We did it! MAJ purchased a new ground floor flat in Tottenham at the beginning of the year, securing a family home for two tenants. It is such a sense of achievement when we get another property under our belts because every home we secure takes the power and profit away from unscrupulous landlords and places it with us, the tenants. As is always the case when Mary Ann Johnson Housing Co-op buy somewhere, the new place is a real fixer upper and we are having to work hard to get it livable before our members move in. And there is always more work to be done when you get stuck into it, as we discovered when we began work on the bathroom.
Having thought it was a simple task of stripping the old tiles and replacing with new, we discovered that the plasterboard wall behind the shower was damp and unsound, so instead of just replacing tiles we will also have to remove and replace a portion of internal wall. At one point during our Sunday work day, three hammer and chisel wielding co-op members were busily ripping out tiles which was all good messy fun!
Other rooms were given a fresh lick of paint, and despite the horrific weather caused by Storm Ciara another work party busied it’s-self clearing stuff out of the rain lashed back garden.
There is still a lot more to do, from fixing the boiler to making space for a fridge (we can’t figure out where the previous tenants kept theirs – there is no space for one or sign that one ever existed in the kitchen!) and other structural issues, as well as decorating, laying floor coverings and getting it cosy. It’s a lot of work but satisfying to think that this is an affordable home to be managed by its tenants and not by greedy landlords for profit. Thank you so much as always to our funders who make all of this work possible – your generosity means one more Tottenham family have a secure and affordable home.
Mary Ann Johnson Housing co-op 
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