Sinn Féin West Tyrone MLA Michaela Boyle says that she, and other elected representatives in her constituency, are receiving an increasing volume of complaints from residents of Housing Association Developments questioning the value for money they are receiving for service charges they are obliged to pay towards regular maintenance and upkeep costs of the communal areas.
She has now written to DSD Minister Nelson Mc Causland calling upon him to examine ways in which the sector can be better regulated in order to afford better services and statutory protections for residents.
She has now written to DSD Minister Nelson Mc Causland calling upon him to examine ways in which the sector can be better regulated in order to afford better services and statutory protections for residents.
She said,
“Sinn Fein has been receiving an increasing volume of complaints from residents of Housing Association Developments over what they deem to be the total lack of value for money they are receiving for the service charges they are obliged to pay towards maintenance and upkeep costs.
“Common complaints from residents include dissatisfaction with the standard of performance of their Housing Associations in terms of: failures in responding to complaints at all; unacceptable delays in carrying out regular maintenance and essential repairs; as well as continual complaints about neglect of communal areas within Association developments.
“In overall terms, many Housing Association residents feel that they do not have the same level of service or the same statutory protections as Housing Executive tenants despite being within the same ‘social housing’ sector and despite having to pay additional housing costs through these service charges.
“I have now written to DSD Minister Nelson Mc Causland, as minister responsible for social housing, calling upon him to examine ways in which the sector can be better regulated in order to afford better services and statutory protections for Housing Association residents.
“Sinn Féin is also receiving a substantial number of complaints from residents in a number of private residential developments, who are subject to substantial service charges payable to management agents/companies, and who are also questioning the value for money issue that in some cases the grass-cutting of communal areas within developments is being totally neglected..
“Given the binding contractual nature of these service charges, they are extremely difficult to challenge but in acting collectively residents are better placed to ensure service obligations are being fully met. In cases where there is overwhelming evidence of a gross abdication of these service obligations, consideration should be given to collectively engage legal representation with a view to challenging the basis of the service charges contract."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.