Woodberry Down dispute/blight

[leaseholder3]

I am not sure where exactly this thread should go, so I am trying it here. I wonder if people know what is going on at Woodberry Down Estate in Hackney. There we go:
- Woodberry Down is one of the biggest estates in London. It has approximately 330 leaseholders.
- Some 8 years ago there was some talk about the demolition of the estate and problems started.
- The council has decided to go ahead with the demolition in phases. Blocks of flats belonging to phase 1 have already been demolished. Some leaseholders faced a big battle to get a decent price for their flats on that phase.
- We are not sure when the other phases will begin and as such we, the leaseholders, are in limbo.
- Banks and Building Societies are not lending money for possible mortgages and therefore the flats cannot be sold. Even with letters from lenders stating that they will not approve any mortgages for this estate, the council refuses to accept that there is a blight. Many leaseholders would therefore accept having their flats bought by the council now, but the council (or Hackney Homes) say that this is not an option. Service charges are extremely high in some of the blocks, mainly due to heating being generated by an outdated boiler, but the boiler will not be changed because of the demolition (which would make sense if the demolition was to happen soon, but as mentioned before, the actual dates are rather vague- a vicious circle). The service charges for a typical 2 bedroom flat in some blocks is around £2,700 per year (present estimate for 2008-2009).
- You can imagine how unfair it is with the present credit crunch situation, not being able to even remortgage your flat with another lender when your mortgage deal comes to an end.
- Apparently one particular leaseholder had proceedings of repossession started against him.

Any ideas about what we can do? HELP !!!

[jeffrey]

Leaseholders should:
a. organise collectively;
b. set-up a 'fighting fund'; and
c. instruct aggressive litigation solicitors to wrestle with Council.

[anoymousfor3months]

from experience i entirely agree with the advice given above.
and especially the bit about an aggressive legal representative.
A legal representative who just goes through the motions with letters that are easy for the council to ignore, although possibly cheaper than a more senior experienced advocate. Would i believe be false economy, do not let fees of over £200.00 per hour or maybe say £280-£320 per hour put you off.

Thats why you need to act collectively to reduce your individual cost burdens share the cost amongst yourselves. Reduce the risk of the local council increasing your costs by delays until such time as you are forced to throw in the tail financially.

I know of an estate that raised the extra £7,000 needed for a specialist barrister to appear for the final day of a court case. By collecting 50 pence from everybody over a long period and the barrister assisted by using the same delaying and adjournment tactics as Hackney to give the tenants the time needed to raise his fees.

it was worth it eventually because hackney lost and were ordered to repair the block that had been neglected and constantly had works cancelled for thirty years.

[jeffrey]

from experience i entirely agree with the advice given above.
and especially the bit about an aggressive legal representative.
A legal representative who just goes through the motions with letters that are easy for the council to ignore, although possibly cheaper than a more senior experienced advocate. Would i believe be false economy, do not let fees of over £200.00 per hour or maybe say £280-£320 per hour put you off.

Thats why you need to act collectively to reduce your individual cost burdens share the cost amongst yourselves. Reduce the risk of the local council increasing your costs by delays until such time as you are forced to throw in the tail financially.

I know of an estate that raised the extra £7,000 needed for a specialist barrister to appear for the final day of a court case. By collecting 50 pence from everybody over a long period and the barrister assisted by using the same delaying and adjournment tactics as Hackney to give the tenants the time needed to raise his fees.

it was worth it eventually because hackney lost and were ordered to repair the block that had been neglected and constantly had works cancelled for thirty years.
Was your post specific to Woodberry Down (as the earlier posts were > 3 months ago) or general advice only?

[anoymousfor3months]

Based upon my own experience... the other case i mentioned was also one involving the same landlord as Woodberry down estate.
This landlord is known to be notorious at replying to correspondences with junk designed to wear the mailer down over a long time span.

Hope that clarifies my posting