Battle over bill for repairs puts Marlborough Road home in danger

Published: 4th February, 2011
by PETER GRUNER

A BATTLING leaseholder who refuses to pay her landlord £4,359 for building work which she claims has never been done is being threatened with the loss of her Archway home.

Maura Brannock, 55, is calling for a full investigation into her claims at a leaseholders’ tribunal. She is being supported by Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and an independent surveyor.

She has supplied the Tribune with documents which show her surveyor, from Nuttall Associates in Crouch End, contradicts almost all 12 items on a repairs bill and schedule from housing association Circle 33, which owns the freehold of her property.

Ms Brannock bought the one-bedroom, ground-floor flat in Marlborough Road, off Holloway Road, cheaply under right-to-buy legislation 10 years ago after being a tenant for 20 years. The flat is in an 1890-built building owned by Highbury-based Circle 33.

The external and internal repairs to brickwork and doors were said to have been carried out by contractors on behalf of the association seven years ago.

Circle 33 maintains that a Housing Ombudsman report found in its favour that repairs had been carried out satisfactorily, but Ms Brannock argues that the report involved an entirely different problem.

She appointed her own surveyor after receiving the final bill and in his opinion most of the itemised work had not been done.

Circle 33 has obtained a county court judgment which could result in the forfeiture of her lease and the loss of her home if she fails to pay up.

Ms Brannock said: “I remember the workmen coming to the flat. They did some work but not everything that I was later billed for. We are not talking about a lot of money here. But we are talking about a principle. I don’t mind paying for work that has been done.

“I think that Circle 33 has made an accounting mistake and they should admit it rather than threaten to throw me out of my own home.”

In a letter to Jeff Baker, managing director of Circle 33, Mr Corbyn writes: “Ms Brannock would prefer to settle this matter without further legal action. She is prepared to pay reasonable costs but feels that Circle treat her fairly and with transparency.”

Alan Townshend, a spokesman for Circle 33, said: “We tried to contact the resident to settle this directly, but have not had any response. 

“The Housing Ombud­sman – an independent body – has ruled that remedial works were carried out and that the resident has to pay for this. We are willing to speak to the resident to try to resolve the problem, but if we cannot do so then we will have no choice but to take action through the courts.”