Families revolt at being charged £955 annual home maintenance bill
FAMILIES living on a new housing estate are refusing to pay thousands of pounds in service charges after claiming they are being charged too much.
The annual maintenance charge is paid by residents living in 90 apartments within the City Waterside area of Hanley.
It is paid to a housing association to cover cleaning, gardening, window cleaning and repair work at the complex.
But the annual charge for some residents has risen from £798 in August 2009 to £860 and now £955.
Now some residents are withholding their payments.
Among the affected residents are Eve and John Maley who bought a two-bedroom apartment, in Eastwood Road, after moving from Northwood.
Mrs Maley claims her windows have never been cleaned and that the building has had a water leak for months.
The couple are now paying £60-a-year for a private window cleaner.
The 65-year-old said: "There wasn't a garden when we moved in and it was put together in one day.
"The ground was covered with ivy and lots of bark and it has all died.
"The cladding is falling away in communal areas. It was a shock to see water leaking into a new property.
"We're not getting the cleaning done to our satisfaction and the garden is absolutely awful.
"We have to wait for someone to come from Derby to do a repair.
"The skylight in the landing was leaking the day we moved in 15 months ago."
The complex was built by Doncaster-based Keepmoat Homes and the maintenance contract is delivered by Derby-based housing association Derwent Living.
Mrs Maley wants residents to run their own maintenance service.
She added: "If Derwent didn't exist we wouldn't notice any difference.
"How can the rates go up if you're not satisfied with the first year? It's absolutely outrageous.
"I'm very angry. These charges are not supposed to be there to make money, but to me it is getting as much money as possible out of us."
Husband John, aged 73, said: "We shouldn't have to pay so much money. "What are the services we've been paying for?"
Louise Walker moved into her Greydawn Road home in May 2008 and paid £130 towards the maintenance of the communal garden even though it did not open until late 2009.
She said: "The communal garden is rubbish and not what I was expecting.
"Most of the items in the garden do not need maintaining. They've put in two steel benches, bark and a couple of trees and a metal fence.
"Most of the money must go on administration fees. If we picked up the litter there'd be nothing for the Derwent staff to do."
A Derwent Living spokesman declined to comment on the service charges for individual properties.
He added: "We are aware of a number of issues in relation to the service provided at Eastwood Road.
"We are currently working with our residents to ensure that these problems are resolved.
"We want to make sure our customers are completely happy with the service they are receiving."
7 Comments
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by gaz, Bradwell
Monday, January 03 2011, 8:40PM
“Service charges are just another way of bringing in extra revenue for the landlords. Just ask Aspire, the `social landlord` for Newcastle. Hold a quick and meaningless survey, Hide the reasons why some 50 questions in, Hope nobody responds so you don't have to ignore their comments, Ignore them if they do... AND hey presto the council tax payer gets landed with a massive new bill (£1.50 p/w x 48 x approx 6,500 houses getting housing benefit) The 1,500 who don't get benefits pay from our wages. The service is an exact duplication of `STREETSCENE` But with one problem, For quite a few tenants Aspire have no legal claim to do any work whatsoever since they don't own the pavements or highways. They wander round offering to repair buildings owned by the co-op and pick litter from the yard of said premises. Clearly the intent was to grab the chance to increase their revenue, aided and abetted by their INCOME MAXIMISATION TEAM. Spend a few quid here and there, pocket the rest for other means. The main objective is to always ignore complains and keep demanding money.”
by Mel, Bucknall
Monday, January 03 2011, 6:06PM
“Sandi, the Maleys were among many other residents unhappy at being driven from their homes to make way for rubbish cardboard kennels like these - if the council had pulled all kinds of strings to throw you out of your family home and finally shoved you into one of their prized 'redevelopments', and you then found you were living in a badly thrown together hutch with none of the services you pay for, you'd be cross too. I suggest YOU get a life - but don't buy a house in Stoke, unless you're ready to be hurled out of it the minute the council reckon they can make some cash smashing it down.”
by sandi20101, hanley
Monday, January 03 2011, 5:33PM
“we thought we had seen the last of eve and john maley They were always in the paper about their home in eaton street.Now they are moaning about their new home.Why do they have to make their problems known all the time. People are sick of seeing this couple, Get a life.We all have problems but dont keep running to the sentinell.”
by Paul, Stoke
Monday, January 03 2011, 1:22PM
“If the residents are not happy thet can ask a rents tribunal to look at the charges. They can ask the landord to provide accounts to show where the service charges go.
see
http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents/document.asp?item=14”
by Mel, Bucknall
Monday, January 03 2011, 11:59AM
“pansyboy, if you had read the article you would see they are not complaining about having to pay for the services - they're complaining at paying and still having nothing done unless they pay someone else to do what they are already paying for. And they have every right to do so. I just wonder how many more of these 'upmarket' developments the council was so keen to have built (and plans more of, including bulldozing existing, thriving businesses and occupied homes to build even more of these shoddy, cowboy schemes) are like this - I have seen at least three such stories from three different ones now. Maybe you should all get together and go see our 'cabinet members' in charge of regeneration and explain your dissatisfaction to them loudly and clearly.”