To royally kick off - Housing Assoc. one (Long sorry)

[pinkie1982]

We are a family of 3 that live in a HA property. My son is just twelve months old.

We moved into a property at Christmas and haven't yet been able to decorate as during some checks in February they discovered damp walls and woodworm that needed to be worked on. We had to cancel our carpet fitter and plasterer and put our new sofa on hold.

They were supposed to do internal damp proofing, change the vents in the kitchen and bathroom for automatic ones and take up the lino in the kitchen and treat the woodworm and the drain in the garden needed renewing. It was all going to be completed whilst we were on holiday (they were going to put us in a hotel otherwise as we couldn’t live in the house while they were doing it). They had 10 weeks notice and it was going to take 7 days to complete. All of our stuff had to go into storage. We went away.

Two days before we were due to arrive home we had a text from the surveyor to say ‘all works complete, apart from the tiling in the kitchen and there is a problem with a drawer’.
So we were expecting those two things to not be done and not to have any flooring down in the kitchen when we got back. That’s fine.

This is what we came home to:
Lino not taken up – woodworm not been treated, affected floorboards not replaced.
Kitchen window not plastered – no sill in place, metal beading showing.
Back wall not tiled.
Unable to use a kitchen drawer, no handle on it.
Main water pipe bent away from the wall in kitchen and leaking.
Vent in kitchen completely removed and plastered over – no vent at all in there now.
Vent in bathroom not replaced.
Power socket for washing machine removed and plastered over – unable to use washing machine.
Double trap under sink removed and replaced with single trap – unable to plumb our dishwasher back in.
Condensation pipe removed from boiler so boiling water coming out of the bottom of it – they told us to put a bucket under it.
Rubbish left in our front garden and kitchen (kitchen was a pile of sandwich wrappers, coke cans, gone off milk put in a cupboard).
They used our bathroom for mixing up plaster, washed out their things in the bath, baby bath toys all dirty, the toilet was filthy, they used all of my loo roll.
They were supposed to seal off the baby's room but someone has been in there and left the door open so the carpet is dirty and everything in there was dusty – we had put TVs and mattress and clothes in there.
DP screwed shut the cupboard in the bathroom as he put his tools in there and they had tried to get in and broke the lock.
There is a chip out of the top of our new bed and a chip out of the side of the washing machine.

I went to their offices Monday morning, they sent out a manager to see and he took photos. He got the boiler man out (who just put a bucket underneath) and got a plumber to fix the leak from the water pipe.
The boiler is being fixed properly on Tuesday. I wrote a formal complaint on Monday and emailed it to the four managers I was given names of and their complaints team but had no response.
WWYD next?

I did yes. Maybe I shouldn't have but it doesn't really make a difference. I am a full rent-paying tenant to a landlord (whether it be social housing or not).
They had an agreement to work with a company they contracted in to do necessary works on my home. I had to leave the property or they couldn't do it. They haven't completed all that was agreed. They have now caused problems that weren't there before. It has been signed off by a surveyor, even though the issues we now have, caused by them, are impacting on our day to day living.

And will they be expecting you to leave the property again putting your things at risk again.

Because if they are going to send in cowboys with no respect and would be thieves.......

You are in the right and they are in the wrong. But, you do have to see our their complaints process. However I would speak
To shelter or a specialist housing solicitor if you can afford to to push for appropriate compensation as well as remedy of the works

Your HA should have a complaints procedure. Get a copy of it. Use it to hold them to account. They should also have a board of trustees. Get the contact details of these and their Chief Executive. For now copy all your correspondence to the head of the Repairs and Maintenance division but be prepared to escalate it to CEX and trustees if they do not rectify according to your agreed terms (see below)

Get the manager out as soon as possible and walk him through the problems. Sit down with him and work on what will be fixed in order of priority and what you expect them to do to address the issues. Set timescales for this, but do work with them on this in terms of what is achievable (ie they can't plaster and tile on the same day - they will need to allow time to let the plaster dry). Ask for a named individual to be responsible for overseeing the repair work and keep in contact with them over it. Call regularly to check on what is happening. Get job tickets and appointments for all repairs.

