WALTHAM FOREST: Ascham Homes 'misled' leaseholders (From This Is Local London)

WALTHAM FOREST: Ascham Homes 'misled' leaseholders

11:43am Tuesday 2nd September 2008 in

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ASCHAM Homes has been misleading council leaseholders and wasting their money, states a landmark ruling.

The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal also said that the housing management company cannot charge the home owners more than £250 for work without a consultation process.

The consultation must consist of a full investigation of what work is being carried out and the cost.

Council leaseholders - people who have bought homes to which the council owns the freehold - can pay many thousands of pounds.

The charges usually apply even if they have already carried out the work themselves or can find cheaper quotations.

The tribunal, which was specifically investigating the Decent Homes programme after complaints from a group of leaseholders, also found the housing company:

• Failed to let them know about estimated costs to work being carried out after letters were sent to numerous householders with the wrong information

• Became aware of its failure to consult leaseholders properly as far back as 2005 but failed to act until November 2007.

Members of the tribunal reprimanded Ascham Homes for not being able to send anyone to the hearing who could provide answers to key questions on how the letters came to contain inaccurate and misleading statements.

Ascham Homes, which manages the council's housing stock, was awarded £90 million by the Government to bring the borough's houses up to Decent Homes standard by 2011.

In December 2004, it entered into contracts with a variety of companies to carry out wall insulation, concrete repairs, roof and window replacements and electrical rewiring.

During the hearing it emerged that in 2005, the company sent out letters to leaseholders saying that their homes were to be improved through the council's ten-year capital plan, though such a plan did not exist.

The letters also informed leaseholders about contracts between Ascham Homes and its partners.

However Ms Murphie, head of the right to buy and leasehold services team since 1994, admitted she was given the letters' wording by the Building Consultancy Services Ltd (BCS) but signed them without being sure whether or not the proposals existed.

Mr Mann, the leaseholders' lawyer, said Ascham Homes had failed to consult leaseholders, meaning they were kept in the dark until the last moment.

"It is disgraceful that the leaseholders were only being given costs at the third consultation stage. It is outrageous that the landlord presented them with large bills at that late stage," he added.

He said leaseholders were stuck with Ascham Homes' contractors and prices despite some being able to obtain cheaper quotations for the work.

Mr Redpath-Stevens, Ascham Homes' lawyer, disagreed: "It was clear that we had instructed BCS to prepare the proposals, and that this is exactly what would have been expected from us."

An Ascham Homes spokeswoman said: "We are disappointed with the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal's decision and we are looking at the implications of this ruling.

"We are also taking legal advice about a possible appeal and will then consider our position."

However she refused to answer questions on what effect the ruling would have on leaseholders; what effect the ruling would have on the Government's Decent Homes programme in Waltham Forest; whether Ascham Homes carried out the consultation; whether leaseholders have been charged for works that were not necessary but were undertaken to meet Government targets; the legality of the agreement in 2004 between Ascham Homes and companies; and whether Ascham Homes has misled leaseholders and wasted council taxpayers' money.