Dorothy dies in hospital - gravely-ill OAP faced £16k council bill
A DISABLED 91-year-old widow forced to re-mortgage her home to pay a £16,000 council bill has died.
She ended her fight at Thanet’s Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital on Friday without knowing help was on its way.
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End of the fight Dorothy Hacking
Bed-ridden Dorothy Hacking, who had a broken back, was "petrified" she would be evicted if she did not pay the bill for external cladding work at her former council flat in Harbour Towers, Ramsgate.
The deaf and partially-sighted pensioner, who relied on pension credits to survive, took out a second mortgage to pay off Thanet council.
Eight years ago she had been forced to borrow £6,500 for balcony repairs. She was also living in fear that repairs to sewers could run to thousands of pounds.
An appeal by daughter Rosemary Brown to the Department of Work and Pensions was snubbed after officials said the repairs were not essential.
Mrs Brown, 53, an English teacher at Margate’s Kent Adult Education Centre, said her mother was "financially stretched to the limits".
She said: "It is disgusting she was faced with this fear when the council insisted on doing work over which she had no control."
Last week our sister paper the Thanet Gazette ran a front-page appeal for help.
Mrs Brown said: "Sadly my mum died on the day of publication. She didn’t see the article because she was too weak that day. But hopefully it will help to raise awareness of what the council is continuing to do."
At the time, Mrs Hacking had to find an extra £112 a month to pay her debts.
Thanet councillor Zita Wiltshire, cabinet member for housing, said that leaseholders were consulted on charges in 2006 and made aware of how much they would have to pay.
She said: "We are sympathetic to the concerns of our leaseholders but the council does spell out the detail of the financial obligations imposed upon a lessee in the terms of each right-to-buy lease."
How a former PC turned housing hero to fight the council over £100,000 repairs – and won: full story in this week’s Thanet Gazette out on Friday.
Comments
by Dorothy Hacking, Ramsgate, kent
Thursday, January 15 2009, 3:30PM
“I am Dorothy Hacking's 51 year old son, Michael.
I don't think Zita Wiltshire or those who pay her performance bonuses know the meaning of 'sympathetic'
I attended a meeting of leasholders with T.D.C. to discuss the Harbour Towers repairs & facelift, and the proportion of payment by leaseholders whose properties were not obviously suffering as many of the TDC owned flats.
TDC were, in our opinion, calculating & calculated - on an ongoing basis, in order to claw back the properties that people bought under the 'Right to Buy' policy of the democratic Thatcher government.
At one stage TDC 'sympatheticaly' offered to buy back the property at the original selling price, whilst presumably knowing it's greater value at the time of the offer.
To see 13 TDCouncillors lined up against a few old ladies was sickening.
I don't know what position Zita Wiltshire held in M.Thatcher's time or what part she's played in the seemingly clawing back of property since. But I'm sure your readers would be as interested to know as I.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Charles Hacking.”