MAKING CAMDEN ACCOUNTABLE: You are entitled to a Walkabout (which is Camden housing department's term for amn inspection) of your building with Camden housing staff (generally the On Site Supervisor and the Patch Manager are assigned) every three months according to the Tenants Participation Pact (agreed: 23.04.2003) and your Local Ward Councillor is invited on the Walkabout by Camden. Camden must provide minutes within ten working days of the Walkabout. If you haven't had a walkabout in the last three months, complain to your local councillor. REMEMBER: it is Camden housing staff's responsibility, not the residents, to provide full and accurate minutes of your building. If they miss something you think is important - complain to your District Housing Manager (with a copy to your local councillor). |
Camden Council "Walk-Abouts"
If your fire doors aren't closing properly, if you don't have bannisters for stairs, if you have missing ceiling panels and rats in your building, if you have missing lightshades for your communal lights, it may be a Health & Safety issue (and Camden has an entirely separate department you can go to to complain, if you don't get any joy from the people on the Walkabout).
There is NEVER any reason to have missing light shades in communal areas. This is a Health & Safety issue as it causes problems with depth perception amongst visually disabled people. Contact your Health & Safety department and report the fault.
If there is anything in your building you feel is a Health & Safety issue, which you feel is not being addressed, report it directly to the Health & Safety Department. Anyone can complain; you don't have to be part of the TRA.
There is NEVER any reason to have a continually dirty floor in a communal area of a Council Building. The process of achieving a clean floor is quite simple:
1. The estate cleaners clean the floor thoroughly (removing such things as stains, gum and sticky-back paper).
2. While the floor is still clean, either one or two coats of a sealant is applied which will protect the floor. This means that the floor can be kept clean, simply by mopping with a clean mop and the floor will not mark as easily as it does without any protective sealant.
This must be done 4 times a year in heavy-use communal
areas (and care must be taken to clean all the floor - including the corners
where the machine doesn't go and between doors). Since walking on the floor
before the sealant dries leaves marks, it would be preferable for people
to have some advance notice of when the job will be done, so that they can
avoid walking on the floor at that time.
CLEANINF FLOORS FOR WHICH YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
If you have an area of your landing outside your flat which the Council tells
you is your responsibility, not the caretaker's, to keep clean, it's
very simple to keep your landing safe and clean. The cleaner your area is,
the more obvious it will be on a Walkabout that the areas you say aren't
clean are dirty.
How to clean and seal your own dirty floors
PREPARING FOR A WALK-ABOUT
You should have a maintenance list (a sheet of paper you leave up on your communal notice board, for people to list maintenance concerns. Photocopy this list to hand it to the person in charge of the walkabout It is important that everyone express their maintenance concerns for your building, not just people available during normal working hours..
If you have had previous walkabouts, look through the minutes for all the walkabouts and see what things still need to be done from previous walkabouts.
If you have people who have lived in the building for a long time, or you know people who are professional builders, painters or caretakers themselves, go round the building with them, so that you can get a complete list the things that are wrong. It's always useful to video this so you have a complete record of your buillding..
If your floors or stairs are very very dirty, clean half
of one stair (so the caretaker, site supervisor and Patch worker can see
the difference between the half of a stair which isn't clean, and the half
which is clean. This can be done very simply with a bit of any mild cleaner,
such as Ecover, Barkeeper's Friend or Flash and a soft cloth (don't use anything
that will scratch the surface and don't use bleach or wax). Make sure
you take a photograph (or better still, a video) of the event, for your records,
with the date included.
Avoid separating into groups, and resist the temptation to take the council
staff aside and show them your own problem, away from the group..
Come with as complete a written list as possible of the things you want addressed.
If you forget something, don't worry. There is never any
excuse for incomplete minutes, since they are compiled by Camden housing
staff, who are trained professionals. If you feel the minutes are incomplete,
complain to your local ward councillor (a video or photograph to point out
the things which have not been listed is always useful).
If you've been having consistent problems with the lift in your building,
insist that the Walkabout start on the top floor, and make the Council workers
walk up. Otherwise, the logical place to start a walkabout is at the outside
main entrance (where you can discuss the entryphone, main entrance locks,
steps, etc) or the Main entrance lobby where you can discuss communal floors,
fire alarm, etc.
Caretaker's suggested checklist.
AFTER THE WALKABOUT
Make several copies of the walk-about list, and keep one posted on the Notice
Board. Follow it up six to eight weeks later, with a secondary inspection
to see what has been done. Send a list to your District Housing Manager giving
an update of the progress.
Don't be discouraged if there is no progress - at least the Walkabout list gives you the names of the people or contractors specifically responsible for each task, and you can name them and send in the 'Walkabout' lists, to the District Manager throughout the year, and then negotiate a reduction in Service Charges for the year, if you feel the services have not been appropriate to the rates. Always complain upwards (and keep in mind that the Camden New Journal is also interested, if no one else seems to be taking your complaints seriously).
You might find it useful to schedule TRA general meetings
for the evenings of the Walkabout, so everyone can discuss Maintenance issues,
if they are a problem.
suggested schedule for Walkabouts
DMC bids for your building.
REPEATING EVERYTHING AGAIN
Camden Council "Walk-Abouts"
Walk-About or Waste-of-Time - you decide.
