Housing association celebrates court victory over poor service provider » Housing » 24dash.com

Accessibility Menu

Housing association celebrates court victory over poor service provider

Published by Jon Land for Beattie Group in Housing and also in Communities, Local Government, Central Government
Thursday 2nd July 2009 - 10:23am

RSS View more news and articles by Beattie Communications

Search more member organisations in our Directory

More from Beattie Communications

A Glasgow housing association has won a court battle with a multi-national IT firm who it claimed provided poor standards of service.

Housing management system provider Kypera sued community-run Blochairn Housing Co-operative for breach of a contract it had cancelled in 2007 on the grounds of poor service and lack of confidence in the company’s ability to resolve outstanding problems.

Kypera took Blochairn to court claiming that the contract tied them in for three years.

The judge at Bradford County Court dismissed Kypera’s claim, ordering Kypera to pay damages of £3,433 for wasted time to be paid to Blochairn Housing Co-operative, as well as ordering Kypera to pay Blochairn’s court costs. The judge also refused Kypera leave to appeal the case.

Kypera is a specialist provider of business solutions,including a housing management solution technology which is used across the sector managing rents, repairs, service charges, waiting lists and planned maintenance.

Blochairn Housing Cooperative owns 220 houses in the Royston area of North Glasgow, consisting of a mix of both new build developments and refurbished tenement properties.

Michael Carberry, director of Blochairn Housing Co-operative, said: “Kypera took over Harkins & Anderson when they went into administration in 2006 in an attempt to expand into the Scottish housing association market, but they struggled to come to grips with the computer system they had acquired and as a result they lost a lot of Scottish customers in 2007.

“Kypera threatened to raise an action against us in the English courts, but we stood our ground. We were not prepared to hand over our tenants’ money to a company who had failed to deliver what they promised.

“I was surprised when they followed through with the court action but they didn’t seem to understand the nature of small community owned housing associations in Scotland. The judge said he found the evidence given by Kypera to be unconvincing.

“The court’s decision was as complete a victory as we could have hoped for and a victory for common sense.”

 

Comments

No comments yet...

Be the first and post your views below.

Please Login to comment

To comment you must be logged in. You can either Login or Register

Latest jobs

Shoreline Housing PartnershipAsset Investment Manager

Rate: up to £43,680
Type: Permanent
Location: Yorkshire & Humberside

Shoreline Housing PartnershipHome Options Officer

Rate: up to £19,983
Type: Contract
Location: Yorkshire & Humberside

Vicinity Housing GroupClerical Officer

Rate: £14,733 - £15,728 pa (Band 3)
Type: Permanent
Location: North West

Campbell TickellExecutive Director - Finance

Rate: £95,000 plus benefits
Type: Permanent
Location: Eastern (inc. Herts and Essex)


Find and search more jobs in our Jobs Section...

Latest 24dash poll

What will be the biggest single issue facing social housing providers in 2010?






Previous polls

Latest blog posts

timkidson

"The couple"

Published by timkidson

For SME’s including family businesses, the most powerful and groundbreaking work to generate business success often...

jonathonporritt

"Time to press the panic button?"

Published by jonathonporritt

Apologies for the six weeks blog-oliday. Put it down to Copenhagen blues! I’m still reeling from the surreal sight of...

Yvonne Hutchinson

"RSL, RPL, What’s the difference?"

Published by Yvonne Hutchinson

I’ve just read the Communities and Local Government paper, The private rented sector: professionalism and quality...