HOUSE PURCHASE DEPARTMENT:
THE ASSISTED HOUSE PURCHASE SCHEME
(continued)
Defaulting Mortgagors on the Pype Hayes Estate.
The Conference were informed that the Town Clerk and General Manager had discussed
the procedure to be carried out to comply with the decisions of the Joint Conference relating to defaulting Mortgagors on the Pype
Hayes Estate and particulars thereof were submitted, together with a draft letter which it was proposed to send to certain Mortgagors.
Sir
Percival Bower stated that, if a communication was to be sent by the Bank, it would be desirable for certificates to accompany the
letter:
(a) certifying that the house has been examined by the Public Works and Town Planning Committee and was in good structural
condition; and
(b) embodying the guarantee already given by the Public Works and Town Planning Committee.
The Conference were
of opinion that this course of action was unnecessary having regard to the procedure already laid down by them whereby the City Surveyor
is to give an assurance to the Bank that such houses are in good condition and also to the guarantee given by the Public Works and
Town Planning Committee. To meet the Bank's difficulty, however, it was decided that the letters in question to Mortgagors in default
on the Pype Hayes Estate should be signed and despatched by the Town Clerk on notification from the Bank that the procedure laid down
by the Conference has been complied with. The form of letter was approved and the particulars relating to the procedure were agreed
as follows:
1. In cases where proceedings have been decided upon in respect of defaulting Mortgagors on the Pype Hayes Estate, the General Manager of the Bank to furnish the City Surveyor with a list of the houses in question.
2. The City Surveyor to survey each of these houses and rectify any defects in accordance with the report of the Public Works & Town Planning Committee approved by the City Council on 6th December last.
3. As and when each house is considered by the City Surveyor to be in good and proper order, the City Surveyor to notify the Bank Committee to this effect.
4. The Town Clerk thereupon to communicate this information
to the Purchaser, together with an intimation of the undertaking given by the Public Works and Town Planning Committee over a period
of ten years, and to give notice of the intention of the Corporation to take proceedings unless arrears are paid.
Stockfield
Estate.
A similar procedure to the above, with any necessary modifications, was approved with regard to defaulting Mortgagors on the
Stockfield Estate.
A further Conference was soon called, and this included an interview with representatives of the Pype Hayes
Protest Committee.
____________________________
MINUTES OF 3rd CONFERENCE CONVENED BY THE LORD MAYOR OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE BANK, ESTATES, FINANCE AND PUBLIC WORKS AND TOWN PLANNING COMMITTEES, HELD ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH 1928, AT THE COUNCIL HOUSE,
BIRMINGHAM.
PRESENT:
The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor (Ald A H James, CBE, JP) In the Chair
Ald Sir Percival Bower, MBE, JP, Councillor
Cooper & Mr J P Hilton (General Manager) Representing the Bank Committee
Alderman T O Williams & Mr J R Johnson (City Treasurer)
- Representing the Finance Committee
Councillor Godrich & Roberts and Mr Wallace Smith (General Manager) Representing the Estates
Committee
Aldermen Talbot & Gregory and Mr H H Humphries (City Surveyor) - Representing the Public Works and Town Planning Committee
The
Town Clerk
The Minutes of the Conference held on January 5th, 1928 were confirmed and signed.
The Lord Mayor explained that
the Conference had been called for the following reasons as set out in the memorandum of the Town Clerk circulated to the Members
of the Conference, and to interview a deputation from the Pype Hayes Protest Committee:
In consequence of the statement made
by Mr Councillor Simmons at the recent Council Meeting to the effect that neither the Committee representing the owner-occupiers on
the Pype Hayes Estate, nor indeed the owner-occupiers themselves, had been able to secure an interview with any representative Committee
of the Corporation to whom their difficulties could be explained, the Lord Mayor invited the Chairmen of the four Committees represented
at the Conference to meet him in his Parlour on Friday, the 10th instant, to discuss the desirability of a deputation from those interested
in the Pype Hayes Estate being received.
