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Home Insurance/ Housing Trust issues
mdeaton
Posts: 21 Forumite
Ok, Long Story!!
Also, my first post, but long time reader..
We live in rented property maintained by the local housing trust.
Approximately 2 1/2 months ago, we had a fire. The Combi-Boiler was on fire within its little cupboard with blankets and bedding. The fire service came out and put the fire out and said they believed it to be an electrical fault as there wasn't anything else in the cupboard. Luckily the door to the cupboard was closed so it was just smoke damage to the rest of the upstairs.
The house was still habitable we had a gas engineer around at the start of the next week to fit a new boiler and a plasterer to do some of the work to make it more presentable. Nothing else has been done, we've pestered the housing trust for months to get the rest of the work done but to no avail.
Since then we've had numerous electrical problems resulting in appliances dying, including the Fridge Freezer, washing machine and toaster. Previously before we moved in the lady before us had a major fire caused by an electrical fault with a PS2 which burnt most of the upstairs and had to be redone inside.
Monday morning of the 8th September i was looking for car insurance quotes and remembered that i wanted to buy home insurance and did a quote with QuoteLine Direct as they offered discounts if i bought home and car insurance, i was happy with the quote provided and bought it there and then. I got a confirmation email from them that evening saying my cover would start from the 8th September.
At around 3pm the new boiler stopped working and we called out the repairs service provided by our housing trust. somebody came out within the hour and said that the circuit board had died and we would have to wait for a replacement part.
At about 6.20pm the electricty in the house went off, my original thinking was that we had ran out of credit on the prepayment meter, but after checking this it was fine, the kids came running down the stairs saying the smoke alarm upstairs was going off. I go upstairs half expecting it to be something innocent but as i reach the top of the stairs i noticed smoke coming from one of the kids bedrooms (not the one the kids where in). There was a fire in the room and i go to try and close the door but it was too hot and fierce. I grab the kids and head out of the front door. I called the emergency services at 6.24pm (according to my mobile phone calls list!) and asked for the fire service.
shortening this a little bit, the fire was put out and the cause was determined to be the power supply/transformer for a laptop overheated and because it was near the bed was able to ignite and cause a fire to start.
I called my housing trust and explained the situation, they sent an electrician out and turned the electricity off. Tuesday morning the housing trust's inspectors where out to assess the damage they also sent out an electricitian to test the electrics. The inspectors had finished and left, the electrictian was doing his tests and i asked him if everything was normal, he said something was too high but didn't really eleborate. Me and my partner were sitting in the living room talking to a fire service officer. The electrician came in and said that he got it wrong and said everything was fine and that he turned the sockets back on but left everything else off, i explained that we were not staying in the house as the housing trust put us up in a hotel. He left leaving the sockets on.
We all left the house and got on with our normal activities i was at the school picking the children up when i got a phone call on my mobile from a neighbour saying the fire service were breaking into the house because they had another call to say there was a fire at my property. When i eventually got to the house the fire officer in charge said the fire was out and they believed it was another electrical fault this time it was an extension lead they believed overheated and caught fire. Burnt down the other kids' bedroom with nothing left.
The fire service called out the fire investigation team as there had been 2 fires within a 24 hour period, they took pictures and jotted a few notes down. The electrician was called out again and was asked why the electricity was turned back on he said it was normal procedure and that the main ring (?) was tested and found to be within safe normal limits.
I need to explain something here, in our house the front and back have been switched but the original mains cable coming from the street is still live and comes in under the sink in the kitchen right along undernethe the taps and sits there redundant and unused, but still live. The fire officer asked the electrican if the original mains cable was live and in use, the electrcitian was adamant that it wasn't live nor in use, the officer asked him to test the cable. It turned out it was live but not in use.
We don't have the (now required?) set of trip switches for each individual zones/things in the house, just a few single trip switches. Some under the sink (not using the redundant cable) and some at the now front of the house.
We are also on the electrical re-wiring programme and awaiting to have the house rewired. Apparently the fire officier that came out said that he has complained to the housing trust about the wiring in our houses on this estate.
I have spoken to my insurance company and made a claim which is down as two claims as they were on seperate days/times. The loss adjuster is coming out on monday but he has said that it is the housing trusts responsiblity to put us in tempory accomodation not the insurance company.
