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Pavilion threaten to evict disabled woman

Keith Parkins | 03.11.2008 18:06 | Repression | Social Struggles

Janice Asker is facing being evicted by Pavilion for the second time in as many months.

Janice Asker is disabled. She is a regular feature seen around what little is left of Farnborough town centre. She, along with the other tenants of Firgrove Court, were forced out of their homes by Pavilion Housing Association, a totally owned subsidiary of First Wessex. Their homes have, along with half of the town centre, been demolished for an unwanted development by St Modwen, known across the country as the Developer from Hell for their destruction of town centres.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401760.html

Board members of Pavilion sat on the planning committee that rubber-stamped the development! They were found guilty by the Standards Board for England of a very serious offence, then let off on the grounds that they had been badly advised by the borough solicitor!

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327535.html

Farnborough town centre has lost most of its retailers and more are planning to leave. It has all the hallmarks of a failing town centre: card shops, charity shops, boarded up shops, yobs hanging around.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396016.html?c=on

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397176.html?c=on

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/397758.html?c=on

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401765.html?c=on

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/402534.html

Things are so bad, that even the card shops and charity shops are now pulling out, as they have already done in nearby Aldershot.

Poetic justice, St Modwen is now facing bankruptcy.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/10/411503.html

As is possibly First Wessex.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396859.html

Janice Asker, along with several other former tenants at Firgrove Court, was forced to relocate to an ugly block of flats, vastly inferior to the homes they were forced to leave. Their homes at Firgrove Court, social housing, demolished for a car park!

Janice Asker has now been served with a Possession Order by Pavilion, claiming she owes Pavilion rent.

Since being forced out of her home at Firgrove Court, Janice Asker has not received a penny in compensation, not been reimbursed for her moving expenses. Far from owing Pavilion money, it is Pavilion that owes her money!

This treatment of their tenants is the norm, and bodes ill for any council tenant who thinks they are better off being privatised.

Peter Sandy, a Pavilion tenant on one of their slum estates in Aldershot, has recently had his home trashed by Pavilion, they called it renovation. They brought down part of wall, destroyed rare and first edition books, ripped down a light fitting and threw it away, killed the family pet bird, damaged white goods, left the house in a filthy state for he and his wife to clear up the mess. The stress of what happened made his wife Doris very ill. Peter Sandy has filed a claim for compensation.

Earlier in the year, Peter Sandy was threatened by Pavilion for daring to criticise them.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396759.html

During the summer, Andrew Lloyd, chief executive Rotten Borough of Rushmoor, visited one of the slum estates in Aldershot, following his crass, ill-informed comment that things were getting better. Tenants asked that he come and see for himself and not talk a load of nonsense. He has done nothing since his visit, not even kept people informed of any progress. He has all the time in the world to meet up with developers and push their unwanted agendas, but no time for tenants on slum estates.

Things must be getting bad on the Pavilion slum estates, as Labour councillors who up until recently were claiming things were improving (they actually weren't) are now circulating the slums estates with a flyer regarding the poor state of the estates. Or are they simply looking ahead to the May 2009 local elections?

In Farnham, the Tory-controlled Waverley council is trying to sell off its council housing. This follows the unsuccessful attempt to sell off the stock when under Lib Dem control. First Wessex are waiting in the wings, hope to snap up a bargain, to add to their growing property empire.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/01/303958.html

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/02/285538.html

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/12/330415.html

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332593.html

Council tenants in Farnham need to take a look at the Pavilion slum estates in Aldershot and ask the Pavilion tenants how they are treated to see what will happen to them and their homes if they are foolish enough to vote yes to privatisation. Tenants on the Pavilion slum estates in Aldershot and Farnborough were once council tenants and regret they day they ever agreed to the sell-off of their homes.

Defend Council Housing are holding a Housing Conference Tuesday 25 November 2008 at University College London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY.

http://www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk/

web

http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/

http://www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk/

background

Keith Parkins, Pavilion – the new slum landlords, Indymedia UK, 9 April 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396006.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Pavilion asbestos scandal, Indymedia UK, 14 April 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396456.html

Keith Parkins, Pavilion gets greedy, Indymedia UK, 15 April 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396672.html?c=on

Pavilion threaten critics, Indymedia UK, 16 April 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396759.html

Keith Parkins, Pavilion facing bankruptcy?, Indymedia UK, 17 April 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396859.html

Keith Parkins, Housing association police state, Indymedia UK, 16 June 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401291.html?c=on

Keith Parkins, Firgrove Court demolition to begin soon, Indymedia UK, 23 June 2008

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/401760.html

Keith Parkins
Homepage: http://www.heureka.clara.net/surrey-hants/

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

NSP?

