One Huge and Shonky Elephant in the Room.

I went to a meeting last week.  Our landlords (Seaside Homes) were there, as was one member of Council’s Temporary Accommodation Team.  The subject of Mears (inevitably) came up.

 And the crowd went wild.

It was admitted that our place was the poster-child for Mears inadequacy, blunders and SNAFUs. However, the stories from people living in other buildings administered to by Mears, once again proved that it’s not just our happy band who have had enough – so have other Council tenants across Brighton and Hove. ( Recent research has also shown that  dissatisfaction with Mears, in fact, is rife across other parts of the UK where they operate.)

The question of the length of Mears contract with Council was raised by a choleric and indignant tenant of another building.  That’s one huge elephant in the room whenever discussion throws up the word “Mears”: -  It’s a ten year contract.  TEN YEARS!

 I’ll admit that my direct involvement in the construction field dates back to my teen years.  It was a common occupation at my father’s company, in Australia, to put in contract bids.  A ten=year, unopposed contract was, then, unheard of.

  Considering the prevalence of Council buildings in Brighton and Hove a Council contract is one of the juiciest plums of all. The kind of contract that most companies bid fiercely for.  One doesn’t even need an Economics 101 course to understand that such competition assists the economic health of any town or city.  It helps to keep costs reasonable, encourages good practice, and generates vigilance in regard to failure to meet the terms of the contract. Everyone is scrabbling for that Council prize. It keeps them on their toes.

But a contract for an entire decade?  Once again, one doesn’t need specialist knowledge to see how the longevity of such a contract lends itself perfectly to abuse. With no other company yapping at one’s heels there’s  very little incentive to provide good service or best practices; build client relationships; act with courtesy; keep abreast of  current trends; or even, it would seem, to act in line with current legislation.

 In fact, there is no need either for any contact between Mears and us. “Us” referring to anyone of us Benefits Street occupants. Anywhere in the country. We have no Voice. No representation. No place within societal constructs.  It’s easy  to feign deafness as far as we are concerned.  We have no power. The fact that  we are sentient beings with voting power would be of no importance: that 10 year contract is not affected by changes in Governance – on either a national nor local level.

To date the scandal of the way Mears has treated what was a million pound investment – the Victorian Villa which was converted into sixteen different apartments in which we live – has been completely disregarded or responded to, by Mears.  From time to time a Lower Management flunky appears, takes copious notes, tries to pass off any blame, and is never heard from again. It appears that news of what has happened here has never reached Middle Management, let alone anyone who is in a position to undertake an investigation, put the building to rights, or to ensure that the kinds of corner-cutting and fiddling about which we are complaining, does not continue.

With another five years of continual, lucrative contractual obligation to go, it would seem that those who are perpetrating abuses of the system have comforted themselves with the idea that, in five years time they will either have moved on, or the hundreds of dissatisfied tenants in Brighton and Hove will have forgotten all about it.  And hey,  this magnificent building may have crumbled to dust or been condemned by then.

But that of course would be no surprise to anyone.  After all, everyone knows that those who live on Benefits St., Brighton are a uniformly shifty lot.  And that yeah, you can take the tenant out of the ghetto – but you’ll never take the ghetto out of the tenant.

 “Told you so” Mears will exclaim…and yet another article about the anti-social behavior of Council tenants will provide a bonding experience for all the good people of the land over their morning cuppa.