The housing trust has put us up in an old style bed and breakfast hotel in the middle of town which is about 11 miles from where we live. We have no cooking or washing facilities and its costing us a fortune to live. We have to eat out everyday and use expensive laundary services. Plus the cost of traveling to and from where we live to get the kids in school and us to get to work and college.
We've begged the housing trust to put us up somewhere else a little closer to where we live and provide us with something to cook with, but they don't seem interested.
On monday it will be two weeks since the first fire and the housing trust havn't started any work on the rooms affected. They don't seem interested. We're looking at renting privately just to get out of this mess but as our living costs have gone right up we can't afford to be paying deposits and months rent in advanced.
We're really stuck as what to do now, any advice would be great.
Thanks,
Michael
Also, my first post, but long time reader..
We live in rented property maintained by the local housing trust.
Approximately 2 1/2 months ago, we had a fire. The Combi-Boiler was on fire within its little cupboard with blankets and bedding. The fire service came out and put the fire out and said they believed it to be an electrical fault as there wasn't anything else in the cupboard. Luckily the door to the cupboard was closed so it was just smoke damage to the rest of the upstairs.
The house was still habitable we had a gas engineer around at the start of the next week to fit a new boiler and a plasterer to do some of the work to make it more presentable. Nothing else has been done, we've pestered the housing trust for months to get the rest of the work done but to no avail.
Since then we've had numerous electrical problems resulting in appliances dying, including the Fridge Freezer, washing machine and toaster. Previously before we moved in the lady before us had a major fire caused by an electrical fault with a PS2 which burnt most of the upstairs and had to be redone inside.
Monday morning of the 8th September i was looking for car insurance quotes and remembered that i wanted to buy home insurance and did a quote with QuoteLine Direct as they offered discounts if i bought home and car insurance, i was happy with the quote provided and bought it there and then. I got a confirmation email from them that evening saying my cover would start from the 8th September.
At around 3pm the new boiler stopped working and we called out the repairs service provided by our housing trust. somebody came out within the hour and said that the circuit board had died and we would have to wait for a replacement part.
At about 6.20pm the electricty in the house went off, my original thinking was that we had ran out of credit on the prepayment meter, but after checking this it was fine, the kids came running down the stairs saying the smoke alarm upstairs was going off. I go upstairs half expecting it to be something innocent but as i reach the top of the stairs i noticed smoke coming from one of the kids bedrooms (not the one the kids where in). There was a fire in the room and i go to try and close the door but it was too hot and fierce. I grab the kids and head out of the front door. I called the emergency services at 6.24pm (according to my mobile phone calls list!) and asked for the fire service.
shortening this a little bit, the fire was put out and the cause was determined to be the power supply/transformer for a laptop overheated and because it was near the bed was able to ignite and cause a fire to start.
I called my housing trust and explained the situation, they sent an electrician out and turned the electricity off. Tuesday morning the housing trust's inspectors where out to assess the damage they also sent out an electricitian to test the electrics. The inspectors had finished and left, the electrictian was doing his tests and i asked him if everything was normal, he said something was too high but didn't really eleborate. Me and my partner were sitting in the living room talking to a fire service officer. The electrician came in and said that he got it wrong and said everything was fine and that he turned the sockets back on but left everything else off, i explained that we were not staying in the house as the housing trust put us up in a hotel. He left leaving the sockets on.
We all left the house and got on with our normal activities i was at the school picking the children up when i got a phone call on my mobile from a neighbour saying the fire service were breaking into the house because they had another call to say there was a fire at my property. When i eventually got to the house the fire officer in charge said the fire was out and they believed it was another electrical fault this time it was an extension lead they believed overheated and caught fire. Burnt down the other kids' bedroom with nothing left.
The fire service called out the fire investigation team as there had been 2 fires within a 24 hour period, they took pictures and jotted a few notes down. The electrician was called out again and was asked why the electricity was turned back on he said it was normal procedure and that the main ring (?) was tested and found to be within safe normal limits.
I need to explain something here, in our house the front and back have been switched but the original mains cable coming from the street is still live and comes in under the sink in the kitchen right along undernethe the taps and sits there redundant and unused, but still live. The fire officer asked the electrican if the original mains cable was live and in use, the electrcitian was adamant that it wasn't live nor in use, the officer asked him to test the cable. It turned out it was live but not in use.
We don't have the (now required?) set of trip switches for each individual zones/things in the house, just a few single trip switches. Some under the sink (not using the redundant cable) and some at the now front of the house.
