Oct 2006

Case 3

Landlord has leaky ceiling in XLA maisonette, that has been leaking for 18 months.  The Council have been out to repair it no less than 10 times and yet still it leaks when it rains. The problem is that there are not many leaseholders in that block. Most of the tenants are council tenants who unlike the leaseholders, are not required to pay anything towards improvements or repairs.  Hence the council does not want to replace the roof, as they will bear the vast majority of the cost.  If that block had more leaseholders, they would have ripped the roof off ages ago and made their money. 

Do you doubt me?  The leak was reported and somewhere along the line, they thought it was a property with its own roof, so they wrote to the owner, threatening that a complaint had been made and unless the roof was repaired within NINE days, they would do the work and bill the owner.  When they realised it was their roof, that was leaking, they withdrew the demand – but that was 6 months ago and the roof is still not done.  What happened to 9 days?

Case 4

Council decides to paint the window sills on one side of a particular block.  The Leaseholder has four windows on the side that is being painted and receives a bill for £900, as their required contribution.

Up to speed now? 

Ok, so what?  I hear you ask …those that bought these council properties got big discounts so this is just payback – good point, but are the works reasonable and are the costs quoted reasonable or are the local authorities setting out to line their coffers at the expense of others.  Yet again…

Are we content with these Government (local and central) administrative anomalies that litter our everyday life?  Who said it is OK to save or make money with one agenda, when they are throwing it away in others?  Ask the ladies dying from cancer who recently complained that they have been refused life-saving drugs because of the cost, while the NHS revealed that they spent £37m removing tattoos last year.

Are we happy to live with Government or Council cut-backs or costs, while receiving notification on four bits of paper in eight different languages, not to mention the offer of Freephone numbers and free counselling in case we are traumatised by the said costs?  Why not write to me in one language (English preferably), on one piece of paper and maybe with less costs being charged, I will not need the counselling, as I will be less traumatised. 

I had a Housing Benefit tenant last year and I received no less than 43 letters confirming the same thing month after month – all translated into several languages and all with the same info provided.  After month one, I did not need four letters a month to know what the council were going to pay, when and for whom - as the rent did not change from month to month and neither did the tenant or Landlord.  But, they kept writing, even four months after the tenant left – in eight different languages!

Author’s Summary

I hate waste and I hate incompetence and most of all I hate bills, so with this recent round of developments, it is easy to see where I stand – but the point of this long rant?  Well, at some stage in this world I hope that if enough of us complain they will get rid of this stupid idea that it is alright to persecute those that are trying to make some headway for themselves, while bending over backwards for those that cannot be bothered to try and improve their lot. 

If the NHS cannot afford cancer drugs then no more tattoo removals, no more nose jobs and no more sex changes on the NHS until the situation changes – simple…

If less than 2% of the immigrant population in this country cannot speak or write English then why do all the Councils send every letter with a translation attached to it?  Stop it and those that cannot read it, will get someone to read it for them or they will make an effort to learn English – simple…

What else do I want to stop? …Oh yeah…

... more importantly of all, they need to stop using fines and charges to shape social policy.  Right now if they want someone to stop using their left leg, they put a charge on ‘left leg usage’.  If it works, all well and good, if not, they’ve earned a bit of money out of it. 

This whole approach leads to resentment, a lack of trust in the political system, social unrest, political lethargy and a ‘complete oneness’ of Government strategy that does not change from one Government to the other – which is choking our democracy.

What would New Labour have..?  Would they like the bottom to fall out of the XLA market?  Would they like council estates with no owner-occupiers and therefore no personal responsibility for its upkeep or maintenance from those that live there?... is it a case of ‘long live the ‘Nanny State’ dependency culture?’ – You decide…

One thing though, there are a lot of people that own XLA properties that are fed up of getting shafted by the local authorities and are getting ready to sell in the new year and we may see a drastic reduction in the value of these properties over the next couple of years.  If that is the intention – fine.  Mission accomplished.  If not, then this immoral practice needs to be addressed in the short-term.

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