During the discussion, it transpired that a similar request had been made by Mr Fletcher,
the Organising Secretary of the Pype Hayes Committee to Sir Percival Bower as Chairman of the Bank Committee, that this request had
been referred to the Bank Committee and that the latter had replied to the effect that no useful purpose would be served by any such
deputation being received by them as the matter was in the hands of this Conference and the letters sent by the Town Clerk, requiring
defaulters to pay the instalments of principal and interest owing to the Bank up-to-date within 14 days or failing that, proceedings
for recovery of possession would be taken, were sent by their direction.
The Lord Mayor added that he himself had received that
morning the following letter from Mr Fletcher:
18 Welland Gove,
Pype Hayes.
9. 2. 28.
Dear Sir,
Pype Hayes Housing Protest.
In connection with the above we have been informed that very shortly
we shall receive certain offers from the Estates Department, of the nature of which you are doubtless aware.
Prior to this advice being received the Protest Committee had instructed me to ask you to consider the convening of a meeting between representatives of the Public Works Committee, the Estates Committee, the Bank Committee and owner-occupiers on this estate (such meeting to take place under your chairmanship) for the purpose of discussing means to settle the dispute regarding the houses covered by the protest.
Despite
the fact that we consider the offers mentioned will be accepted, we believe that a meeting of the parties named would still serve
a very useful purpose, inasmuch as there will doubtless be certain points to be cleared after a general agreement has been reached.
Being
now convinced of the good intentions of the Corporation towards us, we have every confidence in asking that you will call such a meeting,
at which we sincerely trust a final and amicable settlement may be made.
Yours faithfully,
On behalf of the P.H. Protest Committee,
(Signed)
F Fletcher,
Secretary.
The Lord Mayor was informed that this letter had evidently been prompted by the result of an interview
which Mr Fletcher and two others on behalf of the owner occupiers had had with the City Surveyor on the 8th instant.
The meeting
was of opinion that it would be better to let the period of 14 days specified in the Town Clerk's letters run its course, and on its
expiry and failing payment of arrears, that proceedings for recovery should be taken in one or two special cases in which no question
of financial ability to pay was involved.
With regard to the reception of a deputation, the meeting considered that it would
not be politic on the part of the Corporation to refuse absolutely to receive one. It was, therefore, decided that a further meeting
of the Joint Conference representing the four Committees concerned should be convened for 11am on Tuesday the 14th instant, and that
Mr Fletcher should be invited by the Lord Mayor to have a deputation not exceeding five in number in attendance at the Council House
at 12 noon on that day, for the purpose of being interviewed.
The Town Clerk was instructed to prepare a statement explaining
the attitude taken up by the Corporation in this matter, and which should be communicated to the deputation.
After reference
had been made to an interview which the City Surveyor had had with representatives of the Pype Hayes Committee, Mr Alderman Talbot
intimated that Mr Boswell, the Contractor for the houses at Pype Hayes, had definitely undertaken (at an interview with him that morning)
to buy the whole of the eighty-three houses mentioned in the Memorial if called upon to do so, without loss to the owner-occupiers.
The
Conference proceeded to consider the proposed statement to be made to the deputation, and eventually it was decided unanimously that
it should be submitted in the following form:
1. The Corporation have every desire and intention of dealing fairly with the owner-occupiers
on this estate.
2. They must remember that the owner-occupiers of their own freewill entered into arrangements with the Corporation
to purchase their houses and that the Bank Committee had advanced moneys to them by way of mortgage to enable them to do so.
3.
That the Bank Committee stood in the position of Trustees towards the depositors in the Bank out of whose moneys the mortgage amounts
had been advanced, and it is their duty to see that repayment is made of the amounts borrowed by the instalments of principal and
interest agreed upon in the respective Mortgage Deeds, as between the owner-occupiers and the Corporation.
Many of the owner-occupiers
have failed for some considerable time to make any payments whatever to the Bank, and the Committee have no alternative but to pursue
their legal remedies to recover the possession of the houses with a view to sale in order to recover their losses, unless the arrears
due are paid up in full within the time stated in the Town Clerk's letters which have been issued.
