How much compensation shall i ask for?

Widelats

Basically, a cockroach infestation in a block of flats :eek: despite repeated advice given from Pest Control and Environmental Health there was no block treatment done to this block, i have been there just over a year and have had pest control out 3 times already. Environmental Health can not serve a abatement notice on them as the housing company works with the council aparently.

I ended up throwing my carpets away and my cooker and washing machine, i had noticed roach egg cases on the motors, and they were also living under the carpets where i couldn't see them.

Now it is near Ombudsman time, stage 1 and 2 of complaints had the housing lied to me and making up silly excuses, the lies were that there was no infestation in my flat at the time i moved in or any complaints of any pests from the previous tenants, then later i found out from a different section of the housing that in fact there were 2 previous extermination visits in my flat alone before i moved in. They also told various other lies and ignored my first 3 letters to them.

Today i get told there will be block treatment and the excuse was "Not to make excuses for them, but,the area managers thought that a normal pest control soloution in your flat would do the trick" to which i said "But the environmental health and pest control unit have been telling you, for at least 10 years, that block treatment is the only way" to which she more or less agreed then but said nothing.

So, a long story short i may have to go to court, since the block of flats also houses old vulnerable people, disabled, and families with very small kids, what sort of judgement is a court likely to impose on the housing? And what sort of compensation should i ask for or what would be acceptable???

I also have asthma and found roaches cause asthma.

somethingcorporate

Very difficult to quantify to be fair, have you had any identifiable losses you can easily attribute a £ to?

This would be a good starting point. Personally, I'd see what that came to before I thought about anything additional you could ask for. If you have a figure in mind compare it to any quantifiable loss you can come to and see how it compares. For instance, a £100 actual loss caused as a result would look silly in asking for £1k in non-quantifiable damages, so be sensible.

You'd only actually be entitled to anything you can quantify, so anything above this you would probably have to negotiate on and would probably be goodwill. If you have no identifiable loss then I find it extremely hard to believe you would get anything except an apology and a token

Widelats

somethingcorporate wrote: »

Very difficult to quantify to be fair, have you had any identifiable losses you can easily attribute a £ to?

This would be a good starting point. Personally, I'd see what that came to before I thought about anything additional you could ask for. If you have a figure in mind compare it to any quantifiable loss you can come to and see how it compares. For instance, a £100 actual loss caused as a result would look silly in asking for £1k in non-quantifiable damages, so be sensible.

You'd only actually be entitled to anything you can quantify, so anything above this you would probably have to negotiate on and would probably be goodwill. If you have no identifiable loss then I find it extremely hard to believe you would get anything except an apology and a token

Thanks, i was thinking around £300 total, and possibly some cash for the health hazards of roaches (E-coli, dysentry, etc and asthma) and also the nuicence it has caused me, maybe around £1,000 total, but i have to think on it.

somethingcorporate

Anything you cannot quantify expect them to knock you down heavily, 50% as a minimum I would expect.

No basis in fact for this, just conjecture.

Widelats

OK i will keep that in mind. I can quantify and prove that my asthma attacks went up by 900% in a year whilst living in this block, maybe i will get something, i hope this stage 3 complaint offers me a goodwill payment as well or i will take it to court.

fluffnutter

What's the main issue here? Getting the flats sorted or getting some money? I'm not sure I'd have been happy to suffer a 900% increase in asthma attacks for nearly a year regardless of what I could screw out of someone at the end of it. Sod the compo, ever thought of trying to move?

voiceofreason

Proc has a valid point.

What have you done yourself about it, OP?

Ivory_Tinkler

OP I think you are holding out to see what you can screw out of the council.

In another thread - Dodgy Landlord - you have advised someone to go to environmental health due to a problem with their living accommodation. You told them that you went to environmental health yourself and got moved out of unsatisfactory accommodation within 3 weeks. So if your asthma attacks have gone up by 900% in 12 months, how come haven't you followed your own advice and got moved again on health grounds?

Somehow something isn't quite right with this and I remember your other posts about cockroaches and swine flu and how you didn't seem to grasp the concept of getting off your backside and helping yourself out.

fluffnutter

Ivory_Tinkler wrote: »

You told them that you went to environmental health yourself and got moved out of unsatisfactory accommodation within 3 weeks. So if your asthma attacks have gone up by 900% in 12 months, how come haven't you followed your own advice and got moved again on health grounds?

I reckon the OP has moved. Now just after a bit of wedge.

Colliefrog

I think there should be a new board named I've Been Slightly Inconvenianced, How Much Dosh Can I Make Out Of It?

4743hudsonj

voiceofreason wrote: »

Proc has a valid point.

What have you done yourself about it, OP?

Well if you look HERE you can see the OP is extremely worried about this and is willing to do almost anything to kill these roaches.:T

EDIT: OP is even contemplating going to the AUS to escape this, here. Looks like a few roaches are enough to scare them to a place where snakes, venomous spiders, scorpions and cockroaches are the norm........