From your list I would ask them to address the following,

Treat woodworm and replace floorboards
Plaster kitchen window, install sill, make good.
Tile back wall
Replace handle on kitchen drawer
Fix leaking pipe in kitchen
Replace vents in kitchen and bathroom
Reinstate power supply for your washing machine or provide alternative.
Replace single trap with double trap under sink
Repair boiler
Replace broken lock in the bathroom.

Alfie is right - some of this stuff if left unattended to will affect the structure of their property; it's in their interests that they deal with it.

If you are using a launderette then keep track of what you are spending and ask them to repay you until they provide for that to be replumbed in and fixed to a working power supply.

The rubbish in the garden and mess in your kitchen/bathroom is probably addressed in a complaint unless you are unable to clear it up yourself. If there are large items of builders waste left get them to agree to a specific date to remove it by.

Its up to you if you want to pursue a complaint about the cosmetic damage to your bed and washing machine - if you do then be specific about what you want them to do about it - repair, replace or compensate.

I come at this as someone who used to work in the repairs section of a HA (I don't do this any more). The more specific about what you want them to do then the easier it is to work with them to remedy the problem. I'm not doubting they did a crap job and you are justifiably annoyed, but it helps everyone if you can be constructive in your complaint and clear in your expectations.

If things don't go to your agreed schedule then escalate the problem copying everything you have agreed on to the next in in the food chain up to the trustees and chief executive. Find out ahead of time if they have an independent complaints arbitrator or have to answer to an ombudsman. Get their contact details. These won't usually step in until you have exhausted their complaints process but it's good to have them up your sleeve.

Good luck.

Can you give shelter a call? They will give you the legalities on waiting 10 days for these repairs and the work not being carried out.

Don't waste your time on social media or print media. The truth is the public don't really care about this sort of thing so you don't stand to gain much

Pixiegirls advice is spot on. No matter what you do this isn't a quick remedy so just keep to well
Managed and organised and push them until you get everything fixed

And if you are expected to take time off work and lose wages ask them for loss of earnings forms.

Though quite how they would be able to remedy the effect on your work record i wouldnt know.

Good job the OP is well enough to go through the lengthy procedures to get the respect and treatment she should have gotten in the first place.

Quite how an elderly or disabled tenant or an ill one undergoing something like chemo would be expected to deal with the stress of it i cant fathom.

Oh cause a fuss woman!

Complain as much as possible. Speak to your local council and Shelter - the housing association must provide you with livable accomodation. They should also pay for the damage to your things.

Then twitter AND the local paper!

I can tell you now that the HA will tell the OP to claim on her contents insurance.

And when the OP phones the insurance company they will say the claim is null and void because she moved out while work took place.

pixie s chain of who to escalate this to, is sound, OP.

tenant rep of a HA here. It's exactly what I'd be doing for one of ours.
Absolute final step would be to alert the CQC (Care Quality Commission, used to be The Audit Commission) of how your HA is failing you. MInd you, should you have to take this to your CEO, copy to your local MP, can pretty well guarantee good results. They hate publicity .

Finally, please copies of all correspondence. Just in case.

I keep copies of EVERYTHING, believe me. I do everything I can by email so I have an audit trail.

Thank you all for your support and advice. DH is stressed about it all and so angry. I'm the one that needs to keep a level head and follow it all up with the HA.

CQC doesn't cover housing associations. Residential care and sometimes supported living yes, general housing associations, no.

Definitely the MP AND your local council though.

I'd do that today.

pixiegirl seems to know what she's talking about

But as a tenant, I know how basic their repairs will be. And yes, it will take lots of phone calls to get them to do what they should be

Social media isnt always a failure Worked for me when Liberty Gas was fucking me about.

Any more developments yet OP?

Any joy?

Any news OP?