AIBU to really push for this?

[gazpachosoupday]

We live in a social housing flat, back in November, we had a blocked pipe, we tried everything to shift it ourselves and in the end concluded it might be an outside pipe, in which case its the landlord responsibility, then we found a leak behind the fridge (originally thought it was the fridge) turns out the blockage and leak are part of the same problem.

Guy who came round, told us, we couldnt use either kitchen sink or bathroom sink or washing machine, leaving us with the bath.

Since then we are now up to our 6th visit (Including initial) on getting this pipe fixed.

On the 5th visit, they told me they needed to order a special part and would come back in two weeks, my partner did take the day off work, but was called in as an emergency so I cancelled it as soon as they opened at 8am (this may or may not be important) and rebooked for Friday, which was a further 2 weeks, they turned up on Friday, and the visit went the same way, they take a photo and then bugger off to get a tool/part/ have a cuppa. Two hours later I get a text saying they were coming back in 3 weeks, apparently the part had not been ordered.

I am furious on a few counts.

1. Why did they not know this part hadn't been ordered, when they were due to fit in 2 weeks ago
2. Its been 9 weeks now, with no sinks and no washing machine
3. In 6 visits they have still not fixed it, all they have done is cut the pipe out so my kitchen is now exposed to the the outside.

Myself and my partner have no more holiday left, I am not prepared to take unpaid time either, this whole thing has been a fuck up from start to finish, none of which is our fault. Yes I had to cancel between visit 5 and 6, but then I would have still had to wait.

I want them to come at the weekend to fix it, does anyone know if this is something I can really push for, they do work at weekends but only for emergencies, but I dont see why I have to wait another 3 weeks and take another day off, and my trust is now so low with them, that in my eyes, this could be another potential wasted day off.

bump

You can try, but I don’t know if you can legally insist. You could tell your landlord that if he can’t get workmen to attend at the weekend he will have to attend to supervise because you can no longer take time off work.

I would contact Shelter or CAB and see what rights and leverage you might have. I would think a rent reduction might be possible and that might motivate the Landlord to act faster.

Hi

Thanks for this, we have a cat and a dog, so I wouldnt be comfortable leaving them with anyone, especially if they have to have the door open.

I am also not sure how comfortable I would be with strangers in my place by themselves. If it was a landlord then maybe, but its not its a company who owns hundreds of properties

That’s really hard, but probably doesn’t make any difference to what you can legally insist on. I would contact Shelter or CAB and see if they can inform you of your rights and the best strategy to getting working plumbing again. Maybe you can get compensation for missed days off work or something.

I think after 3 months there’s some legal thing that lets you get your own professional in and claim the cost back, which may at least stop the circus you’re currently experiencing. But there are probably a lot of caveats to that so you really want to find out exactly what you’re entitled to do from someone qualified to tell you.

Thanks @NumberTheory Shelter is on my list of phonecalls for tomorrow, I am just not sure what is reasonable to demand at this stage if the complaints team gets back to me.

I just want my washing machine to work again and not to have to brush my teeth in the bathtub.