council house with really bad subsidence

scotty6kids

Hi,

I am not sure if this is something that this forum can advise me on however I will post this anyway.

The house that I rent off the council seems to be suffering from pretty bad subsidence and there are some pictures below of the kitchen window downstairs and the upstairs bedroom window (zoom in needed to see the 1 inch gap between the windows and the wall)

img687.imageshack.us/img687/812/23850245.jpg
img180.imageshack.us/img180/3577/94393915.jpg
img693.imageshack.us/img693/3428/26211130.jpg

I don't know what my rights are with the council etc however it does seem that its gotten worse recently and there are cracks appearing on the inside of the house on the bit where the wall & ceiling join.

Is this something that can / will be fixed and is it the councils responsibility to do it whilst at the same time either moving us to another house or doing it whilst we are here.

Many Thanks

iamcornholio

Those images do not show definate subsidence - there may be other causes

Your rights are to have this repaired. It does not appear urgent, and the council may want to monitor it. But my opinion is that they should get an initial drain CCTV survey, and go from there

Also, the house looks fairly modern so it may be a common problem on that estate

If no action is taken by the council, then your rights are to make a claim of disrepair via Solicitors (legal aid or no-win no fee), but the outcome is not certain.

You are obligated to inform the council of any repairs needed, and so you should do this if you have not already done so

The repair will be done with you still in occupation, there is no need for you to be moved out

ormus

it maybe subsidence or maybe not. its not that serious yet.
serious is when you can see through the gap.