Audit L&Q

Housing Association - London and Quadrant – on the ropes as homeowners, veterans and residents challenge them over corruption and bullying
By Reese Furlow

Over the last few years, London & Quadrant has been on the receiving end of bad reviews and complaints from former and current tenants. However, one former employee, Orville Beckford, wants to take legal action.
While working for L&Q, Beckford said he was mistreated and eventually dismissed to "cover up their incompetence." Beckford, a Black man and a former Corporal in the British Army, worked for the housing association for the last three years until he was fired. He decided to take action, claiming that he was fired due to whistle-blowing and racism.
"It seems that you're not quite a slave, but anyone can mistreat you whenever they want and for any reason," he said. "Despite my experience & qualifications all they wanted me to be was the funny Black guy."
The housing association, which was created in the early 1960s, has received backlash from its tenants over the years as well, quickly becoming one of the worst rated housing associations in the United Kingdom. The complaints range from negligence, to corruption, to discrimination, to even bullying.
"it's a major concern, and we tenants suffer," one person shared on the L&Q Housing Association tenant complaints page on Facebook. "Many bad things are happening at the head office, which is to be expected from a bad organisation like L&Q."
As recently as 2020, L&Q were rated "bad" based on 855 reviews on Trustpilot. Most of the bad reviews were from tenants who complained about poor housing conditions and lack of responses from management about repairs. Beckford, who worked as a building surveyor for the company, said management told him to put off fixing any damages.
"I had a job with a leaking roof (building is only 13-years-old) that had been going on for 12 years. I identified the cause within a week, but a director prevented me for carrying out the work for over a year," he said. "Leaseholders had water running through their light sockets and mould everywhere."
Beckford and other tenants were not the only ones who identified these problems either. A report by consultancy Campbell Tickell found 412 defects across 85 homes, which included leaking roofs, and issues with heating, plumbing and sewage.
Now, with all the backlash L&Q is facing, Beckford is adding gas to the fire by protesting outside its office, and creating a petition for an external audit on the company. He stated that there are many different groups standing up to L&Q: homeowners, residents, tenants, complaints, leaseholders, & Veterans groups, also ex-employees and independents that have posted warnings on Trustpilot. He is proposing that they all combine forces to get the Audit of the organisation agreed.
"L&Q has been a gravy train for too many for too long," he wrote in the petition. "You don't become the worst housing association in the UK - probably in the world - by accident!"
L&Q HAD MY PETITION TAKEN DOWN FROM CHANGE.ORG SO NOW THIS IS ONE OF THREE.. THEN IF THEY TAKE DOWN ANOTHER ONE I'LL LAUNCH ANOTHER FOUR & SO ON.


Twitter - @ReeseFurlow
Email - furlow13579@gmail.com
Links: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.lqgroup.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/LQ-Housing-Association-tenant-complaints-106178617594193/
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/12/housing-repairs-flood-sewage-london-quandrant
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/weaknesses-found-after-investigation-into-lq-repairs-service-59831