All Residents of Ekarro Housing Co-op
Dear Residents
1 Rent Arrears Day
Due to the increasing rent arrears within the Co-op, the Management Committee has asked that the staff and I concentrate on managing and recovering the arrears within the Co-op. Therefore, it has been decided that we will have an office closure day on Thursdays to concentrate solely on rent arrears work. Thus, since:
August 2015 the office will be closed for a rent arrears working day and every thursday thereafter. We have been trialing this but will now make it official. The staff, will however respond to emergencies on that day.
If you are currently in arrears, please will you contact us so we can start to discuss how to resolve your arrears issue. Also, can you start making regular weekly or monthly payment so the arrears do not continue to increase. Additionally, below are some advice agencies that will be able to give you advice and assistance.
www.lambethlawcentre.org/housing
Please treat this matter seriously as the Co-op have taken members to court to obtain suspended possession orders and has completed an eviction due to wilful non-payment of rent.
Resident can book appointments to be seen on Tuesday mornings for any non arrears issue
2 Fire Risk Assessments
During July we had a visit from a Fire Risk Assessor as part of the health and safety requirement for the organisation. One of the actions that we are legally required to undertake is to clear all of the communal hallways. These areas are the evacuation routes in an event of a fire. Thus, all items which are a fire hazard or a trip hazard including: bikes, push chairs games, cabinets have to be removed .There is only one area in Ekarro house which we are allowed to store bikes and we are looking to maximise the storage for this area. Therefore, to start this process a bike survey has to be undertaken.
3 Bike Survey
A bike survey was carried out 17th August to 18th September 2015. A tag will be placed on each bike for residents to confirm ownership. Therefore can you put your name and address on the tag. Unidentified bikes will have to removed. This is a legal requirement under the fire regulations and health and safety that these communal areas be kept clear of all items. The Management Committee and I would appreciate your cooperation and support in this matter. Further information will be sent on this matter.
4 Washing Machine and dryer
We have recently been in contact with the contractors who service our washing machine and dryer to arrange for a coin machine to be installed on to the washing and drying machine. The benefits of this change will be: it will remove the problem of residents having to come to the office to obtain tokens and will be especially helpful over the weekend period. It will also reduce interruptions for staff to find keys and tokens and improve on the issues of data protection.
A new coin machine was installed on Friday 28th August 2015. Therefore, as of Friday 28th August 2015 the machines will take either a £1 coin for the washing machine or £0.50 coin for the dryers.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the office. I trust you will support and cooperate with these changes.
I hope you find this Ekarro newsletter helpful and informative.