when that did`nt work I reported it to Robin Deane again at another meeting last week but we still do not have hot water.
A pipe has burst or there is flooding; We had a perforated pipe but we did`nt get the flooding or the collapsing ceilings until after they came out to repair, Tims experiences were similar, as were Marks, Roberts, things can get so much worse, we`re frightened to call them now incase they disconnect our gas and water again for long periods.
There is damage to doors and windows; We hav`nt had any problems with our doors or windows (well one door we did see video here) but we did have one occurrence where we Amicus Horizon kindly shared our door key with another tenant, it was quite a surprise for us waking up to him at 6.a.m in the morning.
No heating for older people if its really cold; We had some of this they turned our heating and Gas off for thirty days during the coldest winter spell for thirty years, our gas supplier said they could think of no reason why they had disconnected our supply, .thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused to our home and our personal belongings
Things we will look after; Drains gutters,roof and pipes. They also say that they will paint the outside of our properties every 4 years but they have never done so.
Outside walls doors, windows. Hastings councils health and safety officer recommended cavity wall insulation and repairs to our damp course following his damning inspection of our home but Amicus Horizon refused on the grounds that it was expensive.
Paths and Steps that are apart of your home. We have some experience of this, it took 5 years to get our steps repaired and the language and abuse that we recorded from the senior Amicus Horizon staff responsible for arranging it was distressing in the extreme.
Sinks basins, baths, toilets showers, pipes.
They repaired our fallen toilet ceiling in only 5 months, quite quick for them but they said we were responsible for the redecoration even though the collapse was caused by their failures. Sinks, Booker and Best are quite good at breaking these but we found Amicus Horizon very reluctant to replace them, 3 months wait.
Electric Wiring. Amicus Horizon took 8 months to repair our fire alarms and then they had to be replaced following a health and safety check because they were not up to B.S.S Booker and Best rewired our home twice in 6 months in an effort to hide the fact that water had been dripping from all the light fittings and sockets but then following a survey the wiring was condemned as unsafe and it was all done again by another contractor.
Taking a break I will be adding to this later

#onereddrop #1066ha Tim.18/10/10
F.A.O MR R DEANE DIRECTOR A/H
Dear Mr Deane
I phoned customer services on 01.10.10 am, to inform them we had water stains-on 2 of our ceilings over the staircase and hallway, i told them i thought it was because of a blockage in the waste pipe in our shower tray as this had happened in the past.
A plumber attended our home that morning and said it is not a blocked pipe , your hot water tank has a leak in it, he then said A/H would be in informed of this and that A/H will contact us later that day to let us know what was to happen we heard nothing from A/H that day.
I phoned customer services at A/H 02.10.10 to ask what was happening with regarding our leaking hot water tank, he said nothing would be done over the weekend as nothing had been noted !!, I phoned A/H on Monday 04.10.10 and was told that our housing officer had not noted our hot water tank or our stained ceilings.
I received a call from A/H customer services at 14.42 on the 05.10.10 and i was told that no matching hot water tank could be found anywhere !! i was then told in a threatening manner if my wife or myself did not stop the leaking we would be HELD RESPONSIBLE !! FOR ANY DAMAGES to our home she even asked if our carer could put towels around the tank , our carer was unable to climb into the airing cupboard and was concerned if she damaged anything A/H would hold her responsible also.
A/H are aware that my wife and myself are disabled.
Within one hour of Tanya threatening behaviour towards ourselves we received a further call from customer services i was told TOLD A TANK HAD BEEN FOUND!! and that it would be fitted the next day 06.10.10.
I reported Tanya's threatening behaviour towards ourselves to a fellow colleague at C/Services and she informed myself all calls to tenants are recorded and listened to by management and they would be in touch with me as to date we have heard nothing from management, I have e-mailed yourself on 2 separate occasion's regarding issue's of a serious nature and to date you have not responded.
We understand frown C/Services that all emergency repairs are carried out with-in 24 hrs, Yet we had to wait 6 days. We feel A/H or Booker & Best could have done this if they were aware of this.
OVERFLOW
In the early hours of the morning 07.10.10 at 01.50am my wife and myself were awakened by what seemed to be the sound of a waterfall, when we got to the landing it was quite clear the sound was coming from the airing cupboard where the plumber had been working the day before, we were experiencing an intense flow of water from our overflow. this was very noisy on the concrete path to our next dooe neighbour as it was going on their pathway, Despite my calls to C/Services and Booker & Beast it was some 13hrs latter and a lot of waste of our water before the plumber turned up to do a 10 minute job in our airing cupboard.
CEILING'S
It is now 18.10.10 and no persons from A/H have been to see our damaged ceiling's.
According to our tenants agreement we are owed a number of days compensation, we are still quite aggrieved that on 2 separate occasion's we have-had to endure threatening behaviour from staff within A/H.
T.HartCcMr G Morgan ( 1066ha)Mr S Jenkins ( SCR) for the BBCHastings Observer