03.11.2008 18:48

"Janice Asker has now been served with a Possession Order by Pavilion, claiming she owes Pavilion rent."

Presumably you mean Notice of Seeking Possession? A possession order has to be ordered by a court. The tenant should be able to make a counterclaim in the proceedings.

grebus

housing assocations

03.11.2008 21:55

with regards to RSL ,HOUSING ASSOCATIONS,
clwyd alyn north wales,
i lived in a damp flat please look at utube

http://uk.youtube.com/user/caiapark.
and to add insult to injury when i moved from the flat to a house 2006. becuase the flat was unliveable.
rent statements from that peroid said NO RENT ARREARS, then on friday 31 october stating i owe £65.06 in fact it was a joint tenancy?
2 years on.
i say go and get stuffed.
keep council housing and not RSL housing assocations

Davey

Nice1 Keith, shame local newspapers havent picked this up properly

03.11.2008 22:57

Pavillion & St Mowdem should be made into a consumer-worker cooperative. In nottingham of the loads of council & housing association properties Ive seen NCHAs & others are often smaller but in better condition than the councils. I know this isnt the same everywhere, capitalism gambles with everything.

Green syndicalist

Possesion Order and local press

04.11.2008 15:57

Comments are correct.

In the Private Sector, Landlord has to serve a Notice to Quit, and furthermore this has to be in the correct format, else not legally correct and a Court will not grant possession.

Once served, tenant can stay put.

Landlord then has to go to Court and obtain a Possession Order, which the tenant can and should challenge.

Once Landlord has Possession Order, has once again to go back to Court for an application for bailiffs to carry the actual eviction.

Without speaking to Jan Asker, I do not know how far this has progressed. Also procedures may differ for social housing.

An example of a local slum landlord in action, eviction of a disabled tenant with serious mental problems.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/09/408172.html

Tenant has not been seen since eviction. He is rumoured to be in Winchester Prison.

Local Council turns a blind eye to activities of local Rachman landlords.

The local Council has held at least two forums for landlords on changes to housing legislation, but none for tenants!

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332115.html

https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/10/353666.html

Local press is useless and never covers these issues, or on the rare occasions when it does, is always scooped by Indymedia UK.

Keith

Grebus is right

04.11.2008 16:52

Janice Asker urgently needs accurate legal advice and by the sound of things is probably eligible for legal aid. Point is to get the RIGHT solicitor.

Publicity here is fine, but legal advice is what she needs

Stroppyoldgit

legal advice

04.11.2008 17:14

Correct!

Jan needs to get a good lawyer.

This I will ensure she does next time I see her.

Keith

Rachman is alive and well in the 21st century.

05.11.2008 11:04

The reality is that the bodies that were housing associations and the former council housing now owned by housing "trusts", are now in the ownership of what are, in effect, businesses run for profit and not in the interests of tenants. These are dressed up to appear as if they are run as social housing but they exist to make money and pay lip service to tenants' needs.

An example is Wulvern Housing, they took over the former housing stock of Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. Their chief executive tells people they they provide housing "for the underclass" and this demonstrates the attitude generally. The housing is run down and repairs are left undone. Maintenance work is left for long periods and the housing stock is poor quality as a result.

Flats in Nantwich were riddled with asbestos and a health hazard. Wulvern kept it quiet and one tenant found out by accident. They then didn't want to act, the little they did do was illegal as asbestos was removed without proper measures in place to protect health of people there. The local Environmental Health Officer, one Alastair Bain, did his best to thwart attempts to get Wulvern to act correctly with regard to this. The tenant who went to the press to draw attention to this was then subjected to harassment.

In the UK today, there is no such thing as social housing. All former housing associations and the so called "trusts" are run for profit and by people who are not fit to be involved in housing. We need to put in place a structure of housing cooperatives and make sure that there is a legal right to a home. Housing rights have been eroded more and more since Thatcher. Neo Labour has done nothing to remedy this.

Rosa

update

06.11.2008 17:16

Pavilion is a very good example of the failure of social housing.

They are in all but name, private landlords, but accountable to no one.

They should be brought under control of their tenants.

Janice Asker has been threatened with eviction, but it has progressed no further.

She has been advised to get a good lawyer, fight the viction, and counter sue for the money she is owed.

Keith

UK Indymedia

Pavilion threaten to evict disabled woman

Comments

NSP?

housing assocations

Nice1 Keith, shame local newspapers havent picked this up properly

Possesion Order and local press

Grebus is right

legal advice

Rachman is alive and well in the 21st century.

update

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