Irvine Times | News | YOU SHOULD ALL BE GRATEFULL

Wednesday, 7th January, 2009

Published: Wednesday, 26th March, 2008 12:00

YOU SHOULD ALL BE GRATEFULL

By Kevin Dyson

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RESIDENTS of Sheltered Housing Units should have been grateful to have had wardens in their units as the job could have been done over the phone.

That was the message which appears to have been given to elderly residents by North Ayrshire Council.

NAC Legal Services Manager Andrew Fraser made the claim that the warden service - which will offiicially end next week - could have legally been made over the phone.

He made the claim in reply to one complaint be a resident over the legal implications of the council tenant's handbook.

Referring to the hours currently worked by wardens he said: "The handbook contains nothing which requires the warden to be present in a sheltered housing complex during these hours.

"Thus the service could be provided by phone or from elsewhere.

"Nor is there any requirement under the handbook for the warden to live on these premises."

vernony

Apr 4 08 12:10

Our Ref: 428

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What an arrogant statement made by the Legal Services Manager and how out of touch with the reality of being elderly too. Indeed, there have been telephones around probably before he was born, so he would do well to think a little bit harder to establish why they built Sheltered Housing when they had telephones !

I am not too sure of the law of contracts in Scotland but I assume that it is pretty much the same anywhere in the UK.If it is then the handbook would be irrelevant it was what was offered to the tenants when they first opted to live there. If it was offered with warden services and it was not made known that it was subject to withdrawal at some unspecified time, then they formed a contract at that time with the residents and as his declared occupation indicates he should know that a contract can be inferred , it does not have to be written down !

Another question he may like to ask himself is: If a tenant refused to pay for Warden services they would probably prosecute them for breach of tenancy agreement(the contract) thus a contract does exist as such can be enforced by both parties to it. In particular if one side wishes to remove Wardens without the agreement of the other

www.shelteredhousinguk.com

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