Hazel Dunn

Review of Milnbank Housing Association

These people are utterly, utterly atrocious as fla...

These people are utterly, utterly atrocious as flat owners. To my great regret they own a flat opposite me, and have caused nothing but untold amounts of stress, misery and debt to everyone in my close.

Initially, the source of the stress was from an incredibly dangerous and violent tenant that they knowingly housed in our close. Every member of the building had to call the police on separate occasions, and for months all anybody could hear was screaming, domestic abuse and loud hardstyle music up until 4 in the morning. Since the tenant himself proved too aggressive to be reasoned with, fellow members of the close tried for months to work with Community Safety Glasgow, Police Scotland and Milnbank themselves, and pretty much everyone had given up by the time this tenant actually left. I would also not be surprised if the reason he left had nothing to do with fellow tenants. One member of the building broke down in Milnbank's offices over the problem, only to be met with a stoney response. Another strongly considered selling their flat to escape it.

In addition to this, we have a Building Committee that meets to discuss issues regarding the building. We invite representatives from Milnbank every time, and not a single one has ever shown up. They are so disorganised that during one particularly important meeting, after e-mailing and phoning them repeatedly to ensure attendance, and after being promised attendance, they not only were the only people who failed to show up, but also failed to send apologies.

The reason I am now writing this review is that for what is now the THIRD time, our front door's locking mechanism has been broken. Every single time this has happened it has been on a Friday night - which, as anyone who lives in Haghill knows, is a less than ideal time to have your door broken. We have had numerous close break-ins because of this, which are always extremely distressing. The first time this happened, it was broken by their own tenant, and the second two have been caused by an endless stream of careless contractors who use the mechanism (instead of the handle) to open the door and let it slam behind them. Every single time, it has been me to not only organise repair, but pay for it out of my own pocket. They never reimbursed me the first time, and the second time they sent a joiner (wrong trade), who said simply that it couldn't be fixed (it could - we had to arrange and pay for a secure door expert separately.) The third time, after having to let a contractor out myself due to the fact that he had obviously bust the lock and couldn't work it, I phoned up their emergency helpline absolutely livid that I am having to go through this all again - and was told simply not to be rude (how can I not be at this stage?!), that I "couldn't prove it", and that they weren't willing even to phone the factor on our behalf or help out financially, as a sign of good will.

This will now be the third weekend since moving in that I have to cancel my weekend plans, spend hours on the phone to my factor and pay yet again to get the door fixed. Short of installing CCTV in the close, I have no idea how to stop this.

In short - Milnbank have proven themselves to be disorganised, flippant and completely unhelpful as fellow landlords.