Hi
Sorry if this has been asked before....
We are nearing the end of a loft conversion on our house using a loft co.
We had staged payments throughout the process. We paid for the roof (they put a whole new roof on, not just the loft bit) invoice when it was presented a couple of months ago. In retrospect we should have only paid once it was finished. It took them another couple of months to finish it.
My husband went up onto the roof a few weeks ago with the loft co project manager in an effort to agree our sign off. My husband was dismayed to see poor tiling in parts eg tiles missing, wonky etc. Even the project manager agreed it wasn't good enough.
These elements were put right and my husband sign off the roof. Although he is no roof expert.
Since then we have had a leak in one of the 1st floor bedrooms. It was in a place where we experienced leaks during the build where the heavy rain and wind got into/under the tarpualling (sp). We never had leaks in this bedroom prior to the loft conversion, so our view is that there is an issue with the roof. We could also hear dripping in this room/next door but couldn't see anything from inside the room.
The loft co sent somebody over yesterday and said they couldn't see why there is a leak...
My main concern is that the roofing is substandard and even though they offer a 10 year guarentee I question how quickly they'll come over should this leak/other leaks continue (they have been working on the final snag list for 5 weeks!) In the meantime our decorated rooms will be damaged.
I should also add our adjoining neighbour is concerned about the work (as a few tiles on their roof had to be replaced as they were damaged during the project).
They had a roofer look at the roof, especially where the roofs meet and he said something about the "wrong type of sand" being used. This could just be one tradesperson being negative about another..but following our experiences I am not so sure.
So my questions:
- If we say the roof is leaking and take photo evidence, is the burden on them to find out why/what? I have a feeling they feel they have done enough by having a look.
- I cannot shake the feeling that the roof isn't a good enough standard. I feel like I want an independant surveyor ? to review it. If we go down this route and they provide negative feedback, is there a way we can force the loft co to take the findings onboard and act on them?
- If we were to seek legal help, what type of solicitor do I need to look for?
We still owe them the final 5% which we aren't planning to pay until we are happy. However I can forsee them saying they cannot fix the issue if they cannot see the problem..
I know jumping to legal action isn't always the best approach but I really concerned about leaking damage. I also want to send them a strong message that we aren't going away until we have a roof worthy of a costly loft extension etc.
Great to hear your views.
TIA & thanks if you got this far!