• A MAN from the Labour Party phoned recently, probably to promote voting, and he asked how I was.

I mentioned the problem we have in our building. Councillor Janet Burgess then wrote to me offering help. Hallelujah! She has clout and knows who to contact.

For years now our block of flats has needed a new lift. Shuddering, juddering and metal doors banging drive us crazy.

I have lived in several flats, High Point, Sherwood Hall, Apollo, South Wood Park, Shepherds’ Hill, and in every block the management companies has been awful.

Freeholders and property managers are distant, anonymous, beings based in Leeds, Birmingham or on Mars.

Leasehold residents down here are educated, medics, academics, business owners, lawyers who, during a rare meeting with the company managers, are talked at with a PowerPoint presentation full of empty promises.

Relevant questions remain unanswered.

Residents’ association meetings in previous flats were frequently ferocious. One horrible woman shouted at me, “If you can’t afford the service charges, you should not be living here.”

One good man had to restrain another man, saying, “My friend, my friend!”

Here in Hornsey Lane, the problem with the lift is not only the noise but also extra use by the folks next door as their lift has broken.

Cllr Burgess came to the rescue. She was able to contact health and safety, environmental noise, the freeholders, Bupa, CQC, and every other appropriate agency.

When management companies change, the budgets change. Service charges, sinking funds (heart sink), building insurance, plus terrorism extra, ground rent all add up… Residents are expected to pay by direct debit.

Annual forecasts are foggy. Creative accountancy makes bills confusing.

At the same time, my son and his fellow residents are refusing to pay service charges for non-existent services.

Luckily their MP, Diane Abbott, has intervened and called for a proper face-to-face meeting, socially distanced, of course.

Property company managers on one side and leasehold residents on the other.

ANNE ADAMS, N6