CHA's privatisation of community space

For 30 years - since long before Community Housing Association/One Housing Group took control of Hillview Estate - no.1 Midhope had been a community space available for use to all who lived on the estate. But a few months ago our landlord CHA, without warning, changed the locks and so denied access to the keyholders of Hillview Residents Association and the wider Hillview community. Since then we've been told by CHA officials that 'all CHA community spaces must make a profit'. But CHA is officially registered as a charity (yes, amusing, isn't it?) so why the talk of profit making? Ah, well, that was a temporary slip of the tongue - CHA/OHG usually call it a "surplus". Even though OHG are expanding property speculators - using tenants' homes as assets to lend against/as security for investment risks - and the top management personnel get massive wages several times the average wage of most of their tenants, regular well above-inflation pay rises, and a big fat pension waiting at the end of the line THERE IS NO PROFIT. Nobody profits, got that?

Since CHA privatised 1 Midhope they have insisted that anyone who wants to use the space must pay a commercial rate of £30 an hour. (We believe - and hope - there have been no takers so far.) CHA say this is the same policy across all their estates and that the charge helps cover costs of electricity bills and cleaning etc. But tenants already pay for all these costs in their service charge - so CHA are trying to charge us twice for use of 1 Midhope!

There is a regular youth club in no. 1 Midhope; but this is also used by kids who don't live on the estate - so why should tenants also pay the bills for what is a public youth club? If it is available to the general public then the council, government and/or CHA should bear the cost as they do for other similar public services. Otherwise Hillview tenants are paying twice again - by the service charge and by paying taxes. We intend to challenge this. Feel free to write to CHA and ask for an explanation.

Hillview Residents Association (HRA) have been using and managing 1 Midhope for 30 years and holding its meetings there. But since CHA's change of locks coup they have insisted that HRA phone up to book usage of the room - then couriers will be sent to deliver the keys at the time the room is booked for. All this extra cost for couriers will presumably be added on to our future service charges, as the £30 fee charged for the room will probably be eaten up by courier costs. A typical example of the financial efficiency and common sense of CHA/OHG...

The privatisation of no. 1 Midhope is a small incident - but one that shows the larger general attitudes of CHA/OHG towards tenants and finances.

Being ripped off with OHG service charges - to the tune of £100,000! (And counting...)

After the long efforts of two Hillview tenants CHA have been forced to agree to refund nearly £100,000 to tenants as a result of overcharging for services. Though so far no one has actually received any repayments. The refund will in most cases be 'paid' as credit/reduction on future service charges - though we presume that those who are not on benefits can demand it is paid to them as cash/cheque, if they can be bothered with the hassle.

The refund is, so far, for three blatant overcharges over at least three years;
1) Hillview tenants were being charged £80 a week for a salaried CHA employee to sit in an office on the estate for 4 hours per week. This officer was already being paid a full-time wage as a CHA employee - yet Hillview tenants were being charged again for her weekly appearance, so paying twice for her 'service'. It seems that the CHA officer did not even always turn up, and when she did she was visited by very few tenants as her attendance was not publicised.

2) For over three years lighting in common areas throughout the estate was on 24 hours a day - including on top floor balconies open to natural daylight. When this was challenged CHA first claimed that it would be too expensive to fit timers to the lighting system - it was then pointed out by a tenant that there was already a timer system fitted that had been previously in use and that one stairwell was still working on it. For some stupid reason the timer system had been bypassed.

CHA then made the excuse that Royal Mail had insisted on 24 hr lighting as a safety measure for postmen delivering. This seemed strange to tenants, as no one could remember any postmen ever being attacked - and other similar estates in the area did not have 24 hour lighting. When CHA was asked for proof of Royal Mail's request for 24 hr lighting they produced a letter - but the letter had only requested 24 hr lights in two small blocks with some dark internal corridors. For whatever reason, laziness or incompetence, the whole estate had then been put on 24 hr lighting, adding thousands of pounds to the electric bill paid by tenants via the service charge. Finally, after all the excuses, CHA was forced to admit the error and agree a refund.

3) CHA overcharged for a year for a non-existent cleaner's wage for the estate - at a time when the reduction in cleaning staff meant the estate was not receiving a proper cleaning service.

We expect that further over-charges on Hillview will be revealed. The lessons from all this?
CHA have been overcharging tenants for years and this has only been revealed by the unpaid efforts of tenants - who have had to deal with evasions, excuses, refusals to reply etc from some CHA staff.

If £100,000 has been overcharged on just one of CHA's estates, it leads us to think that unchallenged overcharges could be still occurring on many other CHA/OHG estates and properties - and the total overcharged by OHG across all its properties could be a massive sum. So we strongly advise tenants to get together and go through your service charge with a fine tooth comb; if something doesn't look right or is unclear, then ask OHG for a full and clear explanation and proof that the costs they charge for have been incurred.