Tenant gagging orders denied by Labour (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Tenant gagging orders denied by Labour

July 10, 2010 10:14 PM

Cllr Terry Stacy

Islington Labour councillors have been accused of turning a blind eye to tenants being forced to sign gagging orders about shoddy repairs work.

Liberal Democrats asked the Executive Member for Housing at the last council meeting whether he was aware of the actions of council contractor, United House and he denied all knowledge. However, evidence shown to Liberal Democrat councillors since the meeting has exposed this answer as a sham.

United House has been forcing all tenants living in street properties to sign settlements which mean they will only pay tenants for poor work on the condition that they agree not to reveal the terms and amount.

Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson councillor Terry Stacy said:

"It is very worrying that Labour councillors don't seem to know what is going on in their own housing department.

"It is a scandal that tenants are being forced to stay quiet before they get any compensation. It's bad enough that the works were not done properly in the first place. But to then be banned from even talking about them smacks of something to hide to hide.

"The Labour administration needs to get a grip on its contractors, make sure United House does the work properly in the first place and stops gagging Islington tenants."