Resident questionnaire

[nelsontenant]

I have just received a questionnaire through in my letterbox from mantilla. it starts by telling me that they place great emphasis on resident satisfaction and regularly seek feedback. but that is not the impression one gets from mantillas actions.

i know people who have complained that access to the swimming pool and gym via the basement is something they would welcome the return of. but have mantilla listened to that and moved to achieve resident satisfaction? no.

other people have expressed concerns about the heavy door leading from rodney house to the shopping arcade. have mantilla done anything to rectify that? no.

many of us oldies would like to enjoy a swim from time to time without the need to take out expensive membership. have mantilla listened to that? no

i will fill in the questionnaire but i do not have high hopes of any notice being taken.

[nick]

I have not yet seen the questionnaire you refer to, however some thoughts immediately pop into my mind:

1. When did the previous management EVER circulate questionnaires, or indeed, listen to their “non-Trustee” tenants or open up a dialogue concerning the square’s management? From what I recall, the first time they ever attempted this was at the first Nurembourg’esque rally at the QE2 Conference Centre, which was solely dedicated to “rallying the tenants” and maintaining status and employment for the pre-existing management. All questions from the floor regarding day-to-day issues were, if I recall correctly, dismissed.

2. Give Mantilla a break: They have only just finished investing millions in turning what many considered a grubby Peabody with torn carpets into the “luxury block of flats” that the head-lease had always obliged the incumbent management to run the Property as. From what I recall, this has not cost any of the tenants a single penny and many of the “oldies” still pay Peabody rents!

3. Yes, many of us slightly miss multiple entrances into the gym – but is it really the end of the world? I would rather have one secure, monitored entrance than multiple unsecured ones - and before anybody suggests otherwise, the entryphone on the old basement corridor entrance to the pool was left permanently unlocked for many years.

4. Do you mean the “door leading into” the luxurious, permanently and professionally manned lobby of Rodney House, that we can all be proud to invite our friends and guests into? I’d rather a slightly heavy door into this, then a light door into the shabby ground floor of the formerly illegally operated hotel that Rodney House used to comprise.

[ds1]

I have to say, not being part of the 'old guard' i can't hark back to the 'good old days', but I am with Nick on this one - the investment pumped in to the place without further cost to tenants has got to be a good thing.

[billg]

"Without further costs to tenants" isn't quite true - as I've only been here a couple of years my rent was hiked by more than 20% last time round, as has that of many tenants who've been here only a year or two.

[nick]

May 1, 2008 13:07:13 GMT billg said:

"Without further costs to tenants" isn't quite true - as I've only been here a couple of years my rent was hiked by more than 20% last time round, as has that of many tenants who've been here only a year or two.

Many apologies for this mis-statement on my part. I should have said "without additional cost to those tenants who had, prior to the change of ownership, had to put up with the tawdry old conditions and now found themselves living in a far more luxurious building".

As an aside, I suspect that your rental increase resulted more from market conditions, than they did the cost of improvements: Immediately following their purchase of the Property, Westbrook found themselves with a c.50% empty block of flats in poor condition. They had to offer incentive rents that were discounted to the local market, to attract as many new tenants as possible, as quickly as possible.
Once the Property had been more fully let, they could increase asking rents for vacant flats and renewal rents for flats whose leases were expiring, in line with the local market.
The longer-standing tenants were insulated from these market increases, by their "Option B" leases, which contained fixed rental increments, calculated off far lower starting rents. That has not prevented many of them from complaining about everything else under the sun, however!

[1748coll]

Having received a questionnaire, I am struck by a curious thought.....recently I have, like all other tenants, received MANY missives from the new GM, Mr Pratt......WHY does Mr Pratt call us 'residents'? We have always been referred to by the Management as 'tenants'......

I am, and always have been, a 'tenant'. I have a Tenancy Agreement, not a Residential Agreement.

Can anyone/he clarify why he calls us 'residents'? Will the DSTA have to change their name?

[Brendan Martin]

When I first met with Simon Pratt he told me he didn't like the word "tenants". Nor was he much warmer to the word "residents". His preferred choice was "customers". The problem with that word is that it could come back to bite him. We tenants could always use the phrase "the customer is always right".

I think Simon's reluctance to use the word tenants may be Mantilla-wide. It doesn't go with the Mantilla Dream. It smacks too much of a council estate. But then we were once referred to as London's most exclusive council estate!

The DSTA represents tenants so won't be changing its name.