4. With regard to certain
defective houses on the estate, the Corporation have offered to put these houses into good condition and moreover, to give a 10 years'
guarantee to make good during that period all structural defects which might arise and be due to the experimental nature of the construction
of the houses, and if the owner-occupiers had been agreeable to this course, the work would have been done before the Town Clerk's
letters threatening proceedings were sent.
5. The position at present, however, is that, with one exception, all owner-occupiers
have refused to allow these works of repair to be carried out, and Mr Fletcher, in his letter to the Town Clerk of the 30th January,
stated "that the Corporation's terms were refused point blank" and "that the owner-occupiers had definitely decided not to complete
the purchase of such houses."
It was moreover suggested in the letter that tenancies should be granted to all the owner-occupiers
mentioned in the memorial which had been previously submitted to the Estates Committee.
6. Regarding the suggestion of the granting
of tenancies to the owner-occupiers on this estate just referred to, it has been laid down very definitely on previous occasions,
and I need not do more than emphasise it once again, that the Corporation will not, under any circumstances, contemplate such a proposal,
and it will serve no purpose to discuss this aspect of the case now.
7. Despite the fact that the Bank Committee are within their
rights in pursuing their legal remedies for the repayments of moneys owing to them by the owner-occupiers and that the period of grace
allowed under the Town Clerk's letters is now running against the owner-occupiers, the Corporation are desirous - as indeed, they
always have been - of endeavouring to arrive at a satisfactory solution of the position without recourse to legal proceedings. It
may be stated that Mr Boswell has offered to purchase any houses on this estate which have been sold and which have been found to
be defective.
8. In order to ascertain the number and situation of the houses which can be sold to Mr Boswell, the Corporation
must know therefore whether the owner-occupiers (and if so which of them) are prepared to agree to one or other of the following alternatives,
viz:
1. To remain in occupation of his house as owner-occupier, subject to the payment of arrears now due to the Bank Committee under the terms of the Mortgage Deed, but conditional upon the house being put into good condition, as certified by the City Surveyor, and with the benefit of the 10 years' guarantee against structural defects given by the Corporation.
2. To sell his house to
Mr Boswell on terms without loss to himself subject to the payment of all instalment arrears of principal and interest due to the
Bank, giving vacant possession on completion of the sale and on the understanding that new accommodation is to be found by the owner-occupier
himself.
3. To sell his house to Mr Boswell on terms without loss to himself subject to the payment of all instalment arrears
of principal and interest due to the Bank, giving vacant possession on completion of the sale, but conditional upon his being offered
a new house by the Corporation as purchasers, and on the understanding that if so desired the Bank Committee will grant a mortgage
for the amount outstanding on the original mortgage after payment of the instalment arrears to date.
Furthermore if either of
the two latter alterations is accepted, the Corporation will be prepared to remove the owner-occupiers' furniture without cost to
himself to any place within the City, and in addition, to execute as near as may be similar works of decoration and garden improvement
at the new house, if within the City, as may have been carried out at the owner-occupiers' expense at his present house on the estate.
9.
A definite reply must be forthcoming from each owner-occupier, or on his behalf, as to whether or not any of the foregoing alternatives
(and if so which) is accepted within 7 days from to-day.
In the meantime, the period allowed to each owner-occupier for the adjustment
of his account with the Bank, as stated in the Town Clerk's letters, will continue to run against each owner-occupier, but the institution
of any legal proceedings that may become necessary will be withheld until the expiry of this period of seven days if this date is
the latter.
10. In conclusion, I want the deputation to realise that the Bank Committee, and through them the Corporation, cannot
possibly allow the continuance of the present state of affairs under which a great number of the owner-occupiers have been living
in these houses practically rent free, and the repayment of the moneys lent by the Bank in respect of such houses must, for the reasons
I have already given, be enforced.
I trust, therefore, that those gentlemen present to-day representing the owner-occupiers will
do their utmost to make the owner-occupiers realise that the Corporation are in earnest in this matter and that unless a definite
and satisfactory answer is forthcoming from each of the owner-occupiers affected to the proposals now made, they alone will be responsible
for any inconvenience or hardship that may occur by reason of the enforcement of the Corporation's legal remedies.
