Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Advice please - housing association problem :(
I'm having a huge problem with Circle 33 Housing Association, who I own a shared ownership property with in Harringay. This post is half warning-to-others and half cry-for-help-out-of-sheer-desperation.
On the 6th August, I told Circle 33 about a damp and mould patch which had appeared on my hallway ceiling. They gave me a repair date on 29th October, despite the problem being listed by them as 'urgent' and therefore should be dealt with within one week (according to their own policy documents).
Today, almost exactly three months after reporting the original patch of damp, and after numerous emails, photos, complaint letters, telephone calls and reports sent to environmental health, Circle 33 housing association have still failed to do anything about this problem. I have mushrooms growing out of the ceiling, mouldy boots, a corner of my flat which stinks and is unusable and, most worryingly, water running six inches away from my fuse box (this photo was taken tonight). They know all this, they have even been to see it for themselves, and yet still nothing has been done to repair it. Their incompetence has been quite staggering and applies to almost every person I have dealt with during this ordeal.
I've reported them to Haringey Environmental Health (Circle actually encouraged me to do this as "it might make us act a bit quicker") but no reply yet. Does anyone have any suggestions of what else I can do?
I'm sorry about the ranty nature of this post but this whole experience has left me feeling like I'm banging my head against a brick wall - painful, exhausting and getting me nowhere.
Any advice gratefully receive,
Eve
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on
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"I've reported them to Haringey Environmental Health (Circle actually encouraged me to do this as "it might make us act a bit quicker")
Well that reads like 'two fingers to the process', and you. But I suppose you could try quoting that statement to your MP (David Lammy or Lynne Featherstone) in the hope that they can bang heads together, though it's likely not going to be instant (not slighting MPs, they get a lot of communications).
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Permalink Reply by Emma on
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Have you spoke to any of the other neighbours who may have similar problems? I had a Shared ownership once and had issues with them which was a joint issues amongst all the shareholders. We took them to court and won! Things often get heard quicker if more than one voice.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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If this were mine, and they kept on stalling, i would first take loads of photos, tell them what you're about to do, then bash down that part of the ceiling to have a look at the pipes - it's going to have to come down anyway. You may just find the leak and be able to 'bandage' it to stop any more spread. I would be v v worried about getting dry rot, which will mean taking out all the plaster and timber inc joists back to 1 metre beyond any live fungus, huge expense and disruption and poison sprays. How can they be so incompetent as to leave it to rot? £100 job now >> ££ thousands if left.
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Eve, you have my sympathies. I and my neighbours have had problems with circle for years. Serious structural building issues throughout the block, numerous roof leaks, broken and insecure front doors to the blocks, lifts out of order for weeks/months on end, and lately a very serious and widespread rat problem across the whole development.
The part of the circle group which deals with your building maintenance is Centra Living (used to be leaseholders dept).
In the past Cllr Zena Brabazon helped us to tackle them when lack of action pushed us to the edge. More recently Cllr Barbara Blake has taken up the mantle by attending residents meetings and writing to circle on our behalf. I strongly advise you to contact Cllr Blake about this.
Do you have an active residents association? If so, arrange a meeting and insist that circle send a representative along. At a recent residents meeting we had 3 or 4 circle staff members who were unable to offer much more than apologies and the recommendation that we complain to their managers, (esentially "it's above my pay grade"). They did at least acknowledge the problems and didn't try to defend them. Subsequent to this we invited Neil Brown, Managing Director of Centra who attended with further apologies.
Another option which has produced results is to address a complaint specifically to Mark Rogers, Chief Exec of Circle Group. Chief Exec complaints are dealt with differently from normal complaints and seem be fast tracked.
Of course you should not need to do any of this at all, however as we know from bitter experience, nothing will happen unless you make it happen. This can leave me feeling pretty powerless. I own my home yet I have no power to stop circle from what feels like systematically dismantling the fabric of a ten year old building around me through sheer negligence. It can feel like a very stressful second job at times, constantly chasing them up. This is why you need help with this. It is too tiring and frustrating to take them on on your own.
Lastly, you are not alone, a recent column in the guardian bemoaned the service of guess who - the Centra arm of Circle -- http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/02/customer-servi...
I wish you all the best (as well as a great deal of tenacity and determination).
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Hi, I live in S Woodford. I own a property managed by the Circle. My experience with them is as bad as yours and I wonder if somehow we can join our efforts.
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Yes I have. I have not time or energy for this. I can solve my maintenance problems without Circle. I think most people who come across with them eventually give up. This company needs a serious audit. Their accounts are very vague. It is impossible to get any concrete information from them. For a example accordingly to them pavement in my development has been fixed last year. There is no evidence that it has been done. The pavement is still in horrible condition etc. I am thinking of writing a letter to my MP but I would like to get as much evidence as possible to point out that this company is seriously abuses its powers. Probably we could write a collective letter and sign it electronically? You can win a case with the ombudsman but will it change the Circle?
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I rent from Circle 33 (not cheap rent may i add) i have had a leak in my living room which i reported 5 months ago. They have still not sorted this out or even started to. I managed to get a surveyor to attend who said scaffolding needed to go up and the roof repairing. Months later and they are now saying it needs assessing. The name Circle 33 is very apt as we have been going round in circles. I am going to contact a housing ombudsman and the environmental agency tomorrow as i have had enough of living in a mould ridden leaking home.
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The most stupid/infuriating thing about this type of no-service is that any problem involving damp is going to cost hundreds of times more, and cause major disruption, the longer it's left. If the delay is due to a backlog, then borrow some cheap money, recruit enough people to clear the backlog once and for all, and then treat problems on the day. Thus saving lots of money and saving all that hassle, for ever, let alone all the nasty chemicals and wasted extra materials that a good dose of dry rot will bring. How often do you see leaking overflows pouring down the walls of council blocks for years? A job that a 50p washer would have fixed.
It's the same with doctors' waiting lists and three-week delays for appointments - they only happen because they are there. Bring in extra staff, clear the backlog, start with zero waiting time.
They really should get me to run the world, it's all so obvious.
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