We must complain

Published: 16 July, 2010

• I CANNOT stress the importance of filing stage one and two formal complaints to Homes for Islington (HfI), Islington Council and the ombudsman.

I have spent more than 15 months complaining in the hope that maintenance issues for my estate, Quaker Court, would be sorted.  

I recently filed a formal stage one complaint with pictures of a collapsing fence that has caused the wall it sits on to start cracking.

I also filed a stage one formal complaint when services we pay for were suddenly taken away without an explanation.

I later found out the reason for the services being withheld was to stop HfI dragging its feet on another issue, the privatisation of communal space.

As an estate we were asked to vote last year on whether communal areas should be private to tenants and leaseholders.

With a majority, not unanimous, vote we decided to proceed with privatisation.

There was no mention of cost for tenants or leaseholders during the vote. 

Months later, we have finally received a response from HfI saying we need to buy a licence or buy the land; £7,000 for leaseholders, £495 plus a £95 fee for tenants, and fencing that would cost £12,960. 

We were given no more details, such as if we would be the freeholders or merely leasing the land, how long the ownership/lease would be for or even the size of the land we would purchase.

If someone were to buy a car or house, would they expect a buyer if the only detail they listed was the price? 
HAI HOANG
EC1