leaking water at front of communal flats

yogiberr

Hiya,

We have an issue with the above.We have a "common", comprehensive buildings insurance policy with the factor.The factor says that this isn't covered under the insrance, and that it will cost each resident X amount to repair.That in itself is hard enough to take.Now, 3 out of the 8 residents have paid, but the factor says that we have to wait till everyone has paid before the work can begin.

The leaking water is leaking on to a public footpath, and as far as I see represents a health & safety and environmental health risk.Therefore, it should be a mandatory repair.Who can I talk to to get this repair designated as mandatory? ( I hate stumping up cash as much as the next guy, but I'd rather avoid paying more in the long run due to increased damage, or worse, a lawsuit)

Many thanks for any advice.

yogi

latecomer

I think you can get the council involved and they can arrange for the repairs to be done but of course this is not normally the cheapest option. At least in our case it would remove the need for individuals to chase payments as the council would deal with it.

yogiberr

ok, but why can't I simply get them to denote the repair as "mandatory"?
Then, surely the factor would have the sway to get everyone to pay, rather than simply requesting payment.

I don't want to make life difficult/ expensive for anyone.
In any case, which department in the coulcil would i contact?

Has anyone else been down the same road?

Many thanks,

yogi

adaze

I would think the management company is probably within their rights not to do the work without full payment. Having said that though, you would also think they could just carry out the work then bill the people that haven't paid. I wouldn't know what would make it a mandatory fix, you could perhaps "slip" on the puddle its leaving.....

yogiberr

hiya Adaze,

That's the entire point of my initial post.I wouldn't "think" that the management company would do anything other than the bear minimum.Certainly, our experience up to now has been just that.So, we can rule that out.

Surely someone on the list has been in a simlilar position and got the council to designate the problem as a mandatory repair / similar????????????

Thanks

adaze

I think you could probably only get the council involved if it becomes a health and safety hazard (or maybe anti-social/ nuisance?), which it well could do if it is a puddle stretching onto public property and it freezes. If that was the case then the council might be interested.

Alias_Omega

The local water board carry out one repair free of charge..

We had an issue with a water pipe repair, and took ages to sort in the end, but they said they could come out and repair it free.

latecomer

This is the leaflet from Edinburgh council on statory notice work. Check with your local council to see if they have something similar:

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/internet/Attachments/Internet/Housing/Private_tenants_and_home_owners/Homeworks/Homeworks%20leaflets/Statutory%20Notice%20Leaflet.pdf

yogiberr

hiya Alias_Omega,

That sounds like a great idea.You probably don't live in the same area as me (Glasgow), but could you tell me where you got the info that officially states that the water board have to carry out a free repair, that'd be a great help :-)
It'd mean that I could go to them armed with the information, and that should speed things up.

many thanks,

yogi

yogiberr

hiya,

no joy with Scottsih Water, so I'll go down the statutory work route.

ta,

yogi