Scammers are cold-calling council tenants, claiming to be carrying out a survey and offering to take “no win, no fee” legal action over housing repairs.
Tenant reps spoke out about the problem at a series of meetings over the past few weeks, saying that the scammers are posing as council employees, complete with convincing badges.
Similar stories were told by tenant reps from Craven Vale, Hangleton and Knoll and Kemp Town at Brighton and Hove City Council housing management panel meetings.
The cold-callers have been trawling council estates asking whether people need repairs and then offering to take the council to court – and some have done so.
The council said: “Please use our complaints process before considering legal action. We’re committed to providing safe, high-quality homes.
“We know our repairs service doesn’t always meet expectations and improving it is a top priority.”
The council has set up a web page alerting people to claims companies which start legal action against the council over repairs – during which time the repair will not be carried out.
The council said that housing staff and contractors did not make cold calls but visited by appointment.
Labour councillor Paul Nann spoke out about the problem at a housing management panel meeting for tenants and leaseholders in Hove and Portslade yesterday (Wednesday 17 September).
Councillor Nann, who represents Wish ward, said that on the Ingram estate and in Hangleton a company had been representing itself as a charity.
He said: “There needs to be an update on the kind of tricks they’re using to gain people’s trust. I find this particularly worrying because they are a charity and do charitable works.
“But they have a subsidiary that does this disrepair stuff. They’re using a charity name to get people’s attention, then bait and switch.”
Hangleton and Knoll rep Patricia Weller said that tenants had contacted her after receiving telephone calls from people saying they were from the council and asking whether they had problems with repairs.
She said: “I have advised them to ignore it because how do they know in the first place that these people have had a problem with the council, getting work done. Or are they just fishing?”
Councillor Nann said that the company targeting Wish ward and Hangleton and Knoll residents was fishing for business.
The council’s interim head of repairs Mikila Beck said that the process was similar to people receiving calls asking if they had been in an accident but now the bait was housing-related.
Lee Catt, who co-chairs the council’s central area panel and represents Craven Vale tenants, told a meeting on Tuesday (16 September) that a new resident had been approached by someone claiming to be from the council just two days earlier.
Mr Catt said: “They were approached by a person who said they were a council representative with a badge and a uniform.
“She checked the ID and it had the council’s logo. The problem is people are not going to know the department.”
He said that it was unlikely that a council worker of this type would be working on a Sunday.
Emma Salcombe, who represents tenants in Essex Place, in Kemp Town, said that a team from a “no win, no fee” company had been fishing for potential claims.
They had been asking people if they needed repairs and were wearing imitation badges which were “removed rather quickly”.
She asked about giving senior and disabled residents a password for when council workers called.
Ms Beck said that residents in any doubt should call the council’s repairs helpdesk to check someone’s credentials.
She said: “If you’re a council member of staff and a tenant is concerned and wants to contact the council to check that they are representing the council, that’s fine. We encourage that.”
Council tenants were urged to complain directly to the council if they were not satisfied with the repair service rather than go through a long and expensive legal process with a private company.
The council web page on the subject urged caution when “no win no fee” companies called or knocked on the door. It gave examples of cases that had not worked out well.
