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Lambeth Housing In Meltdown - Massive Rent Rises On The Way

bluestreak said:
Mind, the argument probably won't wash but the Housing Ombudsman certainly has the power to force a rethink over rent rises. I was under the impression that there was a very complicated formulae that governed LA and HA rent rises that couldn't be overwritten.
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As I understand it in absolute terms the rents in Lambeth are still lower than many other comparable inner London boroughs so there probably wouldnt be a reason to complain.
 
zenie said:
Is it actual rent or have the 'service charges' that have increased? :hmm:
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For me it's the rent. I think water rates have increased a little, i'm tlaking pence as opposed to pounds, thankfully I don't pay other services charges.
 
Mind said:
That argument wouldn't wash with anybody I'm afraid.

First of all, just because I don't live in council property does not make me a homeowner. Many of us do not even get a look in despite being on the register for over a decade!

Secondly, if council tenants are paying £1 rent £1 council tax and private tenants and homeowners are paying £2 rent and £2 council tax
asking the council tenants to pay £1.25 rent (An increase of 25%) to the council is not a subsidy to the person who still has to pay £4.

Besides as SE5 rightly says, the housing budget is very much separate from council tax revenue.

The council tenants are paying for an increase in rent to their landlords.
Just as I have had to pay to my landlords on occasion.
Those of us struggling with rent and mortgages should not have to stump up extra to an incompetent council to pay for homes they don't even live in and that are already subsidised!!

The officials have cocked up and the innocent will have to pay for it as usual.
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I thought council tenants' rents already subsidised central government, not the other way around.
 
can't be bothered to read through the thread but I had a conversation with somebody who works in lambeth housing dept the other day... and they said that there have been large amounts of money "going missing" (i.e. millions) and a massive budget overspend. Hence reductions of I can't remember the figure but something like 10% across all council depts.
 
Housing Association rent has gone up too. Just a few pennies short of £20 a week...I wouldn't mind so much if they were excellent landlords, and they are better than Lambeth were in many respects, but they are just as rubbish with repairs done by rubbish contractors as Lambeth were when I was a council tenant.
 
_angel_ said:
I thought council tenants' rents already subsidised central government, not the other way around.
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They do.

In fact there's a campaign on by Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock on this - it's a decent chunk of cash - £1000 a year on his estimates in Portsmouth.

http://www.libdemvoice.org/hancock-to-take-1000-a-year-tenants-tax-protest-to-parliament-12038.html

Originally posted by Mike Hancockcouncil tenants are angry because each household will be paying £1,000 a year over the next thirty years directly into the Government’s coffers. The Government takes money from Portsmouth and 205 other councils. Some money is distributed back to councils. 50 councils benefit and 156 pay money to the Government but there is an overall surplus that the Government keeps of £194 million. Therefore a large surplus - £4.6 million this year from Portsmouth alone goes into general Government expenditure – effectively a tax that only council tenants have to pay. With large increases due in the amount taken in coming years, Portsmouth City Council estimates that unless it is reformed Portsmouth’s 15,000 council tenants will pay £500 million over the next 30 years to the Government – over £1,000 a year.
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I think part of the confusion on subsidies is that many council tenants get their rents subsidised by Housing Benefit. But for those who don't they're sitting ducks for the government to squeeze more money out of them.
 
se5 said:
As I understand it in absolute terms the rents in Lambeth are still lower than many other comparable inner London boroughs so there probably wouldnt be a reason to complain.
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Nevertheless, making a fuss should happen, and doing it through the official channels is as good a way as any.
 
tommers said:
can't be bothered to read through the thread but I had a conversation with somebody who works in lambeth housing dept the other day... and they said that there have been large amounts of money "going missing" (i.e. millions) and a massive budget overspend. Hence reductions of I can't remember the figure but something like 10% across all council depts.
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This is true - someone linked to the Housing Today article which links. Basically there has been years and years of fraud, theft, and poor management.
 