We are also on the electrical re-wiring programme and awaiting to have the house rewired. Apparently the fire officier that came out said that he has complained to the housing trust about the wiring in our houses on this estate.
I have spoken to my insurance company and made a claim which is down as two claims as they were on seperate days/times. The loss adjuster is coming out on monday but he has said that it is the housing trusts responsiblity to put us in tempory accomodation not the insurance company.
The housing trust has put us up in an old style bed and breakfast hotel in the middle of town which is about 11 miles from where we live. We have no cooking or washing facilities and its costing us a fortune to live. We have to eat out everyday and use expensive laundary services. Plus the cost of traveling to and from where we live to get the kids in school and us to get to work and college.
We've begged the housing trust to put us up somewhere else a little closer to where we live and provide us with something to cook with, but they don't seem interested.
On monday it will be two weeks since the first fire and the housing trust havn't started any work on the rooms affected. They don't seem interested. We're looking at renting privately just to get out of this mess but as our living costs have gone right up we can't afford to be paying deposits and months rent in advanced.
We're really stuck as what to do now, any advice would be great.
Thanks,
Michael
0
Comments
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Have you asked advice from the housing charity Shelter? 0808 800 4444
How old are your kids?
Do you have any documents from the Housing Association,that explains its official complaints procedure?
Have you put any requests to them inwriting?
How long is it estimated you house will take to repair?
I remember when a friend of mine was housed in temporary accommodation with kids,she had a taxi come and take her kids to school every day,which she didn't have to pay for.0 -
The first thing I would suggest is to go through your housing trust official complaints procedure in writing if you get no satisfaction then get in touch with the Housing Ombudsman service assuming your association is a member, you can find out here plus get more information http://www.ihos.org.uk/
Alternately a visit to your local Citizens advice would not go amiss"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
Bertrand Russell. British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)0 -
Have you asked advice from the housing charity Shelter? 0808 800 4444
How old are your kids?
Do you have any documents from the Housing Association,that explains its official complaints procedure?
Have you put any requests to them inwriting?
How long is it estimated you house will take to repair?
I remember when a friend of mine was housed in temporary accommodation with kids,she had a taxi come and take her kids to school every day,which she didn't have to pay for.
I've not spoken to Shelter, will call them now though.
We have 3 children, 6, 7 and 11.
I am aware of the official complains procedure and have considered going down this route.
The house repairs havn't started yet but we've been told around 6-10 weeks hopefully at the most.
The school have arranged for the kids to be taken to and from school by taxi which is starting on monday for free. This is great, but however, we have work and college commitments and have to keep an eye on the house so we have to travel to and from the home area anyway so it isn't saving us much if any money at all.
Thanks,
Michael0 -
Are you in receipt of any benefits?0
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Not even Working Families Tax Credits? 0845 3003900 helpline
If you are,would it be worth contacting them or CAB as Optimist said, in case you are entitled to anything else (just a wild guess)0 -
Not even Working Families Tax Credits? 0845 3003900 helpline
If you are,would it be worth contacting them or CAB as Optimist said, in case you are entitled to anything else (just a wild guess)
Yeah we get working tax and child tax credits, when we're at home we're fine finance wise, but as we have to pay out extra for petrol and food and washing ignoring the fact the kids have no clothes or toys its costing us a lot more per week just living than it would normally.
For example:
Weekly Shopping: £120
Petrol: £30
School dinners for 3 children: £45
Bills: £100
Total: £295
Now at the hotel:
No cooking facilities so we have to eat out every day.
Food: ~£150-£200 per week its around £15 per day just for tea/evening meal.
Petrol: ~£20 per day £120 per week or so.
school dinners and bills £145
Also, with no washing facilities we're having to pay the hotel £5 per small bag of clothes to be washed and dryed and as you can imagine with kids its around 2 bags per day including our clothes, as their uniforms need washing every day.
Total: £405
These are just bare minimum figures off the top of my head, my car tax and insurance renewal is due at the end of this month and if i can't afford to pay these i will have to not use the car which will proberly not save me much if anything but things would be more difficult.
Thanks,
Michael0 -
It must be a very difficult situation.The advice you have been given so far is good,I hope someone else comes along soon who can offer more advice.Don't forget to keep all receipts in the meantime.good luck.0
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