In the letter dated 1 April 2010 where this was discussed the purpose of this was to allow residents to view visitors on their TV set before allowing access. I can not find a CCTV channel on the IRS system.

This seems very high, what do we get for this?

Again this seems high,£623.68 to paint a ramp?

I had forgotten all about them.

Which is not surprising, they were fitted on the 21st September 2010, thirteen months previously. There was no explanation as to why it took so long to raise an invoice for the work.

The price invoiced was £24.05p + VAT @ 20%, the price quoted in a letter dated 9 August 2010 was £24. with no mention of VAT.

Now I am sure they is something in the law which says you can only charge the price advertised.

So I have queried Stevenage Homes about this discrepancy.

As you probably have heard, Stevenage Borough Council are proposing to dissolve Stevenage Homes Limited and take back direct control of the housing that they own.

FOSTA (The Federation of Stevenage Tenants Associations) have put forward counter proposals.

The council has sent a “Test of Opinion” questionnaire to all Stevenage Homes tenants and leaseholders.

If you have received the questionnaire and have not replied to it then remember that it has to be back by next Monday, the 8th August 2011.

If you are too late to catch the post, you can always hand deliver the questionnaire to the councils customer service centre.

Agenda

1. Welcome, Introduction & Apologies
2. Minutes of last leasehold forum held on 9 February 2011 & matters arising
3. Update from Tim Fitzsimons (Recycling Officer – SBC) on Recycling in Stevenage flat blocks.
4. Leaseholders to raise Repairs and Caretaking issues to Service Business Managers.
5. Housing Options Council’s housing review Update and procurement of an ITA (independent tenant adviser) – By Jo Martins.
6. Present leaseholders with information on proposed dates for estate inspections by Tenancy services.
7. Benchmarking report on Home Ownership Services by House mark.
8. Update of response from leaseholders on service provided by SHL.
9. 2010/11 service charge issues and current task to collate data.
10. Pilot Surgery for Leaseholders on 3rd August 2011 at The Oval Community Centre: 2- 4pm & 5.30- 7.30pm.
11. Date of next meeting – Wednesday, 2nd November 2011

The meeting was not well attended. Probably because of a mix up in notifying leaseholders about the meeting. I received an email, but several people, including Jo Martins the Leaseholder rep on the Stevenage Homes board only found out about the meeting by chance.

Two options are being considered, both are new. You can download a PDF file of the slides from the presentation.. (271 kb)

Points made at the meeting were as follows:

There are no estimates of the cost of the two options given. Winding up Stevenage Homes would result in redundancies, one would likely be the recently appointed head of Stevenage Homes. This would not be cheep.

Any costs would likely involve redundancies it was too sensitive to be made public.

What are the breakdown of these figures?

These are not yet available to the public, but will be in the future.

The models of management structure show no indication of authority or lines of responsibility.

The actual management structure will be made later.

The last two points of the appraisal looks biased to the point of view of Stevenage Borough Council. The whole point of the ALMO (Arms Length Management Organisation) was to prevent politicians using housing to meet their “wider objectives.”

Shrugs….

Will Stevenage Borough Council be able to use rent money for things other than housing?

No.

Will the savings be used for housing?

Yes (But I do not think this can be gurasntreed)

How much of the projected saving will be reflected in reduced managemnent fees?

No one knows but the amount is likely to be small.

If Stevenage Borough Council take over will there be any external audit for quality?

No.

For more infromationa and to make your views known just visit the Stevenage Borough Council Website.

The Chartered Institute of Housing has been commissioned a short life project, which will be concluded in June 2011, looking at options either:

• Maintain Stevenage Homes Limited as a separate Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO)
• Revert managing the housing services back to the Council (and how this can be achieved)
• Look at different variations of this theme.

At tonight’s meeting Hilary Vaughan from the Chartered Institute of Housing will meet with leaseholders to update them on progress made.

Aim: Brief on progress of Housing Options Appraisal
Date: Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Time: 6.30 – 8.00pm
Venue: Daneshill House, Shimkent Room.

Please note that the room has a capacity to accommodate up to 30 people, so please arrive early to get a seat.

Agenda

1. Welcome, Introduction & Apologies
2. Chartered Institute of Housing Brief by Hilary Vaughan on proposals for the Stevenage Borough Council’s housing review.
3. Stevenage Homes ‘Value for Money’ (VfM) strategy & update by Procurement Manager, Paul Smith
Minutes of last leasehold forum held on 9 February 2011 & matters arising
4. Date of next meeting – Wednesday, 13th July 2011

Suzanne asks:

When are they coming to do these? After such a big deal about the necessity why has it not been completed yet? Every time I call they say they will contact me when it is needed to happen however this has now been awaited for months!

We did raise this at a leaseholders forum last year. As I remember, the restrictors were being fitted by someone other than Stevenage Homes.

Is anyone else still waiting to have the restrictors fitted?

16 March 2011

He also said that the repairs team had had problems gaining entry to the flat. Still I reported the leak first on 7 December 2010, although not via the correct channel. I am sure if a leaseholder had left a boiler leaking for three months, they would have received some unpleasant letters from Stevenage Homes.

The Home Ownership Services Team does not raise work orders. They pass on the issues to the Customer service centre team who raise the work order or escalate it to the repairs centre.

To avoid delays and unnecessary confusion speak directly to the team carrying out the repair and get updates if necessary.

If you need to report a communal repair in future contact the Stevenage Homes repairs team on 01438 211011 or free phone number 0800 1123444.

Alternatively you can email CSCRepairs@stevenage.gov.uk or report the fault online, by logging onto the Stevenage Homes website and follow the ‘report a repair link’.

I have had a look at the Report a Communal Repair Form, and it looks straight forward to use.

A later email from Mr Olawepo on the same day made an appointment for a plumber to call on the next day (a Friday).

Which he did, but he could not get any access to the flat on the eleventh floor which appeared to be the source of the leak.

Today, I emailed the CSCRepairs@stevenage.gov.uk address asking for an update.