UPSET and frustrated elderly residents who live in retirement housing are demanding action from their housing management company which has left their gardens in "complete disarray".
Residents of Kendal Gardens - a small retirement complex in Pack Lane, Kempshott - managed by a company called FirstPort, say their gardens have not been maintained at all for 10 weeks.
Angry residents decided to take matters into their own hands and organised a meeting with Nick Beneke, FirstPort's regional manager at Kempshott Village Hall on Thursday, October 12.
Emotions ran high and during the meeting, which a Gazette reporter attended, topics discussed included the overgrown gardens and problems with residents' door intercoms and gutters.
Paul Flint, a spokesperson for the residents' association, has lived in Kendal Gardens with his partner Janet Fagg for eight years. He said the situation has left him feeling frustrated that they have been "paying for a service that they haven't had".
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The Gazette understands residents pay a service charge of more than £3,000 per annum for a two-bedroom bungalow or just less than £3,000 for a one-bedroom apartment.
This service charge pays for a manager who lives on-site in one of the bungalows to manage the upkeep of the gardens. However, the manager has been off sick for a number of weeks.
Paul is now calling for a rebate of 75 per cent of the gardening costs.
The 81-year-old said: "The grass is so deep you don't dare walk across it anymore as you might catch your feet and stumble. The patios are so dirty and unattractive again and now it's getting wet it's going to be really slippery which is dangerous.
"We all came here because, in fact, the gardens did look nice. It was an attractive place to live, it was quiet and there was a live-in manager [the gardner]. This gave people comfort."
During the heated meeting, residents were told that as an interim solution, FirstPort has instructed a gardening contractor to carry out the required maintenance at no additional cost to residents.
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Although this came as welcome news, Janet said the state of the area has left her feeling "quite depressed".
Tom White, who has lived on the estate for 21 years, became emotional when a Gazette reporter asked how he was feeling about the situation.
The 91-year-old said: "It has left me feeling really angry and upset. When I look out into my gardens it makes me feel quite depressed. My wife who isn't here now was a brilliant gardener and she would have been sobbing her heart out."
A spokesperson for FirstPort Maintenance said: “We thank the residents of Kendal Gardens for attending a recent meeting to discuss their concerns. Ensuring that our developments are safe and well-maintained is our main priority, and we are sorry that in recent weeks, some services have not been delivered to the high standards that we and our residents expect.
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“We are working hard to address the points raised as quickly as possible while continuing to keep residents updated.”
Borough councillor Richard Court was also at the meeting and said: "I think for someone to come all the way over and to take the trouble to listen to residents is great but you need to restore the confidence these folk here have in you because they have lost it."
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