Also signed - I don't see why tenants should have to bail out the council. Rent going up is bad enough, service charge going up is worse - HB doesn't cover it.
 
Bob said:
They do.

In fact there's a campaign on by Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock on this - it's a decent chunk of cash - £1000 a year on his estimates in Portsmouth.

http://www.libdemvoice.org/hancock-to-take-1000-a-year-tenants-tax-protest-to-parliament-12038.html



I think part of the confusion on subsidies is that many council tenants get their rents subsidised by Housing Benefit. But for those who don't they're sitting ducks for the government to squeeze more money out of them.
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I think the 'confusion' is actually an outright lie perpetrated by dishonest right wingers myself. ;) Like nobody outside of social housing never claims housing benefit (that will be a higher rent than most council tenants too)

That petition says it's only for residents of Lambeth to sign, unfortunately.
 
Something strange at Lambeth council?
Can't be. They can afford 30+ grand on a graphic designer to tell you how good they are.
http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/JobsCareers/GraphicDesigner/

They have support for their tenants
http://www.24dash.com/news/Housing/2009-02-26-Lambeth-Council-launches-tenancy-support-projects

They are looking for someone to make sure you all pay your rent on time.
He will get 60+ grand a year.
http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/job/223824-permanent-london-head-of-income-and-revenue-po9.aspx

Twinning

The former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and its successor have been twinned with the Vincennes district of Paris in France since 1955. Lambeth also has twinning arrangements with Bluefields in Nicaragua; Moskvoretsky in Russia (although this is abeyance since changes to the city government of Moscow); Shinjuku in Japan; and Spanish Town in Jamaica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Lambeth

Not that your politicians would dream of going on a trip to meet their counterparts in Jamaica while winter takes hold of the UK.


This isn't a troll job but, in all seriousness, vote conservative next time.
Their councils tend to have the lowest council rents and the lowest council taxes.
Up to you like. Makes sod all difference to me really.
 
derf said:
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Twinning

The former Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth and its successor have been twinned with the Vincennes district of Paris in France since 1955. Lambeth also has twinning arrangements with Bluefields in Nicaragua; Moskvoretsky in Russia (although this is abeyance since changes to the city government of Moscow); Shinjuku in Japan; and Spanish Town in Jamaica.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Lambeth

Not that your politicians would dream of going on a trip to meet their counterparts in Jamaica while winter takes hold of the UK.
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Happy to stand corrected, but AFAIK there has been no visit to Spanish Town, Jamaica by a Lambeth Councillor or official in the last fifteen years.
 
derf said:
This isn't a troll job but, in all seriousness, vote conservative next time.
Their councils tend to have the lowest council rents and the lowest council taxes.
Up to you like. Makes sod all difference to me really.
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And Conservative councils tend to be located in rich areas where the local authority does not have to deal with the same amount of poverty, unemployment, dependence on social housing and other issues that inner city councils such as Lambeth have to deal with.

Besides a vote for the Conservatives in Lambeth is likely to make no difference - if anything it will ensure that Labour retains control (as the Conservatives are the challengers to Labour in only one or two wards- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambeth_Council_election,_2006) - the Lib Dems are the only political party that is likely to come anywhere close to challenging Labour
 
According to today's South London Press Lambeth are in discussions with central government about getting an extra £11million government funding which will be backdated to April and so the rent increases will be reduced - hmm must be elections coming up next year!
 
According to the Lurking About SE11 website there's a report about to come out on this:

http://southeasteleven.blogspot.com/2009/05/lambeth-housing-audit-conservatives.html

Originally posted by Lurking about SE11: In the meantime, somebody from the Lambeth Tories has, according to Twitter, managed to get hold of a report from the Audit Commission, damning Lambeth Living (the organisation that manages Lambeth's Social Housing). It's an Arms Length Management Organisation, for those who like the lingo. Apparently, the Audit Commission has said that every single area audited within the Lambeth Living organisation is "weak". More information about this matter is on the Lambeth Conservative website.

