Tenants protest as Community Housing Association threatens their forum

The accusations came after the registered social landlord – which owns about 3500 homes in the capital, mainly in Camden – announced that its tenants' forum could be dissolved in May.

An Audit Commission inspection carried out last June judged the association's services satisfactory and improving.

But its report, published in November, said: "Tenants groups expressed distrust with CHA's commitment to involve and consult tenants."

One tenant said: "The forum looks set to be abolished because it had the gall to tell the Audit Commission what it thought about what the association was doing." He said there was a sense of "desperation" on the forum, and its members felt the landlord had stopped listening to them altogether.

But CHA chief executive Mick Sweeney denied the tenants' criticisms to the inspectors had influenced the board's decision to review the forum.

He said the forum was "failing to meet the objectives set for it" and was no longer a "suitable means of consulting tenants".

The forum looks set to be abolished because it had the gall to tell inspectors what it thought

Community Housing Association tenant

He added: "Tenants from the properties we own in [other north London boroughs] Hackney, Barnet and Enfield are understandably unwilling to come to Camden for evening meetings, and we want to see how consultation can be improved."

With the agreement of the forum, CHA's board commissioned an independent report into its system for consulting tenants.

Sweeney said that the report, which was completed last month, confirmed the board's belief that "consultation needs to be made broader than a tenants' forum".

He said the decision to dissolve the forum would not be taken until a review of alternatives had been carried out. This will finish in May.

He said the association had been "upset by the criticism, which was offered to inspectors without ever having been raised to the board".