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Dear Public and to those who read this.
I live in an area where Sanctuary Housing are contracted to carry out communal upkeep, maintenance of the land and so on. I paid this for the first year, I did not really see much done in terms of this maintenance and upkeep. On quite a few occasions I had to mow communal areas of grass and apply weed killer. Litter built up for quite a long time and so on.
Moving forward, I started to see them slightly more but it appears they do the bare basics. Grass again isnt mowed on a frequent basis, weed killer is no longer put down. Certain paths around the winter are extremely slippery. The playground isnt maintenaned neither. I do see some of their staff from time to time, but they seem to be parked up having chats between themselves most the time.
I called them to discuss this and was told I would get a call back. This was on two occasions. I received no call back and gave up. My neighbours felt the same way.
I then stopped paying the charge(s). I had a few letters and even had somebody from Sanctuary knocking on the door leaving a personal note( a year later). No such follow ups. I wasnt in at the time.
Only recently I received correspondence relating to Sanctuary writing to my mortgage provider to ask them to put the payments on top of my mortgage. I called my mortgage provider and told them categorically not to do this whatsoever as the matter is in dispute. They told me if I receive correspondence from mortgage provider I need to call within 30 days to explain its under dispute and inform Sanctuary - which I did.
As soon as I done this, Sanctuary wrote me a "letter before claim" to say they would send me to Court. I replied to explain I want to know (a) their exact remit in terms of upkeep and maintenance so on (b) they dont appear to attend on a regular basis, with nothing in Autumn and Winter and sparsely in Spring and Summer and (c) the work they have done, does not appear to be of a reasonable standard but a rush job. (d) amongst others
I asked for all disclosure of their documents and evidence(s) why they believe I owe the money and evidence why they believe I owe this money.
It has been over 2 months and they still have not provided this.
So far they just keep sending me legal letters with "FINAL WARNING" on it, so far theyve asked me to contact my local Sanctuary group - even though they say theyre going to carry out legal action? The responses from them just remain the same again and again.
I have explained my position to them, and explained I will now ignore them unless they comply with CPR. They still keep sending me daft letters.
For anybody in the same situation, it seems Sanctuary Housing are paid a serious amount of money to maintain and upkeep areas. In my area it works out to be £200k per year which is around £15k per month. I run a business and given £15k per month I could arrange for a much better job that these people.
For anybody in the same situation, where theyre doing half a job and attempting to keep as much of the money to themselves as follows please:
1. Contact your mortgage provider to explain the matter is in dispute. This will take several phone calls to explain you DO NOT want it added to your mortage whatsoever.
2. If they write you legal letters and so on, reply asking for all their evidences and disclosures why they feel you owe money. They yet have failed to show me for the course of 3 years (a) what work theyve carried out (b) the intervals of carrying out that work (c) the standard of work that has been carried out (d) Can they account for their staff and where they were and doing what during a period of time (e) has reasonable care been carried out eg - Staff not sitting in vans talking between each other - as I have seen in my area.
3. If they fail to provide you any of this and take you to Court anyway - you would explain to a Judge that had they disclosed evidence or proofs why you owe them money of A-E as mentioned, you could have quite easily negotiated a settlement agreement to avoid Court and negotiated how much work they do, when and how.
4. If they take you to Court anyway - you can show them evidence with the use of photos as well as statements from your neighbours that they barely do anything.
5. If they take you to Court anyway - the onus is on them to prove they carried out the Stewardship with reasonable care and skill - in line with the £15k budget they have per month. I believe they are highly unlikely to be able to do that. I run a business in a similar line of work.
The point of this forum post is because, companies need to stop taking our money for jobs they are paid to do, then do half jobs and attempt to pull wool over our eyes about the work theyve done and then threaten us with Court Action that they dont even follow through on without having a clue about the legal process.
Many thanks.
Disgruntled with Sanctuary.
I live in an area where Sanctuary Housing are contracted to carry out communal upkeep, maintenance of the land and so on. I paid this for the first year, I did not really see much done in terms of this maintenance and upkeep. On quite a few occasions I had to mow communal areas of grass and apply weed killer. Litter built up for quite a long time and so on.
Moving forward, I started to see them slightly more but it appears they do the bare basics. Grass again isnt mowed on a frequent basis, weed killer is no longer put down. Certain paths around the winter are extremely slippery. The playground isnt maintenaned neither. I do see some of their staff from time to time, but they seem to be parked up having chats between themselves most the time.
I called them to discuss this and was told I would get a call back. This was on two occasions. I received no call back and gave up. My neighbours felt the same way.
I then stopped paying the charge(s). I had a few letters and even had somebody from Sanctuary knocking on the door leaving a personal note( a year later). No such follow ups. I wasnt in at the time.
Only recently I received correspondence relating to Sanctuary writing to my mortgage provider to ask them to put the payments on top of my mortgage. I called my mortgage provider and told them categorically not to do this whatsoever as the matter is in dispute. They told me if I receive correspondence from mortgage provider I need to call within 30 days to explain its under dispute and inform Sanctuary - which I did.
As soon as I done this, Sanctuary wrote me a "letter before claim" to say they would send me to Court. I replied to explain I want to know (a) their exact remit in terms of upkeep and maintenance so on (b) they dont appear to attend on a regular basis, with nothing in Autumn and Winter and sparsely in Spring and Summer and (c) the work they have done, does not appear to be of a reasonable standard but a rush job. (d) amongst others
I asked for all disclosure of their documents and evidence(s) why they believe I owe the money and evidence why they believe I owe this money.
It has been over 2 months and they still have not provided this.
So far they just keep sending me legal letters with "FINAL WARNING" on it, so far theyve asked me to contact my local Sanctuary group - even though they say theyre going to carry out legal action? The responses from them just remain the same again and again.
I have explained my position to them, and explained I will now ignore them unless they comply with CPR. They still keep sending me daft letters.
For anybody in the same situation, it seems Sanctuary Housing are paid a serious amount of money to maintain and upkeep areas. In my area it works out to be £200k per year which is around £15k per month. I run a business and given £15k per month I could arrange for a much better job that these people.
For anybody in the same situation, where theyre doing half a job and attempting to keep as much of the money to themselves as follows please:
1. Contact your mortgage provider to explain the matter is in dispute. This will take several phone calls to explain you DO NOT want it added to your mortage whatsoever.
2. If they write you legal letters and so on, reply asking for all their evidences and disclosures why they feel you owe money. They yet have failed to show me for the course of 3 years (a) what work theyve carried out (b) the intervals of carrying out that work (c) the standard of work that has been carried out (d) Can they account for their staff and where they were and doing what during a period of time (e) has reasonable care been carried out eg - Staff not sitting in vans talking between each other - as I have seen in my area.
3. If they fail to provide you any of this and take you to Court anyway - you would explain to a Judge that had they disclosed evidence or proofs why you owe them money of A-E as mentioned, you could have quite easily negotiated a settlement agreement to avoid Court and negotiated how much work they do, when and how.
4. If they take you to Court anyway - you can show them evidence with the use of photos as well as statements from your neighbours that they barely do anything.
5. If they take you to Court anyway - the onus is on them to prove they carried out the Stewardship with reasonable care and skill - in line with the £15k budget they have per month. I believe they are highly unlikely to be able to do that. I run a business in a similar line of work.
The point of this forum post is because, companies need to stop taking our money for jobs they are paid to do, then do half jobs and attempt to pull wool over our eyes about the work theyve done and then threaten us with Court Action that they dont even follow through on without having a clue about the legal process.
Many thanks.
Disgruntled with Sanctuary.
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