Service Charges - Latest

If you happened to be out in the Willow Way and Cuckfield Road area of Hurstpierpoint on Monday 9th June you may have been surprised to see a small posse of people walking around the village looking at various areas and generally actin a bit strangely. The reason for this was that Downland Housing have tried to impose a new service charge on certain residents. The HTRA intervened, saying that the Housing Association hadn't the right without consultation with the residents. The end result of this discussion has been that the HTRA has agreed to find grant funding to replace these areas with low maintenance, and better looking finishes. We have now agreed in principal for the work to be done, but Downland intend to write to every tenant and seek their agreement for the work. The Association are insisting that rather than us complete the majority of the work with volunteers we must use contractors, because of health & safety regulations.

This is disappointing - the HTRA carries both product and public liability insurance, and would have increased this insurance to cover the work being done. This is an argument that we are still having, but Downland should be writing to all of you to gain your agreement on the work to be done.

Many of you on the Willow Way estate have been paying agreed amounts of service charge for years, they are only small amounts but if you think about how many of you are paying and how much you are getting in return it doesn't seem a good return. Added to this the fact that those people that have purchased their houses under right to buy, or even those who have bought on the open market on the estate pay nothing, you pay for them. The HTRA will be very interested in your comments on this, and if enough of you give us a mandate to do something we will make an effort on your behalf.