I AM somewhat surprised that Roger Baker (Letters, July 27) so readily takes the side of the housing association in the trampoline, hanging basket saga and passes it off as just another fact of modern life where common sense rarely prevails.

I suppose I am lucky enough to have never lived in communal accommodation, although I suffered enough years in council housing and blessed the day I escaped.

From what I read concerning these incidents there was no word of complaint from the other residents, and that is the only reason these good people should have been ordered to remove the (so-called) offending objects.

These private housing associations and councils have got it made with the shortage of accommodation that prevails throughout the country (of the government’s making) and are quick enough when it comes to the cash, taxes and rents involved but also want to make their own rules on how their residents should live. I think it’s about time someone stood up to these tyrants, but it has to come from someone who is in that kind of situation.

Even in one’s own home you are not entirely free from this kind of action or these kind of people (in my case the local council) but at least one has a little more leeway and no one can threaten you further or tell you what you can and can’t have in your own garden or hanging on your walls.

L A O’BEE, Southampton