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Beware of repair debt
• I WRITE to alert council tenants about changes to the way repairs are planned to be charged to their rent accounts. Soon tenants risk paying continuing year-on-year rent increases, and at the same time paying for repairs to their homes. So far, proposals are sketchy: if you can’t pay for repairs, the debt will be added to your rent account and it’s not clear how long people will have to pay the debt off or what the consequences would be in the long term if you cannot. Or if lots of people cannot pay, how this debt could affect the stability of Homes for Islington.
Then there are the problems of repair costs resulting from mismanagement or long-term neglect, which surely it would not be reasonable to charge tenants for. They are already paying full rates to live in sub-standard housing.
The implications for the relationship between landlord and tenant are far reaching. I implore residents to get more information and to act on what is discovered as a united group. The timing of the abolition of the Federation of Islington Tenants’ Associations seems to me to relate to all the above.
Justine Gordon-Smith
Crouch Hill, N4 |
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