Paper petition details
Petition for Sceptre House Re Major Works
The undersigned petitioners who are all leaseholders confirm
they:
did not receive a section 20 notice of intention or receive
invitations to participate in consultations (stage 1)
did not receive a notice of estimates before the commencement of
works (stage 2)
nor did we get a notification of who won the contract (stage
3).
The signed leaseholders only became aware of this major works after scaffolding went up in April and received no prior notice from Tower Hamlets Council or Tower Hamlets Homes. Our local (Bancroft) Tenants Management Organisation was not even notified of this work beforehand. Individual leaseholders only became aware of the potential major works bill after enquiring individually and collectively via Bancroft Tenants Management Organisation from May, which suggested that some leaseholders are looking at bills in the region £50,000. The council responded to some leaseholders saying that their consultation period begun in November 2023, which all the signed petitioners confirm they received no notice of otherwise would have participated in, as this is for most, the largest bill they have ever received. As a result of the council’s failures, we have not been given a chance to scrutinise the nature of this works or this bill or even been notified when this work will end. This has created a huge amount of stress, anxiety and inconvenience for many families.
Any freeholder that charges leaseholders a bill that is expected to be above £250 for major works is duty bound to follow the above process which has not been done in this case.
Therefore, we are seeking for Tower Hamlets council to confirm
that we the undersigned leaseholders will not be subject of a bill
above £250 as the section 20 notice was never issued or
processes followed.
This Paper petition ran from 17/07/2024 to 31/10/2024 and has now finished.
16 people signed this Paper petition.
This is a paper petition received by the council. It has never been available for signature online.
Council response
I write in response to a petition submitted to the Council by residents of Sceptre House over the consultation and administration of the proposed major works to the block. I would like to start by apologising for the delay in issuing this response to you.
As part of your petition, residents have outlined 3 key area of concern which are summarised below;
• Leaseholders did not receive a section 20 notice of
intention or receive
invitations to participate in consultations
• Leaseholders did not receive a notice of estimates before
the commencement of
works
• Leaseholders did not get a notification of who won the
contract
The Council took the necessary steps to undertake the section 20
consultation with residents of Sceptre House. Notices were sent to
leaseholders of Sceptre and Pemell House, which is undergoing minor
works, in the week beginning 20th November 2023. Our Project
Team
notified the TMO Management on 27th November 2023 that notices had
been issued the week prior and outlined the intended consultation
period.
Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, it would now appear that the majority of residents of Sceptre House did not receive the section 20 notices. Residents of Pemell House however did receive them despite having been issued at the same time. We have taken up our concerns with our provider for this service.
The Council was not aware of these issues until late May at which point we took steps to provide residents with the original documentation that was issued in November 2023. Residents were written to with the original documentation attached and the period to provide comments was extended by an additional 30 days.
The section 20 notices issued in November 2023 did include within it estimates and a breakdown of charges along with information on payment options. It is unfortunate that failures at the outset meant residents did not receive the information required in a timely manner.
As the works are being undertaken under a Qualifying long-term agreement (QLTA), in line with Schedule 3, the notice advised residents that they we not invited to nominate a contractor. The Council did however write to residents in February 2024 confirming Mears as the appointed contractor and inviting them to ‘Meet the Contractor’ event which was held on 8th February 2024.
The appointed contractors, Mears, communicated with residents in April of this year advising them that they would be erecting scaffolding. We have also since engaged with residents through our project team and the TMC.
Whilst we do appreciate the frustration this may have caused leaseholders; we do need to continue with the works to the block. As a result, we have applied to the FTT for a dispensation. All leaseholders will be receiving notification of the dispensation in due course.
This experience has offered us an opportunity to learn, and we have worked with our provider to put in place additional mechanism to avoid a similar situation in future. We will also be looking at opportunities for early engagement with leaseholders ahead of the section 20 process to offer greater opportunity to engage and influence the Major Works process.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Patterson
Corporate Director, Housing & Regeneration