The Deputation
which consisted of the following persons, then appeared before the Conference, being introduced by Mr Councillor Simmons - Mrs Wallace
and Messrs Dean, Fletcher, Tonks, Copestake and Pitt.
Mr Dean on behalf of the deputation made a statement to the following effect:
The
Deputation were glad to have the opportunity of putting forward their views, as this was the first chance they had had of stating
their grievances verbally to the Corporation, and if they had been permitted to do so before, much publicity might have been avoided.
He also desired to make clear that no political interests were concerned, as in fact their case had been enquired into by representatives
of different political parties, who were all satisfied that there had been good ground for complaint, although certain of these gentlemen
were of opinion that the offers made by the Corporation should have been accepted, but (he added) no offers had been received by the
owner-occupiers until the notification contained in letters from the Town Clerk.
He stated that the majority of the owner-occupiers
were forced by circumstances to buy Corporation houses in the first place. The grievances of the owner-occupiers with regard to the
houses which had been sold to them were as follows:
1. That the houses purchased were not as represented in the booklet circulated
by the Corporation and were not "concrete" in the true sense of the word.
2. The purchasers had not been informed at the time
of the purchase that the houses in question were in any way of an experimental character.
3. The inspection of the houses
on completion by the officials concerned had been very superficial, and furthermore, no proper examination had been made by the Bank's
Valuer into the condition of the properties before advances were sanctioned.
4. When defects appeared in the properties, repairs
were executed in a very unsatisfactory and negligent manner, apart from great inconvenience caused to the wives and families of the
owner-occupiers, as some houses had been repaired as many as six times and were still in the same unsatisfactory condition; also the
repairs in some cases had been executed without the consent of the owner-occupiers and with disregard to their conveniences. Although
defects had been admitted by the Inspectors and not been put right, communications had been written to the effect that the houses
were in good condition. An instance was given of property No 1036, Tyburn Road, where it was stated that although large numbers of
tie rods and bonds had been used, the walls of the property were still in the most defective condition.
5. In several instances
repairs which had proved unsatisfactory had been carried out by the Contractor and superficial repairs had also been effected without
the sanction of the City Surveyor, and even in some instances without his knowledge.
6. The Protest Committee denied that the
chimneys had been swept, and the Clerk of Works had stated that in certain cases the fireplaces would have to be taken out and built
up with brick, but no action had been taken in regard thereto.
7. Many of the defects did not appear until twelve months after
taking over the house, and it was considered that there was no case of a house of this form of construction which did not show signs
of defect at the present time, that is, the outer walls becoming "concave", etc, and it was unquestionable that the principal portion
of the building works had not been efficiently supervised.
8. With reference to the Municipal Bank, it was a mistaken impression
that the owner-occupiers on the Pype Hayes Estate were people who had entered into a contract to buy and then obtained possession
of the house with the idea of letting the contract slide or not carrying out their obligations. The owner-occupiers had been keen
and anxious to make the houses worth living in and had gone to considerable expense with this object, and they were exceedingly disappointed
when the trouble arose, as they had had implicit trust in the Corporation and they still hoped that this trust was well placed. However,
as they could not get a fair hearing and have their case properly investigated, in their opinion the only means to focus attention
on their claims was to stop payment to the Bank, although it might seem a drastic and foolhardy action to take, as they realised that
as a result the Corporation would have to carefully consider this question; and 73 of the owner-occupiers were absolutely determined
to risk any action the Corporation might take to enable the matter to receive proper attention.
In their opinion they had not
been treated fairly by the Bank, as they considered that in view of the fact that a valuation fee had been paid, they were entitled
to a proper valuation of the property and to an assurance that the property was of a character to warrant the advance being granted,
but it was not considered that the values of the houses in question were anything like the prices paid for them.
The owner-occupiers would like to be released from their contract and desired tenancy to be given. They denied that any offers in respect of their houses had been put before them apart from the letters from the Town Clerk, although they had heard that offers had been made, and they thought that they should have full opportunity of considering such offers before the Bank took action. They would also like to know if the offers of which they had heard were official, and if so, the substance of such offers.
The Lord Mayor proceeded to make the statement which the Conference had previously agreed upon.