What it's like to be a Red Kite Housing Association tenant

But what is it like to be a tenant of the housing association? 

The High Wycombe-based business has been heavily criticised by some of its tenants this year for either the lack of communication or handling when issues were raised in their respective homes.

These problems focused on unfinished bathrooms that were abandoned for more than a year, residents having no heating during the winter and the accidental discarding of a deceased person’s belongings.

Here we look over some of the people who have spoken to us about their experiences as tenants in 2023. 

January 2023 – No heating for OAPs

Right at the start of this calendar year, an elderly couple were left shivering after their heating stopped working due to the incredibly cold temperatures.

Geoff Wiseman, who was 77 at the time, along with his 80-year-old wife, wrapped in blankets to keep warm within their Laburnum Road rental property in what would be an agonising 20-hour wait for a repair.

An elderly couple were made to wait a whole day for their heating to come back on (Image: Pixabay)

The resident tried to ring Red Kite’s contractor on Sunday, January 22 to try to arrange the emergency repair within four hours – only to be told he would have to wait up to 24 hours despite claiming to have a four-hour emergency contract between Red Kite and the contractor.

The repairs were conducted a day later, but Mr Wiseman was left ‘fuming’ with the treatment.

He said at the time: “We were shaking with cold.

“We are fairly fit and healthy, but others wouldn’t have survived.

“Red Kite has not bothered to get in touch with me.

“Their customer service is atrocious.”

Red Kite responded by stating that Mr Wiseman was ‘unfortunately’ advised incorrectly that the repair was a 24-hour priority instead of the four-hour limit.

They said: “We understand our contractor has spoken to Mr Wiseman and has apologised for the error and made a compensation offer, which he has accepted.

“We do apologise for this mistake and the fact Mr Wiseman was left without heating overnight. We also want to reassure him that lessons will be learnt from this, and the call centre staff have been reminded of Red Kite’s response times.”

Read the original article by clicking here.

May 2023 – Ethical mistake in Loudwater

In the spring of this year, Loudwater resident Vaughn Passey revealed that after his mother, Susan, passed away in January.

The late 81-year-old had been living in a Red Kite house along Fassets Road within the village, with the family having until March 20 to ‘get the house in order’ before handing over the keys.

However, he was shocked to enter the property on March 8 to see that the property was empty, despite not moving any items.

Susan Passey passed away in January this year at the age of 81 (Image: NA)

He later found out that builders employed by Red Kite had visited the property and discarded several drawers and cabinets which contained passports, photo albums, home videos, and other objects which were described as ‘family memories’.

I had a stroke in December [2022] and can’t drive.

“So my daughter drove me to the house at the start of March and to my shock, the builders were in there and all my mum’s stuff had gone.

“I was mortified as we had a lot of things to take away with us which were in the front room and the back shed.”

Red Kite responded to the claims explaining that Mr Passey’s mother’s belongings were thrown away due to a ‘human error’ after the incorrect date was added to the tenant’s record, describing it as a ‘rare occurrence.’

A spokesperson from Red Kite told the Free Press: “We would like to take this opportunity to once again apologise for the fact that some of Mr Passey’s mother’s belongings were incorrectly disposed of.

“We do understand that this has been deeply distressing for him.

“The cause of this mistake was down to a human error with an incorrect date being added to our tenant’s record for when the tenancy was to end.

“This is a rare occurrence, but we fully appreciate that when things like this do go wrong, they have a big impact.”

Read the original article by clicking here.

August 2023 – No bathroom for over a year

During the summer months, an 80-year-old who lives on Hitcherford Road within High Wycombe, revealed to the Free Press the extent of their unfinished bathroom, which had been left abandoned for more than a year.

She contacted Red Kite to try and find a solution and was referred to the Dunstable-based contractors, Gilmartins where a section of the wall was removed.

This was in June 2022 and was not rectified.

After numerous calls to Red Kite and Gilmartins to try and find a resolution, she thought she had a breakthrough when workmen arrived at her property in June this year.

This High Wycombe bathroom was left unfinished for over 12 months (Image: NQ)

However, the repairs were stopped when she was told her bath ‘potentially contained asbestos.’

This later turned out to be false, as the ‘asbestos’ was later revealed to be an old plasterboard.

She said: “It’s been challenging as I have a disabled husband and son, so they have been using the shower room to get ready but it’s quite small.

“As I said before, this has gone on for long enough.

Following the Free Press’ intervention, Red Kite Community Housing apologised for the ‘miscommunication’ between themselves and Gilmartins and made the pending repairs a ‘matter of urgency’.

In an official statement, Red Kite said: “To start, we would like to apologise to Ms Hawes and her family that the issue with her bathroom has taken so long to rectify.

“Unfortunately, a series of miscommunications between us and our contractors have led to failings with the repairs and refurbishment of the bathroom.

“Once again, we apologise and would like to reassure Ms Hawes and our tenants that we will look further at this case to see how we can learn and improve our service.”

Read the original article by clicking here.