ALMO bungle leaves pensioner without home

Diane Dyer outside the house where she lived for over three decades. Photo: © Josh Loeb

A grandmother whose council home fell into such a state of neglect that she was warned it could collapse has criticised housing authorities for not acting fast enough to stop the rot.

Pensioner Diane Dyer was forced to leave the house in Church Walk, Stoke Newington, where she had lived for 37 years, after Hackney Homes – the arms length management organisation (ALMO) that works in partnership with the Council – failed to carry out repair work.

Plants had become so deeply lodged into the walls of the building that she was warned it was a danger to live in.

In November 2008 Hackney Homes rehoused her in the Victorian Grove estate and told her they would bring her house up to scratch within a year, but squatters subsequently moved in, further delaying repair work.

Hackney Homes now say major work on the property is imminent. Ms Dyer, who is acting chair of the Shakespeare Residents Association, last month criticised the “stupidity and deliberation” of Hackney Homes, which she says has caused the cost of repairs to rise above £250,000.

This in turn has caused further delays as the work is now so expensive that the contract for it must be put out to tender under “best value” legislation.

“I’m nearly 70,” Ms Dyer told the Citizen. “When I wrote to the district housing office I pointed out that our lifespan is three score years and ten according to the Bible, and I would like to die in Church Walk.

“When you live in a place for 37 years it isn’t easy to move. I was moved out of the house because it was unsafe to live in, but it wasn’t my fault the house wasn’t safe to live in, it was their fault.”

Ms Dyer said she had complained to the council and to Hackney Homes about the state of the building for many years. Ten years ago she wrote to the Town Hall’s repairs department: “The rent department has been receiving rent from us ever since the London Borough of Hackney acquired the property and your department has done very little in almost 15 years.”

Records show the building was acquired by Hackney Council in 1982 through a compulsory repurchase order. A document sent from the council to the Department of the Environment in that year states: “The Council seek to acquire the order lands so that they may be cleared and redeveloped for car parking and offstreet loading purposes.”

The squatters were kicked out last month, with the Council paying the associated legal costs.

The house has now been boarded up and is surrounded by supports to stop it from collapsing. A Hackney Homes spokesperson said: “We do not tolerate squatting under any circumstances. We have taken possession of the property, it has been secured and significant major works will commence on the property.”