Regarding your article in the Eastbourne Herald of September 26 regarding the 'teacher hit with huge homes bill' – we are also in a dispute with Eastbourne Homes regarding an amount of £13,500 (from a final bill of £215,000 on 16 flats).
They want us to pay for work to our two-bedroom flat, but the amount they are demanding cannot be justified on a flat of this value.
Originally we were told it would be about £7,000 and 'to organise our finances accordingly', and now the estimate ha
s nearly doubled. We are already paying management fees, which have also increased considerably over the last three years since Eastbourne Homes Ltd have taken over the supervision.
We think some of the work is unnecessary, for instance putting up 'guard rails' round the roof. A higher proportion of the work should be paid for by the council as it has already been given an advance of more than £7.5 million by the government to pay for the Decent Homes programme.
We think their calculations are incorrect, as when we had similar work done by the council to a flat we used to own in Hampden Park we were only charged about £2,500 on a final bill of over £600,000 on 24 flats. When we received a reply from Eastbourne Homes to our letter they declined to give us any clear answers to why some of this work was necessary, and claimed they could not comment on historical matters.
This is obviously a big issue, especially in this current economic climate and will now put leaseholders in a very difficult situation.
How will leaseholders (first time buyers in negative equity, pensioners and people on a low income) be able to find the extra money to pay back a loan of this value?
J and V Downes, Kerry Court, Westerham Road, Eastbourne
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