Hyde Housing are awful

[leenewham]

Been waiting over a year to have a problem sorted with our neighbours fence. Hyde seem to have gone out of their way to do nothing.

In the end we fixed it ourselves and Hyde agreed to pay for the repair.

Guess what? 6 months later Hyde haven't paid.

Do other people have an issue with Hyde Housing?

[Kirkdalian]

No experience of them, but can you take them to small claims court? Most companies pay up pretty quick once they get a summons - the price of a fence won't be worth the hassle.

[leenewham]

Over a year and a half later this still hasn't been resolved! The fence was broken in December 2013! Hopefully, after my last call today with someone who seemed interested (for a change) in sorting this out, it may be resolved.

[coll]

@Leennewham:

I think I know the very same fence.
We have had a recurring problem with one of their tenants. Massive anti-social issues, damaging property, burning plastic and other rubbish in their garden, questionable practices around their children (boarding on what appears to be neglect and abuse), aggressively verbally assaulting residents on the street. The list goes on.

Hyde have done nothing about it. They use to respond to complaints saying they would look into it. But, they have even stopped that. They seem to be a pretty shoddy operation full-stop!

[Eagle]

Coll

Very sad

Tenants like you mention do not deserve this housing , no doubt their rent being paid by us anyway.
Why cannot they be evicted at once.

Re Fence . Should have been replaced immediately . Sound more like Jekyll than Hyde.

[leenewham]

My problem isn't with the tenants. My neighbours are really nice. The fence was damaged in a storm in 2013.

Just want to make that clear.

[Ruby]

My work place is owned by Hyde housing and they are horrendously slow. It took months and months for them to fit 2 bathrooms and that was when the contractors were on site. They kept ordering the wrong parts and things that did not fit. Finally it was done (last year) and we have just found out that the wrong types of showers were fitted, there is a leak ( now awaiting a surveyor to look at this) and one of the showers does not drain properly.
Any other work that needs doing is also painfully slow and other contractors are usually needed to rectify the mistakes of the previous contractors.

[bensonby]

Why have you waited so long to take them to court? It's a relatively straightforward process to file a small claims court claim.

[leenewham]

It's not up to me to take them to court, it's up to them to pay.

[somerandombloke]

It's not up to me to take them to court, it's up to them to pay.

Dosnt sound like a policy that been successful so far.

[bensonby]

It's not up to me to take them to court, it's up to them to pay.

Er, isn't that what small claims courts are for? Forcing people to pay for things that they otherwise fail to pay for?

The process is pretty straightforward and you can do it yourself. See here: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

[leenewham]

I've threatened to do this.

I've called and called, they promise to pay, then say they have, then ask for more information. They are now saying they will definitely pay. They have until the end of the month as a deadline to pay what they agreed to pay. If they don't then I will be going through the small claims courts.

Thanks for posting the link Bensonby.

It is the responsibility of people to pay their bills. Not the responsibility of those who need paying to constantly chase being paid. I know you aren't advocating the latter Bensonby and SRB.

Since posting about this on Hydes Facebook page, I've been contacted by a number of people who have had pretty bad experiences of Hyde. It seems to be the norm rather than the exception.

Does no-one regulate these companies? Should there be Ofstead/Ofcom type inspections for Housing Associations?

[somerandombloke]

Does no-one regulate these companies? Should there be Ofstead/Ofcom type inspections for Housing Associations?

Is that not the National Housing Federation?

[leenewham]

Dunno.

[somerandombloke]

Why not contact them and find out?

[mosy]

leenewham, I notice you say "called and called". It would be as well to get things on the record especially if considering court, if you haven't already. At least send a formal confirmation of your "ultimatum" which could also include the essential history if that's not already on record by letter or email. Could send a further "reminder" after 7 days to make sure it's still the top of their action in-box.

Just a thought: I think there's a way of finding out if a person or company has any existing or outstanding county court judgements against them already. I'm sorry I don't know how exactly, although it ought to be easy to find out via the court. If there are any, I'd probably think they might be the sort that's unlikely to pay unless court ordered.

Edit: Oops! corrected spelling of Lee's name.

[somerandombloke]

Try https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... -ombudsman too

[Tim Lund]

Housing Associations are regulated by the Homes and Communities Agency, but this is not a matter for them - as Bensonby says, it's for the Small Claims Court

[alywin]

Hyde have a bit on their website where you can report antisocial behaviour, etc., BTW - I just don't know whether they do anything about it. We've been having some correspondence with them about another property which is historically one of theirs, and people working on it say it's one of theirs, but Hyde say it isn't. Your guess is as good as mine as to who's right!

[Tim Lund]

Unless it has been sold recently, a Land Registry search, costing £3, should establish who owns any property

https://land-registry-online.com/titleform.php?id=1