ILA’s Dr Potter asking Islington Council staff Ian Swift and Councillor Una OHalloran at last nights February ILA meeting on 14.02.24 why individual Leaseholders are getting huge bills for £46K and £72K.
Category: ILA
Monthly Meet
on
Wednesday 13th March 2024
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Agenda includes Service Charges and Major Works Billing
Please bring with you any paperwork you intend to refer to….e.g. s20 estimate. Etc.
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab in menu
Dr Brian Potter, sent the Letter of October 23 from MP Michael Gove to Victoria Lawson, CEO Islington Council to the tribune this week obo the ILA.
The Tribune published it in this weeks edition…
The letter discusses the Housing Ombudsman’s Special Report condemning Islington Councils “severe maladministration rate [which] is four times the national average”.
Gove goes on “This is unacceptable. The report identifies unreasonable delays, poor record keeping and communication with your residents, and a failure to follow your own policies and procedures. You failed to identify underlying issues – instead, you took a superficial look at problems such as damp and mould. It is not surprising that, as a result, many of your residents have suffered prolonged periods of distress”
Since it was dated Oct 23., Dr Potter suggests the Questions we should ask are…
Why did we not know about it until this week…?
and what has/will the council do about it now that it is in the public domain…?
This weeks letter in the Gazette…
Judging from what I have read in the press of late, plus the horror stories which I hear at the monthly meetings of the Islington Leaseholders Association, (in Islington Town Hall), leaseholders are being unmercifully targeted financially by the council and their contractors.
Whilst the Cyclic/Major works costing are of primary interest to leaseholders, of secondary concern is the actual “Quality” of the work observed. Unfortunately this aspect of leasehold complaints is probably, due for the main part to the overall neglect of adequate inspection by the councils own building control department.
On behalf of the ILA I have frequently asked the upper echelon of the council how many surveyors do the council directly employ in order to provide a sufficient degree of control over their contractors, and even more important, SUB CONTRACTORS on council estates…their answer has always been 70…!!!
My secondary question has always been, how many are RICS members, the answer is invariably, none, except on one occasion when they corrected themselves and stated, one..me, but I do need to pay my fees, straight way…
A further question as to why were they not RICS, elicited the reply, “cost of membership”.
So, Just who will inspect the INSPECTORS. In the main, the problems associated with massive bills, enforced on both leaseholder, as well as TENANTS, who pay for the councils disgraceful lack of control by way of ever increasing rents, sits firmly on the council shoulders as result of their inability to control the contracts they issue on our behalf…
Any way you look at it…since the council use our money to pay the contractor directly, surely they must be considered to be simply a managing agent…and as such responsible to the Residents of this borough…Corporate responsibility…???
Dr Potter
Chairman ILA
read more in Gazzette
Monthly Meet
on
Wednesday 14th February 2024
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Council Executive Una Halloran & Mr Ian Swift, asked if they could attend the ILA meeting and after consulting with leaseholders the ILA have invited them to this months meet.
Agenda also includes Service Charges and Major Works Billing
Please bring with you any paperwork you intend to refer to….e.g. s20 estimate. Etc.
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab in menu
Islington Leaseholders Association Monthly Meeting
on
Wednesday 10th January 2024
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Welcome to the first ILA meet of 2024
Agenda includes Service Charges and Major Works Billing
Please bring with you any paperwork you intend to refer to…I.e s20 estimate. Etc.
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab
Islington Leaseholders Association Monthly Meeting
on
Wednesday 13th December 2023
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Agenda includes Service Charges and Major Works Billing
Please bring with you any paperwork you intend to refer to…I.e s20 estimate. Etc.
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab
With the Leasehold reform bill on its way, its maybe time for Islington council to consider options like this.
Originally written by Jon Dean Thursday, November 1, 2012.
More than £20million could be raised for new homes if Islington Council becomes the first to adopt a pioneering scheme suggested by homeowners.
The plan, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, would see the town hall offer leaseholders a one-off chance to extend their leases by 99 years at a knock-down price.
With around 11,000 people owning former council properties, the initiative could raise in the region of £22million if the price was set at £2,000 as suggested.
The idea is the brainchild of Brian Potter, chairman of the Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA), who contacted Cllr Catherine West, leader of Islington Council, to put forward the proposal.
He said: “The beauty of this idea is that homeowners get security for two generations and can leave their home to their children, while Islington Council get some much needed funds.
“I think they will go for it – I mean, they will definitely want the cash. Other councils are raising money by selling off properties…they’re selling the family silver.
“This way Islington get to keep the silver and make bundles of money by essentially selling cans of air.”
When people buy a former council home, they usually buy a lease for the property for a fixed period, normally 125 years, while the town hall retains the freehold.
When the lease gets down to around 80 years, it can be hard to sell or mortgage the property and extending the lease can be a costly, complicated process.
The cost of extending a lease on home worth £200,000 starts at around £7,500.
Under the proposed scheme the price of extending would be between £1,000 and £3,000 depending on the value of the property.
The council confirmed it was looking into the idea.
Cllr James Murray, Islington Council’s executive member for housing, said: “We are keen to look at new ideas like this, particularly at a time when we continue to face huge cuts to our funding by central government.
Islington Leaseholders Association Monthly Meeting
on
Wednesday 8th November 2023
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Agenda includes Service Charges and Major Works Billing
Please bring with you any paperwork you intend to refer to…I.e s20 estimate. Etc.
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab
Islington Leaseholders Association Monthly Meeting
on
Wednesday 11th October 2023
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Agenda includes Service Charges and Major Works Billing
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
X (FKA “Twitter”) @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab
Islington Leaseholders Association Monthly Meeting
on
Wednesday 13th September 2023
in
Islington Town Hall
at
7pm – 9pm
Hosting the Meet – Dr Brian Potter
All Islington council leaseholders are welcome.
The ILA is the organisation, recognised by the Council, as the body representing some 11,000 leaseholders in the borough.
Twitter @ilaorguk
Face Book www.facebook.com/
Please join or renew your membership via our website ww.ila.org.uk where you can obtain the appropriate membership forms from the “Support” tab