Dear Mr Builder,
In xxxx, your firm replaced the roof on our house. In xxxx we contacted you about the damp coming into a top floor bedroom. You agreed that this was a result of inadequate chimney flashings, and your firm returned to rectify these.
However, the damp problem is continuing, and has spread to all three top floor bedrooms. We have commissioned an independent surveyor’s report. This confirms a dangerous moisture content of over 20% and identifies a number of faults with the roofing work carried out by your team. These faults are listed at the end of this letter. In particular, the chimney flashings are of an inadequate size, and do not comply with the Lead Sheet Association recommendations.
The surveyor noted that the flashings on our neighbour’s side of the south-west chimney have been done correctly and do comply with the recommendations. Your team put both sets of flashings in at the same time, which suggests that they worked to the required standard on our neighbour’s side of the property because our neighbour is in the building trade and thus familiar with the necessary standards, but felt that they could get away with substandard work on our side of the property. This is disappointing, to say the least, and it means that we consider an independent roof-level inspection of the work is necessary, to check for any other flaws which cannot be seen from the ground.
These issues are covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 which states that any work done should be done with reasonable care and skill. The act states that you should rectify the problems, or be liable for a claim for damages.
Please contact us on xxxxxxxxxx within the next 7 days to agree a course of action. We would like you to either:
a) Erect scaffolding and rectify all the problems listed in this letter. Then provide access to our surveyor, who will inspect this work and your previous work from 2010 and 2013. We would expect any faults to be immediately rectified. We wish your firm to reimburse us for the costs of this inspection.
or:
b) Cover our costs to call in another building firm to carry out this work, and for the necessary surveyor’s inspection and for any corrective works arising from this inspection.
This letter has been sent to you by recorded delivery.
Yours sincerely,
Mr & Mrs Driven