OCKENDON councillors, Barry Johnson and Lynn Carr have expressed their frustrations regarding the condition of council housing stock in their ward.
Councillor Johnson said:
“As Ockendon ward councilors’ both Cllr Carr and I are fuming with the Labour administration for allowing housing stock in Ockendon to fall into such a sorry state of repair. Labour is completely out of touch with residents in our ward and must now face up to the fact that far from gloating about “money saved with new systems in place” the housing repairs process is broken.
We receive regular calls from residents who have been promised a visit from the council’s representatives only for them to turn up late, not turn up at-all or turn up with no prior knowledge of the repair or issue, take a photograph and leave, with residents left in the dark, as to when they may return.
Commercial properties with leaky roofs, making it impossible to carry on trading, all with the same complaint a failing complicated reporting system. The sheer amount of calls we receive proves the service does not work but continues to be ignored.
The council is supposed to be a landlord of the highest repute yet continues to allow residents into void properties that are not ready for occupation, with broken promises that the problems will be put right, often leaving residents in tears on the telephone to us.
After all the evidence of the damage to health that black mould can have, it is still manifesting itself in our properties at an alarming rate, the dehumidifiers’ do not work even after resident has been told they are fixed. Burst soil pipes, with the tenant being left to clear up the mess, with no urgency from the council to aide.
Resident’s roofs taking more than two years to fix causing constant damp in rooms occupied by disabled people. We have lost count of the numerous complaints received where residents have reported problems to the call centre, received a date and time when a representative will call, lost time at work, only to be told the representative doesn’t have the tools for the job as they were not fully aware of the problem.
This has to stop, it is not good enough, we are talking about people’s lives and livelihoods, too many residents commercial or otherwise are being left frustrated and let down believing this system has left them down once and will only get worse. If Labour cannot run the housing repair contract properly they should stand aside, as it is our residents who are taking the brunt of this inept third rate service.
Exactly the same in Chadwell St Mary!
I whole heartedly agree with all that has been said in this article by both Councillor Carr and Councillor JOhnson.I moved into my property in august 2013 which had been sat empty for 3 months after i accepted the property, not counting the 6 months or more it was empty prior to that.in that time all that was dont to the property was the downstairs floors were screed, and to a poor standard.Not one of the things that had been pointed out that needed doing were done in the 3 months i waited for this property (which was an emergency move after domestic violence!).it has taken the last 7 months to get SOME of the things sorted, and only then because I got Councillor Carr involved.I have had the director of housing visit my property in dec 2013, at my request, and agree works that were to be done,which i am still waiting for some of them to be done;and i have had no contact from anyone as to when that which hasnt been addressed will be!!yesterday i sent a text to Mr Terry Longhurst regarding said works not being completed (as he requested I do if that happened) and as of yet I have had no response.I have floorboards with black mould on them in my sons room and these floorboards are blown and raised, i have damp in my downstairs toilet and water runs down the inside of my porch every time it rains yet nothing is being done about this!!Barbara Brownlea was meant to attend the last surgery held by Councillors Carr and Johnson,as she was in disbelief as to all the issues we the tennants have with our shoddy properties, but i am unaware as to whether she did turn up or not.upon her visit to my property she commented that the whole Flowers estate really needed pulling down and rebuilding, however, I think that the real problem is that the council have not maintained their properties to a decent standard, had they have done so then their properties would not be in the very sorry state they are in.people who have purchased their properties on the flowers estate do not have the same issues as they have MAINTAINED their properties!!What i say is come on Barbara Brownlea lets see you turn this councils housing stock around like you did for Tower Hamlets council!!!
We NEED to see that some action is being taken to rectify these huge problems( and I am sure it is not purely endemic to South Ockendon either)!! We, the tennants do NOT want to keep putting up with the shoddy attitude towards us regarding repairs and maintenance,or the lacsidasical, devil may care attitude that surrounds people being sent out to do works(who in reality turn up not knowing what they are there for and go off saying they will be back in touch and then we dont hear anything more for weeks or months, then when we do its another person sent out to yet again LOOK and see what is needed!! Its is a waste of our time and a waste of this councils resources, which is costing us all money.This council has a bodge it and make do attitude towards repairs and maintenance which , quite frankly stinks!each time they send someone out to bodge a job it costs and when they are constantly going back and re-bodging it adds up substantially.If the repairs were done properly in the first place it would be cheaper in the long run.A point in case is the upstairs landing in my property had part of the floor ripped up and instead of replacing the whole floor as the man that came out said was needed it was temporarily repaired twice and the third time they came out the man spent 2 hours trying to get the flooring to sit level, which he didnt manage.had the floor have been replaced in the first place a lot of time and money could have been saved(oh ad in bodging the floor damage was done to the door frame of my bathroom which then had to be reapired too!)
Why do they keep bodging things?? Because lots of small charges dont look as bad on the books as a few big ones , but the truth is its costing more.I have heard of a lady on the estate whose stairs are coming away from the wall, have they replaced the staircase? no they keep sending the men in to screw it back to the wall even thought they have told them it is unsafe and needs replacing! That is a health and safety issue and its dlisgusting that these people have to live like that! This council really does need to step up to the mark and gets its housing in order…after all we do have to pay to live in the shambles they call their housing stock!!