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About time too i deal with a firm of rogues called Ross & Liddell or as they are known "Loss & Fiddell". They make charges for work often not carried out, and often it is sub standard with no guarantee offered and you have to pay again to get the original work completed correctly! Any works carried out is done by a select "CLEEK" with no competitive tendering and as you would expect the prices are hiked up (As the contractors know the bill will be shared between 8 Flats and nobody was probably about when the work was done so who knows how much time was involved). A common bully trick is the £15 added for late payment of a bill - this avoids people disputing the payment as they risk paying £15 on top.They specialise in getting owners to take their "In House" overpriced insurance and if they refuse threats of Legal action will ensue despite almost all Title Deeds allowing for an opt out of Factors policies Psychology is often used ie; a qoute will appear for works they wish done and if you fail to reply (as well as the majority of your neighbours) you will then receive a letter stating "Other owners wish this work to be carried out as soon as possible" despite the fact you know yourself and your neighbours have discussed not wanting the un-needed work done! When a bill is disputed no satisfactory explanation or validation is given only a threat of an extra £15 added or court action! These people are leeches whom are self appointed and thrust upon homeowners and live in a world of No-Regulation,they make up stories and rules as they go along good luck Mr Jackson on your attemts to curb these modern day highway men.

I'll second that - one strong reason why you might decide to pay for a factor instead of trying to self-factor is the idea that tradespeople will turn out for a factor (who would be able to put quite a bit of work their way) when they wouldn't bother for a one-off job for a flat owner. Plus the factor's role should include monitoring the standard of the work. But systems for communicating and monitoring the work to be done are noticeably absent - so what's the point? One problem is the mindset that the factor's 'in charge' - as though they were still the landlord's agent with the power over the tenants. But they aren't - we're the owners and they work for us. Perhaps we could organise a factors' customer strike - they can't sue us all. Can they?

I wonder how much these factors get in back-handers for all the work put in the hands of the so called Tradesmen they use? I also wonder how on earth in this day and age of competitive tendering they can have such a restrictive practice of only using a select few companies to do work is there not European Leglislation covering such things? Why don't these Factors allow the people whom employ them (That's you and i) to get quotes from lets say 4/5 reputable companies for work to be done and then the company bills the Factor whom bill the owners,or would this do away with the back handers /commision. Whatever the case these parasites are aof a draconian nature hopefully someone will sort them out!

Would love to be able to get rid of my rip-off factor The GHA, In my block of 8 only two are GHA properties and we are used as a milk cow.One example was cleaning the gutters,we were told scaffolding would need to be erected at a cost of £700,we told GHA we would do it ourselves so we hired a Roofer who cleaned the gutters and checked the roof for £120.The GHA are only interested in their Tenants,owners are only in the way and there to pay for there sponging tenants.

I'm also a resident in a GHA managed block (one of only 2 owner-residents) and have had exactly the same notice about cleaning of gutters. And a HUGE bill for a new entry system I didn't even know was being installed. I'm wondering about the back-hander element as well. Someone has to benefiting from all this.

This comment shows the attitude of gha after people are forced to sell their homes to pay extortionate overpriced bills.quote" Jennifer Russell, managing director of GHA (Management) Ltd, said: "Mr Tate recently met our staff to agree repayment terms to pay his remaining debt for the improvement works. We were happy to arrange a payment scheme which suited his circumstances."[Talk about rubbing salt into the wounds.] The gha sent me a bill for a landing window, even a 2 year old knows that four in a block do not have landing windows. I got gha out to clean the gutter, work carried out consisted of one man with a ladder a bucket and a trowel he took 50 mins, the bill was just under £200.00, also they said he had replaced six tiles which he happened to remove from the roof and replace them without me seeing him do this, even though I was watching him all the time. I have since been on the roof and can see no new tiles.It took visits from three inspectors ,one of which was measuring the building after the work was carried out, when I asked him what he was doing and why?, he said he was measuring the building so that gha could charge accordingly,I then advised him that I had already recieved a bill for the work carried out , he gave me a blank stare and continued to measure the building. That weekend it rained, water from the rear of the house was missing the feeder pipe that leads to the down pipe[drain pipe] IT WAS NOT DOING THIS PRIOR TO GHA WORKERS VISIT , I called them out again, the worker said he could replace the feeder pipe,he did not say that it needed replacing or that it was damaged, SO I TOLD HIM , I CAN SEE THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE PIPE HAS BEEN NUDGED OUT OF POSITION AND ONLY NEEDS TO BE PUT BACK TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION,reluctantly he went up his wee ladder and fixed the problem.A gha inspector arrived later that day and said the problem COULD have been that the person next door has bought her house and something might have came from her part of the gutter and blocked the pipe?[ EVEN THOUGH THE WHOLE GUTTER HAD BEEN CLEANED?] [he thought that he was talking to a tennant, different strokes for different folks ,eh.].Three weeks later the same worker that carried out the gutter cleaning turned up at the rear of the house with his ladder, I asked him what he was doing? , he said that he was here to clean the gutter,I reminded him that he was here 3 weeks ago for that job. All this hassle to get A WEE BIT OF GRASS REMOVED FROM THE GUTTER.I have since found someone else willing to clean the gutter for 50 quid for the whole block. gha should be renamed the home owners extortion association. A freind of mine recently moved into a four in a block as a tennant, after gha put lagging in the loft, one of their guys stood on a water pipe and ruptured it ,the plumber was called ,job done, the three owners were given bills of 50 quid each to pay for damage caused by gha,s own staff. They have also sent the sheriff officers to my door for the second time, even though I am paying off arrears in instalments. G.H.A are out of control. Something has to change in order to put a stop this bullying.