Islington Leaseholder is the official website of the Islington Leaseholder Action Group (ILAG).
It is a site primarily designed to supply key information and news to the 11,300 public sector leaseholders in the borough whose landlord is the London Borough of Islington.
This site will save you money – possibly running into £1,000s of pounds.
Idle boast?
Well, read our exclusive news on a recent Lands Tribunal decision, the action we undertook to have charges for security works capped in Bunhill and Clerkenwell, or the case we have mounted to stop the electricity supplier EDF charging for electrical “risers” and “laterals” when carrying out refurbisment.
But ILAG aims to be more, much more, than that. This site is designed to be the vehicle for a political lobbying campaign to change the legislation as it affects public sector leaseholders.
Leaseholders have become aware over the past few years that they are relatively powerless in the face of major works charges levied by Homes for Islington.
HFI is seen to be operating in the most appalling, immoral way. Fuelled by our money as taxpayers it has pumped that same money into HFI for complete refurbishment of its estate under the Decent Homes Standard. We are being forced to pay for work which we do not want, is badly executed and if often vastly overpriced.
Political lobbying to change the legislation and empower the leaseholder has become, therefore, essential.
ILAG has already made a start here. We lobbied our MP Emily Thornberry to get the issue reviewed by government. She has done that – to no avail. We presented a case in July of this year to the then shadow housing minister of the Conservative Party.
You will note that if the Prime Minister Gordon Brown hadn’t called off the election in early October then the Conservative Party had as a manifesto commitment an intention to cap major works for all public sector leaseholders at £10,000.
That is not a bad start.
Ilag contact: mikepaulread (AT) tiscali (DOT) co (DOT) uk
Telephone: 0207 609 3289
Written by Alan Ball
