Those residents living south of the railway might have seen the notice at the foot of your block and promptly forgotten it, especially if you're at work during the day. Lewisham Homes recently promised us evening inspections and/or Saturday inspections, so that working folk could attend, but no doubt that'll take a year to get going. Last year we weren't even told when inspections were happening, so at least there's some progress, though some critics think letting us know also gives the caretakers forewarning to make things look better than they would normally.
But inspections are not just about caretaking. This is our opportunity to point out any problems, especially things that haven't been sorted. Historically, however, the inspector doesn't take much notice of what tenants say and scores an uncritical 90+%, whatever state he finds things in. The reports then fail to appear on the Lewisham Homes' website (no reports for over a year to date).
I reckon there'll be plenty to point out to the blinkered bloke with the inspector's badge...unmown lawns, spilt worker's paint, uncollected 'bulk household rubbish' – plus all the usual stuff...and even if he doesn't include everything in his bogus report, surely he'll want to know what needs doing so they can sort it out before the Audit Commission comes inspectin' next month...?
You won't have seen any notices for this – sorry about that. TRA meetings are always the last Thursday in the month, and we're too untogether to put up notices, especially since the caretakers often remove them. Pop along to the Pink Palace if you've got any problems...
Postscript: Raphael and Sue attended the Estate Inspection. We met with a new Quality Inspector who was not wearing blinkers, Ruth Hindle, who promised to email us her report (something unheard of last year)...Also in attendance was an elderly Resident Inspector, Martin, from another part of the borough. He appeared enthusiastically thorough...
The postscript is encouraging! The last time I attended an inspection, in Frankham, an extraordinary thing happened: I was complaining about the fly tipping in the car park, when right on cue, a tenant appeared weighed down with unwanted household items and dumped them right in front of us in the offending area. On my prompting, the Lewisham Homes person had a word. We then watched as the tenant picked up her items and took them round to the recycling bins in front of the pink palace and dumped them there instead. Did the inspector say anything though? No!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, anon, when was that? Must of been that blind guy Barry...
ReplyDeletetalking of which, all the Bulk Household Waste is still there...
It was someone called Julia. A "Quality Officer". I also had a moan to her about the little piles of spit bubbling away in the stairwells. She suggested this was normal and nothing could be done to stop people spitting. This was about a year ago.
ReplyDelete