Asprea Keep toddler in home with health hazzard

lizeratsi

After a house fire next door, we have subsequnelty had damp from the fire hose, now that is growing thick glossy, fuzzy black mould, it looked like a funnel web spider lurking in the corner! some funny red stuff growing and also usual ciruclar mould patches in two of our three bedrooms and we have damp and some mould down stairs.

We had usual asprea man come to see us, at time i was totally nieve, didnt know what I was doing, what he was doing etc etc. He looked at damp, seemed keen to get going on it and get some dryers in.

However the drying company said the plaster needs to come off NOW, they also said they would file a report to say that there is a
" significant" health hazzard present. My toddler ( 3) has a nasty cough and I had a doctors letter to say that would be certainly exacerbated by the presence of damp and black mould.

Spoke to my surveyor about getting the mould chipped off, and I was amazed that he didnt agree with the dryers report and wanted to wait for two weeks to see what the dryers would do.

I might also point out that there is a wet plug socket he didnt mention even though he " inspected" the house. As to our burnt down phone line " sorry, because its been replaced cant do anything about that".

At this point, alarm bells rang. I had never heard of Asprea before this and I rang a chatered surveyor. He said the skirting needs to come off, to check for damp, rot, the floor void needs looking into, the whole wall re plastered etc etc, basically a proper thorough examination. I called an electrican who of course said, you must not use the wet plug socket, it need to be checked for rust etc.

They refused to accept the mould needed to come off, I spoke to the surveyor and manager, they said they were baffled as to why the drying company had suggested this, i said " maybe because its a health hazzard"? the manager said " yes but mould can be wiped off, why chip plaster off". They spoke to chem dry and left a message to say it would be chipped off.

NEXT BATTLE GETTING RE HOUSED

I called up my doctors and told them the mould had been classified as a significant health hazzard and they advised that we should be re housed if we could be. They wrote a letter to this effect.

I spoke to my asprea surveyor who still, still, said he simply could not justify us moving out.

We are talking about a three years olds lungs and black mould spores!

This is how some of the conversation went, " Mrs xI just cant do it, we have agreed to chip it off, it wont be there anymore, this doesnt make sense!"

" Its there now, in my room, where we sleep, where my daughter wants to sleep with us sometimes"

" yes but its going to be chipped off"

" Oh I see, its going to be chipped off today?"

" well no, but I am actioning it today"

" So there is still a significant health hazzard in my room then isnt there"

In the end I said " Look, you get a health proffesional on the phone to me with credentials who can explain to me why its safe for me, husband and daughter if neccasry to sleep in there, then I will consider it because MY HEALTH PROFFESSIONAL SAYS GET OUT"

I wrote to the complaints line and had a call from a complaints advisor within ten minuets pretending to sound really confused as to why my " surveyor" hadnt just got us re housed. This was 16.30 and we still had no where to go to. There ensued a sort of good cop, bad cop routine with them both phoning me.
the surveyor calling " Mrs x, I have to advise you if you move into alternative accomodation, it wil affect your contents becasue the one will claim a percentage of loss from the other and it could affect your premiums" I asked for an exact explanation of what this meant. I told him E home ( Avia) covered both home and contents. At this I heard him scrabbble around and sound a bit unsure and panicked, " Oh really, hold on, umm, right ok, well I have to advise you of that".

He then told me in a snivelling voice that I had to get a travel inn or premier lodge, I told him I DONT drive and need to be in the local vicinity to get my daughter to toddler group etc. He asked couldnt my husband drive me, I explained my husband had to leave at 8am for work. He said our budget was £60. He then said " Guess what I have found you a hotel Mrs X now, its a little bit more than we are wanting to pay, but if we can get it for tonight and then sort something else out tomorow......"

£60!!! The complaints man then called me up and told me the budget was £75!!!!!! The complaints man kept saying he couldnt get hold of the surveyor, I wonder now actually if they had gone into panic mode, and whilst not on the phone to me were liasing with each other as to how to manipulate me next, " You say £60 so when I say £75 she thinks she is getting lucky, Ok mate, I am going to call her now....."

As time was ticking on the only thing that the surveyor was concerned about was seeing the doctors letter and that was the only reason we were being accomodated.

I cannot belive that if we hadnt had that doctors letter he would have let us either sleep in that room or on the floor in the living room, where there is still damp and a small area of mould. The dryer people said they could spray the mould but didnt want to because of my daughters health.

They knew I could not have the dyers on all the time, therefore they knew it wil take forever to dry that damp and more mould will grow, get worse etc etc, they knew about the first doctors letter, they knew about my daugter and they still wanted to play their game.

How on this earth is this company allowed to operate. i worry about all the people who put thier trust in them! whilst my surveyor is out on so called surveys, reasuring frightened people who have had some nasty calamity, he is actually doing the exact opposite and plotting how to get to get out of helping them!

I am sorry to repeat but to say " I cant justify you moving out of your home" when another company has said there is a significant, seriuos health hazzard present, and a doctor has said we should be given alternative accomodation is the lowest thing in terms of IQ and humanity.

However, we our out.


If you have to make a claim, and you find out asprea are handling that claim, try and by pass aspera from the get go. Speak to your company you are insured with, and tell them you paid for them to handle your claim not asprea, you want a proper loss adjustor to come round and advise you. If your claim isnt big enough they probably wont have assigned you one.

Knowing what I know now, I would personally say to anyone, do not ever let anyone from asprea cross your threshold. Letting someone from asprea in, is akin to letting in a robber with a black strippey top on and a bag saying SWAG.

joanne_d_3

And how are your poor neighbours who have most likely lost evrything they own in the world in this fire in their home?

gordikin

joanne_d wrote: »

And how are your poor neighbours who have most likely lost evrything they own in the world in this fire in their home?

Not the OP's problem...their child is.

lizeratsi

The house with the fire was occupied by at least 7 people from the EU, the landlord told the council only one was living there. Myself and my neighbours on the other side have endured three years of hell from constant noise, large numbers of people smoking under windows in the summer, we cant have windows open, etc etc and ity has now culminated in the fire. One room was severly damaged, and the landlords have done nothing to dry it out since the fire over a month ago. The house in empty.