Category Archives: tenants rights

Goodbye to PETRA

Posted on September 18, 2015 by odeboyz

After seventeen years of developing and nurturing PETRA – our Tenant Management Organisation I set up all those years ago with Jan (my wife) and four others who jumped ship about seven years ago, I feel it is now time … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, housing, local politics, tenants rights | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Real World

Posted on March 19, 2015 by odeboyz

On the estate where we live, there are petty crooks, drug addicts, alcoholics, perverts and general low life, all mixed in with angels, professional people, artists, musicians, and sweet older people who like us, despair at the way our world … Continue reading →

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The Hated Bedroom Tax

Posted on March 6, 2015 by odeboyz

An anecdotal story. Some people will know that more than a decade ago we set up our own TMO (Tenant Management Organisation) in order to manage three council owned tower blocks of 146 two bedroom flats, in the Hornchurch area … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, Economics, Politics, tenants rights | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The £50 Adventure: Chapter 4

Posted on January 9, 2015 by odeboyz

We finally ‘went live’ in April 2003, but we were still negotiating the MMA (Modular Management Agreement) and it would be a further 2 years later before this was finally signed off. I thought we were continuing to cope with … Continue reading →

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The £50 Adventure: Chapter 3

Posted on December 19, 2014 by odeboyz

Training was going on apace and the committee were beginning to understand their roles and how to work together as a team. We knew it wouldn’t be long before we were ready to start appointing staff. We looked at where … Continue reading →

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£50 Adventure: part 2

Posted on December 5, 2014 by odeboyz

The following year, despite receiving £25,171 in grants from the Government as well as £9,698 from the council, our section 16 agent fleeced us of £20,433 in administration fees. Our newly formed committee of 15 residents thought this was daylight robbery. The … Continue reading →

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A Hackney Estate Before Its Time.

Posted on August 8, 2014 by odeboyz

In 1975 I had already worked for Hackney Council for 12 years first as a plumber then as the foreman plumber. Based in the depths of Shoreditch down Bowling Green Walk off of Pitfield Street. One lunch time I got … Continue reading →

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Stay as They Are

Posted on July 25, 2014 by odeboyz

Knowing the day could be calamitous or at least memorable, Jan and I joined the tube at Elm Park Station last Wednesday morning to wend our way across Londons metropolis from the East to North West – Maida Vale station. … Continue reading →

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Our Village

Posted on July 11, 2014 by odeboyz

It’s a metaphor because in many ways our council estate of 146 dwellings (in three tower blocks) can be seen in much the same way as a large hamlet of old somewhere in rural Yorkshire or any other place in … Continue reading →

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Harold Hill history.

Posted on January 17, 2014 by odeboyz

True stories to my granddaughter Kay. Hi Kay, as with most things, the most tenuous threads of fate pull together in forming both a personal as well as an interactive history of me with others and others with me.  So … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, History, Politics, tenants rights | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments