Saturday 27 April 2013

How to raise a complaint - an update


Some of you have asked how to make a complaint to Regenter B3 – whether this be on a day to day basis or something more substantial. We have previously provided a guide on this, but given that so many people at Regenter B3 have left, we thought it would be worthwhile updating it. 

One lesson many of us have learned is that making representations in person at the housing office or on the phone is not necessarily effective. Often are complaints ‘lost’ or ‘forgotten’. 

It is far better to put complaints in writing, either by email to Suzanne Ste-Croix (leasehold services manager) at suzanne.ste-croix@pinnacle-psg.com or to the housing office at 111 Endwell Road, Brockley, London SE4 2PE (though the benefit of email is that you can confirm receipt, and is of course quicker).

If your complaint is not dealt with, you should raise it as a ‘Stage 1 complaint' to Pinnacle. You then have 10 working days for them to send a response. This invokes the formal complaint procedure and should (in theory) be logged and then be reflected on Regenter B3’s (not very good) performance statistics. 

Failing that resolving the issue, you should then write to or email the Director of Housing at Lewisham Council (Genevieve Macklin - genevieve.macklin@lewisham.gov.uk) entitled 'Stage 2 complaint'. A Stage 3 complaint should be referred to Lewisham's independent adjudicator if this fails to resolve your complaint. 

The other benefit of keeping things in writing is to ensure there is a full audit record, which can prove invaluable. 

Some of you will be aware that the utterly-feckless Alwyn Lewis has left Brockley to work on another PFI arrangement. Tapiwa Jiya and Jim Duke have also left. 

Sunday 10 March 2013

Looking to buy in Brockley?

We have been contacted recently by a number of people who have been looking to buy ex-Lewisham Council properties which are now managed by the PFI consortium Regenter B3, covering Brockley and parts of Ladywell and New Cross, and who have heard of the problems that many leaseholders have had since the PFI took over in 2007. 

While there have been some problems with the PFI, our view is that these are now over. Brockley leaseholders have had a number of gripes over the quality, cost and necessity of renovations carried out during the "Major Works programme" in 2007-09. However, after actions taken forward by a number of leaseholders, these have been rectified. More importantly, the culprit - Higgins Construction - is now no longer part of the PFI consortium. 

Your solicitor's searches should note that there are plans for another round of cyclical decoration works which will start to take place in the next few years. Note that the costs of these is capped at £10,000 which, while a lot of money, is much less than leaseholders in other ex-LA properties nationwide can be subject to (and indeed elsewhere in Lewisham such as those run by Lewisham Homes). Such caps very rarely exist in leasehold properties with a private freeholder either. Regenter has stated that costs would be limited to decorative works in communal areas - so it is hard to anticipate costs being anywhere near the £10,000 mark anyway.

Be assured also that, while still not perfect, Lewisham Council has upped its game in managing and monitoring the PFI, and we believe that lessons have genuinely been learned. 

The upshot is, there is relatively little to worry about - there are of course some niggles, but these are in the same order of magnitude as any leasehold property - private or ex-LA. If you have any questions, contact us at brockleyleaseholders@gmail.com and we can point you to who to ask for more details at Lewisham Council and at Regenter B3. 

You can also be assured that there are other leaseholders to provide advise and help should there ever be any issues. Brockley and Ladywell are also amazing places to live!  

Sunday 10 February 2013

Brockley Leaseholders' Association AGM - 21 February

**Updated with venue** 

BLA's Annual General meeting will be held on Thursday 21 February at 19.30. The event will take place at the St Andrews Centre on the corner of Wickham and Brockley Roads. This is open to all Brockley leaseholders - so please spread the word. 

We will start by having elections to the BLA committee, including the Chair, Deputy Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and five other (so-called "ordinary") members. 

We will then any issues that leaseholders have. As ever, if you have any issues you want to discuss with other leaseholders, please contact brockleyleaseholders@gmail.com.

We hope to see as many members there as possible. 

Please note that the quarterly 'Leaseholder Forum' organised by Pinnacle, and which was postponed from November, does not yet have a revised date. We expect at that meeting Rydon will give an update on their planned redecoration works.