£211 to change a lightbulb!
FAMILIES were shocked to see residents were being charge £138 to change lightbulbs by Birmingham City Council because they are being charged even more!
Residents' groups in south Birmingham were shocked to see that leaseholders in the north of the city were "only" charged £138, as revealed in the Mail, because they have to stump up a staggering £211.60.
The Mail revealed that angry leaseholders in Park Wood Court, Sutton Coldfield, have been charged £138 for the one-minute job by Morrisons, the council contractor for north Birmingham. Those charges drop to just £21.32 if there is an emergency call-out at night. Council bosses who own the freehold of buildings where 4,500 leaseholders live across the city, said they were launching an investigation into that "anomaly".
But south Birmingham residents say they are even worse off because the south and west of Birmingham is suffering from a different "anomaly" from a different contractor, Mitie.
Some are so angry about their higher lightbulb levy that they are now withholding the disputed repair portion of their annual bill and others are threatening action with Leaseholders Valuation Tribunals.
Rita Chatfield, chairwoman of the Marsland Close Residents Association, off Hagley Road, Edgbaston, said the whole system needs to be reviewed.
The grandmother, who used to work for the city council until she retired in 2000, said: "It's outrageous and we are fighting it. There are ten leaseholders and four tenants here, and each time a bulb is changed during the daytime it costs £192.37, which is £13.74 for each of us.
"To add insult to injury, a further ten per cent administration charge is added to the overall bill, which means the real cost of changing a light bulb during normal working hours is £211.60, a cost of £15.11 each.
"We have been trying to sort this out for months because we are in an even worse position than the people in the north."
The 70-year-old mother-of-three and grandmother-of-two has lived in the block since 1962 and has been a leaseholder since 1982.
She added: "We have a breakdown of the costs and the actual Mitie job sheets and there is hardly any information on some of the sheets. There are a few scribbles about bulb changes, which apparently take 30 minutes and 45 minutes for two men to do two bulb changes.
"They even charged us £150 to change the lights timer, which is a switch, which sets when the lights come on and off."
Another city householder from Bartley Green said her bills had rocketed including one of £192.72 for having a small amount shaved off the bottom of a gate.
Margaret Shenton has lived on Monmouth Road for 33 years and was stunned when the day to day repair bill topped £374.
The 58-year-old retired grandmother, who used to work at a bank, said: "It is absolutely horrendous and I think we are being ripped-off left, right and centre."
Coun John Lines, cabinet member for housing said: "It would appear that there may be an anomaly and I will be asking officers to investigate to ensure there is a more consistent approach.
"We encourage and welcome leaseholders to work with us to continually review the service provided by our contractors."
Coun John Cotton (Oscott, Labour) who has just chaired a review into Leasehold Services for the council's overview and scrutiny committee, said: "This is one of the issues that kept coming up during our review.
"We reported to full council last week and we recommended a review of the 'set bucket prices' for certain jobs that are in place in these complicated contracts."
