AIBU in asking for this compensation?

[namechangeyetagain1]

Posting in AIBU for traffic but if anyone feels another thread would be better - please let me know! Also posting on behalf of a friend!

Friend has bought a new build house and has part-ownership with housing association (not sure this is relevant but going to give all the facts)

6 days after moving in she decides to have a bath. She has used bath before as the shower is over it, but not filled it properly. Once she's finished and has gone downstairs, she realises the bathwater is coming through the ceiling/light fittings/dripping down walls. It's also soaked into her brand new carpet she's just had fitted.

She turns off the downstairs electrics, phones the housing association and developers of the actual housing estate to let them know. They send plumber & electrician but neither will do anything due it not being an active leak anymore & needing electrics to dry out respectively. Next day plumber comes back to fix the bath - the pipes underneath hadn't been fitted properly and the electrician comes back to check the electrics and turn it all back on. In the meantime, she's lost a fridge/freezer full of food, had to cancel plans the night it happened and had to take the day off work to let the plumber and electrician in. Naturally she is seeking compensation from the developers.

She's requested the following compensation;

Damages (not including carpet as they have already sorted replacing that, but stuff like food in fridge/freezer, a games console that was on the floor, canvas on the wall etc.) - £470
She then has rounded this up to £1000 to include lack of electricity for 16 hours, no washing facility for 17 hour, cancellation of personal plans, inconvenience and emotional stress.

So in total she is seeking £1000 compensation. After a lot of back and forth - this happened over two weeks ago - the developers have come back and offered £470 full and final settlement.

AIBU to think she could ask for more and they should pay up without question? She was so excited to be owning her first property and moving and they have taken all the joy out of it and caused a very stressful time for her. They are also still using the same plumbing company who made this stupid mistake on houses not yet completed on the site.

Keen to hear what the lovely people of MN think and thank you if you got this far!! It was a long and tedious post I know...

Emotional stress for a leaking bath? She had a fair offer.

If you were claiming of your house insurance you don't get emotional and Inconvenience payments unfortunately and a doubt you will in this case. This happened to me and all I got was the replacement of the bath and obviously plastering etc. Worth a shot but tell her not to get disappointed when they say no x

One of the joys of homeownership is things going wrong and having to fork out to fix them while dealing with the stress of it.

Imagine if we all claimed for 'inconvenience' when something like this happened? Have you any idea how much insurance premiums would go up? Inconvenience means things like having to camp in your garden for 2 months, not losing your fridge for a night!

She should take the money to replace what was damaged and leave it at that.

Once again, thank you all for the responses, particularly the ones that were actually constructive or to the point.

I can't say I appreciate me and my friend being called immature, naive, entitled or being told we need to grow up. That's not the issue here. It's a learning curve, for someone whose never had to make this complaint before, my fiend was unsure what to ask for. Ever heard of 'don't ask, don't get'? That's all she was trying to do I think.

It's clear that the original compensation offered was adequate and anymore than that is grabby.

Woops *friend

“Don’t ask don’t get” is one thing but she’s a seriously cheeky fucker if she thinks she’s owed an extra £530

Emotional Stress. Fucking hell

But it is naive to assume that you would be entitled to compensation for emotional stress,

we bought a new build, were told it would be ready on the 6th December, planned the move in, our first Xmas in our new home etc.

We got the keys.....

7th March!

I wonder how much compensation for emotional distress we could have claimed :)
In that time paid out storage, rental costs etc. Then when we moved in loads of snagging in the first 6 months.

Part of it I'm afraid.

The emotional distress is ridiculous, sorry.

However 'distressful' a leak and resulting plumbing emergency can be, we've all had them and survived. In fact if your friend has never experienced the joys of an overflowing bath (thanks kids), she's led a charmed life.

I'm just surprised the developers didn't query the conveniently-placed games console as that's the oldest insurance scam in the book.

My upstairs neighbour flooded my old flat and ruined every floor, light fittings and I needed to totally redecorate.
Wish I’d known I could claim £500+ for emotional stress

Is the extra £530 for therapy? #newhousetraumology

Happened to me, (and my neighbour) new build pipes are like Lego. If they are not clicked together they leak. Pain in the a@rse

DuchessThingy

For the last time - rounding up was my wording and I used it incorrectly, I just couldn't think of a better way to word it.

And I have already explained that the games console genuinely was water damaged - she's definitely not taking the piss there.

I'm surprised she is not going the whole hog and claiming that the stress and anxiety this has caused will affect her entire life.

Honestly, your friend is being greedy. I'm sure it was annoying, but this compensation culture really is getting out of hand.

Shes got £470 back that seems reasonable to me

QuizzlyBear

Are you saying that every time you've moved house, you've had everything unpacked and in it's rightful place within a week despite working full time? Yes ok it sounds like a scam but she literally had stuff everywhere. I had already explained this.

Emotional stress because the leccy was off? That's stupid

she can claim on her home contents for the freezer stuff, or add to the losses, but emotional stress for a power cut, a bit of wet carpet and a few ruined belongings?

No.

Interesting way of wording it - in the US you may have had a case for compensation for distress or emotional damages. However our legal system in the uk works differently, compensation can only be made wfor actual quantifiable losses.

Not sure this is cheeky or grabby so much as misunderstood (quite reasonably so considering how much of our tv/ news is from the US).

FlyingCat

I genuinely didn't know that claiming for emotional stress wasn't a thing and was inclined to agree with other posters that it was a bit grabby/cheeky but that's not in my friend's nature at all so it really could be a misunderstanding of what she could claim for.

Thank you for your post. It will be a lot easier to pass on than 'you're being greedy'

£470 is enough.

Emotional stress?? This is not the US.

She wouldn't get that in the US either (see my earlier post re enumerated damages).

The eye watering jury awards you see in the US are normally punitive, to punish intentional or reckless wrongdoing.

Personally I wouldn't include the words 'emotional stress' really quite a joke phrase, in reality 'a bit fed up' would cover it.

Jesus Christ, emotional stress. I’d lose all respect for someone so pathetic. I can’t bear people who try to wring money out of anything and everything.

Extra £530 is for emotional stress/inconvenience more than actual physical damage that requires replacing. That's all included in the £470

Hilarious! We had 2 weeks with no hot water or gas due to a botched job by British Gas plus a damaged kitchen due to flooding into the bargain and I would never have dreamt of asking for compensation for emotional distress!