As of April 23 2003, the Tenants Participation Compact guarantees walkabouts (which are simply building inspections with residents and Camden staff) every three months, job descriptions on demand, and your local ward councillor to be invited by Camden automatically. This may change things (although it doesn't if you don't know about it). If you're a registered TRA and you haven't had a walkabout in over three months, tell your local ward councillor.
Circa 2003, Camden Council seemed to regard an official Walk-about as some sort of philosophical exercise, of which the items listed constitute a 'wish-list.' This rather whimsical view isn't shared by the people who live in the buildings. Since we, unlike Camden Council workers, have to book off time to take part in the Walk-about, we are committed to having our Maintenence concerns not just listed in a pretty format, but addressed.
Standard Maintenence is not a competition. If your fire doors aren't closing properly, if you don't have bannisters for stairs, if you have missing ceiling panels and rats in your building, even if you have missing lightshades for your communal lights, it may be a Health & Safety issue (and Camden has an entirely separate department you can go to to complain, if you don't get any joy from the people on the Walkabout).
There is NEVER any reason to have a continually dirty floor in a communal area of a Council Building. The process of achieving a clean floor is quite simple:
1. The caretaker cleans the floor thoroughly (removing such things as stains, gum and sticky-back paper).
2. While the floor is still clean, the caretaker applies either one or two coats of a sealant, which will protect the floor. This means that the floor can be kept clean, simply by mopping with a clean mop and the floor will not mark as easily as it does without any protective sealant.
This must be done 4 times a year in heavy-use communal
areas (and care must be taken to clean all the floor - including the corners
where the machine doesn't go and between doors). Since walking on the floor
before the sealant dries leaves marks, it would be preferable for people
to have some advance notice of when the job will be done, so that they can
avoid walking on the floor at that time.
There is NEVER any reason to have missing light shades
in commmunal areas. This is a Health & sdafety issue as it can effect
depth perception amongst visually disabled people. Contact your Health &
Safety department and report the fault. In fact, if there is anything in
your building you feel is a Health & Safety issue, which you feel
is not being addressed, report it directly to the Health & Safety Department.
anyone can complain, yuou don't have to be part of the TRA.
PREPARING FOR A WALK-ABOUT
If you have people who have lived in the building for
a long time, or people who are builders, or painters, or caretakers themselves,
go round the building with them, so that you can get a complete list the
things that are wrong.
If possible, take a video camera or a camera to record your inspection. IF
the Council Workers object to being filmed, record your own walkabouts without
them. Although you are recording serous problems, you are also archiving
the state of your building for the future.
If your floors or stairs are dirty, clean half of a stair (so the caretaker,
site supervisor and Patch worker can see the difference between the half
of a stair which isn't clean, and the half which is clean. This can be done
very simply with a bit of any cleaner, such as Ecover, Barkeeper's Friend
or Flash and a J-Cloth (don't use anything that will scratch the surface
and don't use bleach). Make sure you take a photograph (or better still,
a video) of the event, for your records, with the date included.
If drty stairs are a continueal problem, convince your building to put in
a bid for a stair-cleaning machine as part of your annual DMC bid. The easier
it is for your caretaker to keep things clean, the easier it will be for
everyone in the building to be satisfied.
circa 2004: Walkabouts are particularly annoying in Chenies Street Chambers
at this time, because the Council workers only look at the things you point
out to them. If you don't know to look in the grooves of the lift doors,
to see if there's dirt and litter (which may prevent the lift doors from
closing), no one will look for you.
Come with as complete a written list as possible of the
things you want fixed, so you don't forget items. Insist that everyone
inspect the whole building systematically, floor by floor, landing by landing
(not forgetting the lift, the roof, the garden and the rubbish bin area).
Let the housing staff tell you what is wrong, not just leave it to you to
point out what you think are problems. You're not trained professionals;
they are. They get paid to do their job.
Caretaker's suggested checklist.
AFTER THE WALKABOUT
Make several copies of the walk-about list, and keep one posted on the Notice
Board. Follow it up six weeks later, with your own inspection and send
a list to your District Housing Manager giving an update of the progress.
Don't be discouraged if there is none - at least the Walkabout list gives
you the names of the people specifically responsible for each task, and you
can name them and send in the 'Walkabout' lists, with the action taken, when
you're invited to submit any reports about Camden Council workers to Best-Value
Committees or the Housing Report Survey (circa 2002, led by Suzie Osborne).
"Walk-About" One: 29.01.2002 10:30 am
"Walk-About" Two: 19.06.2002 10:30 am
"Walk-About Three: 19.11.2002 10:30 am
"Walk-About" Four: 03.04.2003
"Walkabout" Five: 09.09.2004
"Walkabout" Six: (scheduled 11.01.2004)
| CARETAKER DUTIES (job description)
Caretaker's duties according to on-site supervisor, circa 2002:
On a daily basis the caretakers are to rotate refuse bins and sweep the bin area, sweep and wash the lift and main front entrance, check stairs and clear any debris, and check communal lights and change bulbs when necessary. The caretaker cleans the brass on the main front entrance and checks the back yard area and clears it as needed three times a week. The caretaker puts bins into a hoist and moves the bins to the pavement collection area and washes and disinfects the bin area twice a week. The caretaker's weekly tasks are to sweep and wash stairs, dust window ledges and sweep around all outside chute areas. Fortnightly the caretaker polishes the communal doors and monthly the caretaker dusts and wipes the skirting board
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