Residents overcharged at North Walsham retirement home
A signed letter of complaint was sent by some of the residents to Victory Housing Trust: Picture: David Bale - Credit: Archant
A housing association will pay back residents at one of the retirement homes it manages, after they were overcharged.
People living at Masters Court in North Walsham wrote to Victory Housing Trust in complaint.
In the letter signed by 13 residents, they also raised other issues they were unhappy about including a problem with a water butt and the eight days it took to fix the TV system.
In the letter, residents said: 'We have now got together as a complex and decided it's time to complain not only to yourselves, but also to North Norfolk MP, Norman Lamb.
'No one seems to want to listen to the elderly or disabled. Most of the problems have been reported to Victory time and time again by various people. We understand that Victory has certain budgets that must be adhered to, but looking after the current properties and tenants surely should take precedence.'
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A spokesman for the trust said that 'an error in the allocation of charges has led to a very small number of residents slightly over-paying, for which we apologise.
'The overpayment amounts to 95p per week, and affects only six residents. We will be refunding all overpayments, including for previous years, to the one remaining resident, who is not a signatory to the letter. We will also be refunding relevant overpayments for the other five homes to North Norfolk District Council, as the responsible body for paying housing benefit. None of the signatories to the letter are personally out of pocket because of this error.'
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In the letter residents also complained that dogs were banned from the communal room, and criticised the state of furniture and the carpet in the room.
A trust spokesman said the furniture and the carpet would be replaced, and added that the TV problem had been resolved within its agreed service standard for non-emergency repairs of 30 days. The trust is also investigating the water butt problem and said the ban on dogs was introduced following complaints from other residents.
Christine Candlish, the trust's assistant director of housing, said: 'We work hard to ensure all of our properties are well maintained, and when we are made aware of problems or repairs that are needed, we have a set of performance standards which set out the timescale in which those repairs will be carried out.'
