ࡱ> RTQ7 !bjbjUU d07|7|1{l....~~~$& & & Pv  :)2 : ((((((($l* ,(~ " ( .. ( . .8 ( (  z'.f( M& <'( )0:)'J- J-( ....Are you a social sector leaseholder in London1? Has your landlord failed to repair and maintain your home? Is he charging you huge sums to put it right? Yes to any of those and you now have the chance to do something about it; persuade those standing to be councillors in the London Boroughs in the May elections to promise to change the situation. The London Leaseholders Network brings together representatives of all the groups of leaseholders across the 33 London boroughs. We hear what you are saying, and set out our proposals to meet your needs in this manifesto. If it would help you, or those you care about, now is your chance to take it to the candidates for your ward in your borough to see what they will do. Do your recognise your problem on our list? Did your landlord sell you a property with severe structural defects without warning you of the likely consequent cost to put it right (the government told them to do this)? Was your home built with a shorter expected life than the length of your leases issued, and you were not warned about this when you bought it? Did your landlord not tell you about structural problems with your home which were known to be likely to lead to big bills after 10 years? Has your landlord failed to maintain your home so it is now neglected and dilapidated? If so, do you know that :- The LVT has now held that the leaseholder must pay any excess costs from eventual repairs to such dilapidation; There is no realistic prospect of getting the courts to force a Council to repair a property however bad its state; SSLs do not have equivalent rights to change the manager of their homes to those of private leaseholders; they can only negotiate a change over about three years if the Council tenants in the block agree, and then only if there are more than 25 properties; The rents of London Council tenants are heavily subsidised by tenants outside London, so they have no interest in upsetting the current arrangements, and their representatives naturally and reasonably spend much of their time defending them; 5. Is your landlord considering proposals to change the management of your home, for example by transferring it to a housing association, and do you know that (unlike tenants) you have no right to vote on such a proposal? 6. Is your landlord making long-term agreements for works and services that you can hardly understand, and which mean that you will not be able to challenge the costs when work is finally done? 7. Did you know that promised reforms of service charge accounts which were meant to overcome the last problem are now said to be unworkable and unduly expensive, so the government has renounced its own legislation and is refusing to implement it? 8. Did you know that if you go to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal for redress, it could not force your landlord to produce evidence of what has happened? Worried about any of those; then ask you candidates to agree to:- Extend the existing cap on some service charges of 10,000 in 5 years to all service charges across the board2 until the results of 25 years of mis-selling and neglect have been addressed. 1 SSLs include leaseholders in properties owned and managed by a local authority or registered social landlord (housing association), or managed by an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) and a few freeholders who pay service charges as they bought their homes from a local authority 2 For those Council leaseholders who either bought their own homes, or bought from those who did, and who live in that home as their principal residence. 9. Are you paying service charges to maintain public areas on your estate, such as roads, playgrounds and public areas, which would be paid from the Council Tax anywhere else? If so, would you like to be able to choose whether to maintain them as private facilities or open them to the general public? 10. Are you being made to pay for estate security and policing which would be done by the Metropolitan Police anywhere else? Or for collecting refuse or other services normally provided to residents free of charge? 11. Would you like to be able to choose to take responsibility for replacing your windows to the standard required by your landlord if convinced that you could do this more cheaply than they? 12. Would you like to be able to choose to come off the communal hot water and heating systems if an individual system can be shown to be better value? 13. Would you like to have access to an independent scheme for resolving disputes with the Council, which is both transparent and publicly accountable? 14. Would it have been easier to have full estimated costings in 125 notices; 15. Would you like minimum service standards with financial penalties payable to residents in all service contracts? 16. Would you like your service charges limited strictly to housing functions, excluding social support to tenants however necessary that is? 17. Would you like the right to take part in ballots over the future management of your home, and a requirement for a leaseholder majority for any proposals to proceed? 18. Would you like independent verification of the Councils accounts for its housing, both capital and revenue? 19. Would you like resident involvement and monitoring of all long-term or partnered contracts? 20. Should the Codes of Practice that apply to private landlords (such as the RICS and ARHM Codes) also be mandatory for Councils? Worried about any of those; then ask you candidates to agree to :- Introduce a Statutory Code of Practice for Councils, over-riding their so-called fiduciary duties which mean that leaseholders must be charged for everything short of being made bankrupt and homeless (something no private landlord is obliged to do), which would cover the above rights; Have you contacted the Home Ownership Service of your Council only to find that they could not advise and help you? Did you know that there is no proper system of training, qualification and professional control of leasehold property managers? Worried about this; then ask your candidates to support moves to :- Increase the powers and responsibilities of the Audit Commission so it can come in and investigate bad practice, including new powers to fine and disqualify from office individuals guilty of negligence or maladministration; 21. When you had problems, did you have no-where to go for advice? Have you never heard of us (we are volunteers with one part-time paid worker on a grant for a few more months)? Do you think you and other SSLs need a permanent organisation to help and represent you? Worried about any of those; then ask you candidates to agree to :- Financial support for leaseholder representative groups at least at regional and national level, so leaseholders are supported and consulted in the same way as tenants, who have funded local support and the Tenants and Residents of England, which does not cover leaseholders.  Incorporating the LONDON FORUM FOR COUNCIL LEASEHOLDERS ASSOCIATIONS Questions that every Sector Leaseholders should ask in 2006 London Leaseholders Network ~ incorporating ~ The London Forum for Council Leaseholders Associations Studio 7F3, N17 Studios, 784 788, High Road, Tottenham, London, N17 0DA Tel (020) 880 880 12  HYPERLINK "mailto:info@londonleaseholders.org.uk" info@londonleaseholders.org.uk Fax (020) 880 880 02  PAGE 2 of  NUMPAGES 2 London Leaseholders Network Questions that every Sector Leaseholders should ask in 2006  -._GFHjkljlOu12yz !!ó{n0JCJOJQJ^JaJjU jUCJOJQJ^JaJ6B*CJ OJQJ]^Jph3f6B*CJ(OJQJ]^Jph3f6B*CJOJQJ]^Jph3f,jCJOJQJU^JaJmHnHsH u5 56\]CJaJ CJH*aJH*CJ6] 5H*\5\+0k_?= ! "  GF$a$  hh^h` $h^h`a$$ & Fa$$ & Fa$ $ 9r a$ 9r  9r x1!!FGk7gNQlO$a$ h hh^h`  hh^h` 9r ^`134z2 /!N!O!n!!!!!!!!$a$$a$$a$x  & F  h!/!0!6!7!8!9!?!@!J!K!L!M!O!n!!!!!!5\ jU6B*CJ OJQJ]^Jph3f6B*CJ0OJQJ]^Jph3f0JmHnHu0J j0JU0&P 1h. A!"#$7%n7 0&P 1h. 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