And what's more, due to the fact that the Auditor's report is currently being witheld, the Tories say they're prepared to publish the document on the Lambeth Conservative website for everyone to read... Looks like red hot stuff to me. I hope they have good lawyers!
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Mrs Magpie said:
Housing Association rent has gone up too. Just a few pennies short of £20 a week...I wouldn't mind so much if they were excellent landlords, and they are better than Lambeth were in many respects, but they are just as rubbish with repairs done by rubbish contractors as Lambeth were when I was a council tenant.
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£20 a week :eek:

I hope mine doesn't go up that much :(
 
se5 said:
According to today's South London Press Lambeth are in discussions with central government about getting an extra £11million government funding which will be backdated to April and so the rent increases will be reduced - hmm must be elections coming up next year!
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i thought margaret beckett ruled this out last week as it would be seen as giving special treatment

edit: not last week in fact, quite a few weeks ago, has there ben a change then?
Link to Kate Hoey speaking in Parliament about this and Beckett's response
 
Well the SLP article gave the impression that a way forward had been found for the government to give the money to Lambeth and that an announcement was due any day soon
 
I've just had an email from the Lurking around SE11 blog
LEAKED copy of Lambeth Council ALMO Draft Inspection Report
Posted: 13 May 2009 12:28 AM PDT
An anonymous contributor has leaked to me part of the Lambeth Arms Length Management Draft Inspection Report, which I referred to in my post two days ago here. The document is an inspection of Lambeth Living, Lambeth Council's social housing management wing, and is confidential, and, as far as I know, has not been released on account of it being so critical of the council's service.

The document is dated April 2009 and indeed alleges (amongst other things) that the complaint system within Lambeth Living has broken down and that the organisation is is bad at rent collection and the collection of service charges. Most alarmingly, the number of properties without Gas Safety Certificates is high. Anybody who knows anything about property management (and I know a little) might be aware that if a house blows up on account of faulty gas equipment (and indeed has no valid Gas Safety Certificate), and anybody is killed, the people within a company responsible for arranging the certificate might be charged with Corporate Manslaughter. There's a RICS report here to such end, should there be any interested landlords reading. It's a very serious alleged failing of a landlord duty.

The report (I'm presuming the copy I've received is genuine) does also say some good things. I wouldn't want anybody to think that Lurking about SE11 is unfair in its reporting, so it's worth recording that estate management is considered to be delivered effectively with "reasonable" standard of ground maintenance and cleaning, and that some improvements are beginning to emerge from the service overall.

However, the report is incredibly damning. There is no escaping the fact that major reform will have to be carried out. I suppose the main question will be; is there money to carry out the reforms of the department, necessary to drag it up from its weak position?

I actually do have a suggestion on the matter. In my view, property management is all about systems, and software systems in particular. With the implementation of excellent software, staff trained to follow procedure and use the software, and good relationships with maintenance teams, it's possible to turn around a management service relatively quickly. The report seems to suggest that Lambeth Living only manage 34,000ish properties, which isn't that many in the grand scheme of things. Let's hope that change for the better happens quickly since so many Labour residents are being let down.

Personally, I find it very interesting that this report should have been leaked so close to the Princes ward by-election. I doubt it has been leaked for precisely that reason (since the inspections took place in February, and relate to the entirety of Lambeth and not just SE11), but it's not going to help the local Labour team in their campaign efforts.
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http://southeasteleven.blogspot.com/
 
And its in the SLP with an unflattering photo of Lib Dem Ashley Lumsden looking particularly smug
 
Get real!

Now that many tenant leaders, the opposition parties, DCH and the local papers all appear to have received copies of this report, witholding it from those who live in council properties makes no sense.

If, as one poster has suggested, it complements officers for their work in some areas, refusing to release it will only make the situation worse.

We residents, who suffer most from the incompetence of councillors and officers, already know the truth - THERE IS NO HOPE OF LAMBETH LIVING ACHIEVING 2 STARS BEFORE THE OFFER OF FUNDING CLOSES.
 
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