A council block

[Binzai]

Moved to this area a few years ago as we liked the area but couldn't afford the ever increasing house prices for a house so an ex local authority flat was bought from a nice church going gentleman. More of him later.

The flat itself has had countless problems which sadly were not flagged up by the surveyor prior to exchange. Problems our lovely church going man would have known about but decided to remain silent about. Problems that, if we'd known, probably would not have completely wrecked the sale but may have led to us reducing our offer on the flat.

Since living here, the council have carried out lots of refurbishment work to the block with what I can only call a semblance of consultation. Each bill for work costs over ten thousand pounds. As key workers we are already strapped for cash and had to get a loan from the council to pay for the large amounts of work. The most recent of which have been shoddy to say the least. The Council are constantly repairing these recently completed works using private companies. At the moment they are embarking on some more work and we are dreading yet another possible bill requesting huge amounts of money.

Through all this we've continued to live here, developed one or two friends and we carry on.

In all the time we've lived here we have had problems from council tenants and private tenants of some of the flats.

The flats are relatively cheap compared to most of Dulwich so with the council renovating and selling off stock, it's become a huge magnet for buy-to-let investors.

I don't blame anyone who does, we are all going to have a pittance of a pension when we retire so why not.

How difficult is it though for both council and private landlords to vet their tenants. The majority of the people who live here are decent people but unfortunately there are a small minority who have a total disregard for the quality of life of their neighbours.

Loud music till all hours, noisy late night visitors, rubbish dumped anywhere, stairwells that look like sties 5 minutes after they've been cleaned.

What I can't seem to understand is that the level of complaints from the decent tenants and owner occupiers is next to nil.

I don't get it, does living in a ex-local authority block entitle you to a lesser quality of life and you should grin and bear it. Sadly we are now adopting the same attitude as others around here and letting them win. I can only believe that other dwellers know what's good for them and leave it alone.

Thought we would be happy here but it's not where I would want a child to grow up anymore. You could say we should stay but our sanity is more important and it's time we got the same quality of life as other people in the area. I have deliberately been vague as we do actually worry about reprisals.

[Bic Basher]

As a council resident (not the tenant), who's had to complain on numerous occasions to the housing manager and the anti-social behavioural team, it's a very slow and drawn out process.

Do you have a tenants association on your estate? It may be worth speaking to them as well, although I've found the one on here is a bit of a clique. You may also have a Leaseholders group who have additional meetings to discuss such issues as yours.

[sb]

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[ladyruskin]

Regarding the charges the council have been applying for improvement works, you should contact the Leaseholders Valuation Tribunal who will assess the charges to see whether they are fair and justified. There is also a lot of information here for leaseholders http://www.lease-advice.org