Will do just about anything to get on TV
This summer's must-read
The saga of the Audit Commission's long-overdue report on the Peabody Trust is understood to be nearing its conclusion. The report, written after an inspection in October last year, was presented to Peabody's board in February and was scheduled for publication in March. However, it subsequently dropped off the radar, with the Audit Commission press office blaming IT problems among other things for the delay.

Now due out next week, the report is sure to make fascinating reading given the little financial problem that hit Peabody a couple of months after inspectors left …

Tag, you're it
Word reaches me that Brighton & Hove council has been toying with the idea of spraying graffiti on its own buildings. The idea is that this will discourage others from doing the same. Under the plan, officers would be allowed to spray the words "… is a plonker" after the names – also known as "tags" – left by serial graffiti-sprayers.

Stencils were apparently commissioned to facilitate the shaming of "taggers" but the council has since dismissed rumours that the proposal was ever taken seriously.

Hello campers! Are you lost?
We've all heard stories of wannabe homeowners camping out in front of new developments to get first on the list when the homes go on sale. It's never happened in Wearside, though – until now. Sunderland Housing Group, England's largest stock transfer landlord, says four people have been camped outside its South Hylton Green private sale development for a week. Perhaps the gap between the Northern and Southern housing markets really is narrowing.

Sound decision
Pianos are not normally thought of as a culprit in the war on antisocial behaviour, but Manchester council has seized one, along with several other instruments, from a house in the city. The piano, plus a trombone, viola, two electronic keyboards, guitar and sound equipment, were taken from four musicians who made their neighbour's life a "nightmare" with late night tunes and parties. However, the officials stopped short of impounding a £10,000 viola so its owner could go to an audition in Barcelona.

Toilet etiquette
When Liz Walford joined troubled Walsall Housing Group as chief executive last month, she knew she had a tough job ahead of her. Nothing had prepared her for the "tenants only" signs on the toilets at headquarters, however. Surely relations hadn't got so bad that a landlord-tenant apartheid was in operation? Thankfully not – the word tenants refers to the occupants of the building, who rent it from the commercial landlord.

Dirty war

Homelessness charity Thames Reach Bondway gets some strange requests from journalists, but few could be odder than the one from a television company planning a fly-on-the-wall documentary about drugs. The film-makers planned to get an ex-SAS man to pose as an addict and move into a crack house. The TV executives thought it was a fabulous idea until Thames Reach Bondway pointed out that the hard man would actually have to smoke crack in order to look authentic. The charity hasn’t heard from them since.

Source

Housing Today