A housing association has apologised to householders on a modern estate plagued by issues such as collapsing ceilings, broken doors and mouse infestations.
One couple said they were forced to abandon their flat, above their building’s boiler room, for two years because the noise and heat were so unbearable.
Other residents complained of busted lifts, leaky roofs and failing fire alarm systems.
Residents said A2Dominion was so unresponsive that its buildings on the Stanmore Place development have been blackballed from residents’ association meetings, as it was deemed a waste of time even raising their issues.
The Harrow Times visited the estate last week to meet homeowners, who decided to go public after two corridor ceilings collapsed within weeks of one another this summer – one just moments after a father had passed through with his young children.
“My daughter saw the ceiling collapse,” he said. “We were literally, I would say, 15 or 20 seconds away from being under it when it fell down.”
The ceilings, in the Bletchley Court block, fell down in late July and early August, but still had not been repaired when we visited last week.
A2Dominion claimed it had since fixed one and the other was “a top priority”.
“We would like to apologise to all our residents affected and let them know we take all their concerns seriously,” said Dawn Wightman, director of homes and communities.
“Horrible”
A resident in nearby Brindley Court, who did not want to be named, said the building had repeatedly become mouse-infested.
“It’s so horrible, to hear mice in the middle of the night,” she said. “I got the pest people in but was told by the pest people that this is a communal problem.”
Yet when she contacted A2Dominion, she said, it told her that mouse infestations were the homeowners’ individual problems.
“So you go around in circles with them,” she said. “It’s a very stressful experience… It’s very frustrating.
“We are not being dealt with fairly. The service charge was doubled in April. The cost doubles and you get half the service.
“The communication is the worst thing… You call them and they give you a job number and say someone will come out, and then you hear nothing.”
A2Dominion did not specifically respond to these allegations when we put them to the company.
“Crap”
All residents who spoke to the Times complained about the difficulty in getting hold of A2Dominion and getting them to act when problems arise.
If something breaks at the weekend, said Bletchley Court resident Ricky Tanna : “They don’t do anything until 10 o’clock on Monday, and even then it’s like getting through to Fort Knox.”
His upstairs neighbour Annie Mills said she had had a leak in her flat for two years, which a contractor had told her was due to a fault with the roof – but her efforts to get A2Dominion to act had been unsuccessful.
She said she recently called A2Dominion over another problem and was told she was in a queue, but if she pressed a button she could hang up and somebody would ring back within five hours.
She did that. Nobody ever rang back.
Annie moved onto the estate in September 2012, when it was brand new.
“They have always been crap,” she said. “The lift has never, ever been right.”
When the Times visited, the lift would not let users go to the ground floor unless they travelled to the first floor first.
“Money for old rope”
The security doors in Bletchley Court have not worked properly for years, residents claimed.
They no longer swing closed and lock on their own. The residents know to pull them closed, but delivery people don’t.
“It’s a security risk,” said Mark Amies. “We have mentioned it time and time again. It’s just deferred and deferred.”
If there is a burglary, he said, the insurance company will ask whether the building was secure – and the truth will be that it was not, which could affect residents’ ability to claim.
“They do everything they possibly can to defer things and avoid things and it’s incredibly frustrating and annoying,” he said.
“I think it’s appalling that they have such a poor attitude towards people who are paying them so much money. It’s shocking. It’s money for old rope.”
A2Dominion said it had now instructed its access control contractors to conduct a full review of all the front doors across the block.
“People are scared”
When the Times visited Bletchley Court, the fire alarm panel in the building entrance was flashing up that there was a fault.
Resident Baseer, who did not want his surname published, thought it had been like that for more than a year.
“They don’t listen and they don’t care,” he said.
The council has put up individual smoke alarms in the meantime, he said, but those will only alert those nearest a fire, whereas the currently broken system would have alerted everybody.
“Our fire panel doesn’t work, our lift doesn’t work and our front door doesn’t work. If something happens, we are screwed,” said Ricky Tanna.
“People are scared. It’s like, what’s going to get us first? We are just playing countdown to something.”
“We’re fully aware of the fault with the fire alarm panel but we’d like to reassure residents that the building is safe and a temporary solution has been installed to the fire alarm to mitigate any risk,” said Ms Wightman.
“We’ve notified the freeholders agent and we’re working with them to find a long-term solution.”
Boiler Room
One couple – Volodymyr and Sharon Krasnytsya – said they had to be moved out and live in hotels and rental flats for two years with their disabled son because major repairs were needed to their flat.
They said they weren’t told when they bought their flat that it was above the boiler room.
When they moved in, they discovered the noise and heat were unbearable.
“Our floor kept getting really hot because it wasn’t insulated properly,” said Volodymr.
Even now the repairs have been done, he said, “We worry. The floor still gets hot. It’s like we have underfloor heating 24 hours a day, every day, even in the summer.”
In the summer, the couple said, the temperature in their flat is constantly at 29 or 30 degrees. They have had to buy air conditioning.
They believe there is an issue with the boiler room.
Multiple residents said that the heating and hot water cuts out fairly regularly, sometimes for weeks at a time.
A2Dominion response
“The safety of our residents is our number one priority and we will continue to work closely with the management agent who is also responsible for the scheme to ensure any outstanding issues are resolved,” said Ms Wightman.
“We know more needs to be done to address area where we have fallen short of the highest standards that we set ourselves, especially when lifts are out of operation and when repairs are delayed.
“That’s why we have introduced a new framework across the business to improve the way we deliver our services to customers, including new improvement plans for complaints and repairs.
“Our colleagues will work with the affected residents to address any unresolved issues and we’d like to reassure them that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure all our residents live in homes that are safe and have access to services they can rely on.”
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