Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Haringey Leaseholders' Association holds Special General Meeting this Saturday
Hello everyone - it's make or break time for Council leaseholders in this borough. The only independent voice they have is about to go under unless we get a quorate meeting this time. After years of being done down by the Council it has now got to the point where all the hard work of the last 15 years hangs on whether enough people come along to the Wood Green Social Club at 10am in two days' time.
If you are a leaseholder or know a leaseholder please pass the message on.
Here is a link to our leaflet:
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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AN alternative group for Council Leaseholders in the Borough is the Haringey Leaseholders' Campaign Group — (HLCG).
The alternative group has existed for some years and continues. My understanding is that the HLCG has never sought nor received, any monies from the Council or from Homes for Haringey.
By a similar token, the alternative group has never been de-recognised by Home-for-Haringey, let alone been de-recognised twice.
Disclosure: I am a former Director of Homes for Haringey Ltd. but am not, nor have been, a tenant or leaseholder of HfH.
Clive Carter
Haringey Councillor
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Permalink Reply by Haringey Leaseholders on
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Mr Carter I think it is inappropriate for you to start a polemical topic when you are firstly not a leaseholder and secondly when you have responsibilities both as a Councillor and as someone who has been involved with Homes for Haringey to measure your contributions.
For the record I will just state the following:
The group you mention was set up to achieve recognition but, perhaps sadly, it was not able to fulfil its early potential and it never did therefore achieve that recognition. It intended therefore to seek the grant that goes with recognition but never needed to open a bank account as it never got that far. It is therefore true as far as it goes to say that it has never received any money from Homes for Haringey. But it did seek that. It has no subscribers (well when I asked to subscribe I was told that there was still no bank account).
There has only ever been one public meeting of that group and that was in early 2011. Its constitution has therefore now fallen into abeyance. The HLA has always sought to have good relations as far as possible with all leaseholders and groups that it comes into contact with. That continues to be our policy and we urge all concerned to join in discussions on a basis of mutual respect in order to find the best way forward for leaseholders.
By the same token the HLA has consistently held public meetings not just since 2011 but before. The minutes of those meetings are available on the website. It has some 200 subscribers and a membership of some 600 leaseholders who have demonstrated their active support. It has a bank account and has achieved recognition on a regular basis. Twice it has been derecognised and twice it has duly appealed against those derecognition decisions. On both occasions it has been refused the right to appeal despite the fact that that right exists in black and white in the Resident Involvement Agreement (see the website). On the first occasion Homes for Haringey never even heard the HLA side of the story (and has refused to hear it since) as the HLA were not able to take part in the process. On this second occasion the Board was not able to access the recommendations put forward in the report by the Resident Scrutiny Panel on the strength of which the Association was derecognised. Those recommendations were removed on the personal intervention of the Chair despite there being a requirement for recommendations both in the scoping document for this particular investigation by the RSP and for investigations it carries out in general.
It would appear that the Chair of the Board of Homes for Haringey did not inform other Board members of his action.
The HLA has called for dialogue with Homes for Haringey on these points but has been met with a refusal. My view - and I speak here (on this site) personally as the Treasurer of the Association as this has not been cleared by our Chair - is that this is a great shame. The HLA has consistently held out the hand of friendship to Homes for Haringey and sees the best way forward for leaseholders as working together in a constructive manner to improve service outcomes for leaseholders and improve the respect and standing of what is an important public body with a large budget.
The HLA is a genuinely independent, grassroots, body that has been run to very high standards (certainly its governance has been better than that of Homes for Haringey who have twice run unconstitutional elections for the leaseholder board member) and it has a clear role to play in the mix of consultation and resident involvement that should be part of a successful Arms Length Management Organisation.
We have had a very encouraging response to our call for a good turn-out at our SGM this Saturday and I believe the Association will survive to be reinstated. We will pursue the interests of leaseholders in a fair and dignified manner until they are better served than at present. If we are excluded unjustly we may have to take that matter to court and there is the will to do so.
Interestingly we would have been quorate last time except that five or six people went to the Civic Centre instead of to the Wood Green Social Club. That change of venue was down to the derecognition decision as we had always previously been able to meet in the Civic Centre. That is an easier venue for people to find. We have also had in the last couple of days an issue with someone who wishes to attend despite having a broken leg. At the Civic Centre there is a lift but only stairs at the Social Club. We are going to do our best to facilitate her participation but none of this should have happened. Leaseholders should not have been put to this sort of inconvenience. The derecognition decision was very flawed and needs to be revisited.
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Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on
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I can't make it on Saturday(I really can't) and am a private leaseholder. Do you deal with private leaseholders?
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Hi Sapphire - strictly speaking we only try and represent Council leaseholders but anyone can come to our meetings (shame you can't make it) and from time to time of course we end up sharing experiences and perspectives with private leaseholders. After all we all land up in the First Tier Property Tribunal in the more serious cases...
Perhaps next time?
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