#onereddrop #1066ha18th/10/10
Amicus Horizon told us that their company had changed, that they were now a different company and then they sent us a shiny expensive looking tenants handbooks that is full of promises they are not keeping. Nothings changed. Nothings changing. Disability discrimination is no substitute for customer care or tenant involvement

#csr #onereddrop #1066ha 1066ha.20th/10/10
Amicus Horizon told us that they had changed, they said they were now doing things differently, they said the repair system was better but still we have no hot water. It`s a very minor repair but most would agree an important one. Amicus Horizon told us they would repair within ten days. Robin Deane told us he would look into it. Booker and Best Ltd said they would see to it straight away but its now over 5 weeks and we do not even have an appointment for this repair to be carried out. Amicus Horizon don`t look like a different company from where we`re standing.

1066ha.23rd/10/10
Sorry I have been so ill this week I don`t know where my children find these virus`s but they always insist on sharing. We`re still going red tomorrow but unfortunately we did have to cancel Monday`s event.
I and others are still waiting for the promised repairs from the never changing Amicus Horizon

1066ha.29th/10/10
Getting better. Thank you for all your messages.
Quite a lot has happened while I have been ill. Adult Social Care have put in for our adaptations so we are now just waiting for Amicus Horizons surveyor Debbie Potter to come out and visit. This is the same Debbie that has failed to show up so many times over the past two years or so, I will be surprised if she actually turns up because it is Amicus Horizons policy to always delay these things in order to stop them happening. We`ll see.

1066ha.29th/10/10.
Booker and Best Ltd have made an appointment to come out and repair our water heater on the 05th November. I am so glad our gas went back on last week. Amicus describe this as a "priority" emergency repair

After the bullying and mistreatment started against us and others from Amicus Horizon Housing Association we have sought help just about everywhere.
We asked Hastings council for help and in particular Jeremy Birch but we were told very firmly that they do not accept complaints about Amicus Horizon Housing. We got the same sort of reaction from East sussex County Council. Adult Social Care. Lewes Police, Hastings Police. Battle police, Michael Foster M.P. The only people with any sort of authority who were willing to listen were Hastings STO Mr Palmer and Amber Rudd conservative M.P for Hastings. Thanks to Mr Palmer we got some of our repairs completed but Amber Rudd just gave up because she is as powerless against this corporation as everyone else is. They are a law unto themselves even the law refuses to even look at complaints. If Amicus Horizon was controlled by someone like Amber Rudd or chief Inspector Ling then it would`nt matter much because they would not allow it to operate as it does but when this kind of authority is placed into the hands of bully`s like Ron Grimmer - Jon Head Jane Porter then it is a real danger to the safety of vulnerable tenants.
We are still waiting for replies from the I.C.O. The C.P.S ran a mile closely followed by the other authorities.
Now the hero`s at Hastings council have decided (yet again) to review my housing benefit and council tax benefit (Would`nt Amicus love to see us get into arrears with our rent). Previous encounters with Hastings council benefit office ended; 1.) An apology for entering false statements into the Hastings magistrates court in my name and all court costs and actions mysteriously evaporating. 2.) Over £300 of council tax debt that I never really owed disapeared. 3.) Over £1,600 of fake council tax debt was removed with an apology. 4.) An action seeking possession of our home by Amicus Horizon was abandoned and a fake debt of over £700 was removed from our rent account when Amicus Horizon admitted that they had made an "error". Now here we go again it seems and it will only get worse as new laws increase the income of this rogue housing association. Look at their history from day one their reputation has never passed beyond that of a "dodgy" landlord. They will not change and they cannot be rehabilitated because they are never ever challenged or made to answer for their misconduct. Amicus Horizon run Hastings and they run it into the ground. It does`nt matter who you vote for that only changes your M.P it does`nt effect your landlord
One bit of good news is this site and our video`s will be going 3D in the new year