NI Housing Executive

spike7451

Well,I am well urined off with NIHE today...I had a plumber out last Wed,should've been Monday but after waiting in all day,I got a phonecall at 4pm telling me they wouldn't be coming out. (I had also re-scheduled a job interview as well as they clashed for the Monday!)
So he came out Wednesday,then said they'd be back Thurs or Fri that week to complete the job (replace the loo cistern)..waited in...no show!
Got a phone call yesterday saying they'd be back this morning...still no sign of them as yet!

BigAndy_79

Am sorry to hear that, Spike. I totally understand your frustration. They are unimaginably horrendous, they really are.

Update on proceedings: Guy arrived today (through Halifax H.E.C. insurance, I might add) and has found it to be due to bad ventilation fittings in the roofspace. All I know at present, but at least something has been done. Praise be to the Halifax URCA Home Emergency Cover, it must be said ! They have done within 48 hours what the H.E. took weeks NOT to do....

spike7451

BigAndy_79 wrote: »

Am sorry to hear that, Spike. I totally understand your frustration. They are unimaginably horrendous, they really are.

Update on proceedings: Guy arrived today (through Halifax H.E.C. insurance, I might add) and has found it to be due to bad ventilation fittings in the roofspace. All I know at present, but at least something has been done. Praise be to the Halifax URCA Home Emergency Cover, it must be said ! They have done within 48 hours what the H.E. took weeks NOT to do....

Cheers Andy,Plumbers here now,he got held up a few minutes.I've no problem with the majority of the tradesman,it's the management & organisation I find......:eek:

highrisklowreturn

I know exactly what you mean by levels of service.

Back in 2005 I was going through maybe the most difficult period of my life. I was virtually homeless, had bombed uni and was living out of hostels. I've since got my life back on track with a good job and own my own house which I paid for out of savings (mortgaged) and at the time I applied to the NIHE for a house. I knew the waiting lists for 'good' areas would be monstrously long so put down for the donegall road. Virtually everytime I went into the office the staff - Victoria St, Belfast - used to have a snigger and murmur over to their colleagues "it's yer man again' or something to that effect. I found this totally degrading but kept stum. On another occasion, as my address kept changing I had to visit quite regularly to see if they had found a house for me, one staff member offered the other "£20 to deal with that guy."

Given my circumstances I didn't wish to complain or raise an issue and felt grateful for any help I could get to lift me out of my predicament but looking back it does anger me that people with entirely unhelpful and unsympathetic attitudes can find employment with a major public welfare body ostensibly which exists to help the poor or those, like myself, who happen to screw up a few things and find themselves down and out.

After I got my house I later saw one of the fellows who worked in the office parading around Sandy Row in a nice suit - promoted, I suppose.

I work now for a major public sector body and find the same attitudes amongst staff myself. The problem with these organisations is that very often the immediate line management who are responsible for staff conduct and discipline arn't doing their jobs and consider themselves doing well so long as their popular in their respective places of work.

Maybe it's always been like this.

BigAndy_79

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

I know exactly what you mean by levels of service.

Back in 2005 I was going through maybe the most difficult period of my life. I was virtually homeless, had bombed uni and was living out of hostels. I've since got my life back on track with a good job and own my own house which I paid for out of savings (mortgaged) and at the time I applied to the NIHE for a house. I knew the waiting lists for 'good' areas would be monstrously long so put down for the donegall road. Virtually everytime I went into the office the staff - Victoria St, Belfast - used to have a snigger and murmur over to their colleagues "it's yer man again' or something to that effect. I found this totally degrading but kept stum. On another occasion, as my address kept changing I had to visit quite regularly to see if they had found a house for me, one staff member offered the other "£20 to deal with that guy."

Given my circumstances I didn't wish to complain or raise an issue and felt grateful for any help I could get to lift me out of my predicament but looking back it does anger me that people with entirely unhelpful and unsympathetic attitudes can find employment with a major public welfare body ostensibly which exists to help the poor or those, like myself, who happen to screw up a few things and find themselves down and out.

After I got my house I later saw one of the fellows who worked in the office parading around Sandy Row in a nice suit - promoted, I suppose.

I work now for a major public sector body and find the same attitudes amongst staff myself. The problem with these organisations is that very often the immediate line management who are responsible for staff conduct and discipline arn't doing their jobs and consider themselves doing well so long as their popular in their respective places of work.

Maybe it's always been like this.

Thanks for your comment - it makes interesting reading.

The !!!. Manager I spoke to was an absolute disgrace of a person. I work for a big UK company and know a lot about customer service, treating customers fairly, etc., and the way in which he said things to me and what he said was truely unbelievable.

I am not sure as to where to take this situation now. I have no faith in any of them ever getting back to me, even though we have found the cause of the problem.

miserly_mum

I've never heard of NIHE being responsible for repairs on their ex properties???

When I met my now Hubby he was living in an ex-NIHE house that he owned and he had to take out buildings insurance when he took out his mortgage.

My Aunt owns her flat thats in a block of 4 and the other three are all rented from NIHE.

Yes they do certain maintainance work on her flat such as external paintwork cleaning of gutters, fencing etc BUT thats because she pays an annual Service Charge to them for doing so.She was offered this at the time she bought the property from the NIHE.

The NIHE are not responsible for maintaining her property she is and that was a stipulation when they sold it to her. She chooses to pay them to do as it saves her having to get tradesmen in to do it for her.

The service charge only covers certain things and she is responsible for repairs to her property.

gerf

i own an ex exec flat and pay a service charge for maintenance and yes you can choose to do it yourself but they have a schedule of maintenance for other rented flats in my block and it seems foolish to do it myself just before they would be doing it on schedule. i have written to the local office when things like grass in the gutters got very bad and they did fix within a month but only when a proper formal letter was written - going in or phoning got us nowhere. there is a separate issue of buildings insurance which is not electable. you pay this separate to the service charge. i asked for and got a copy of the policy and it is like any normal buildings insurance. we had a broken window and i got a claim form from the broker. i have had the window fixed but haven't filled in the claim form yet. but i presume it will be like any other insurance claim - £25 excess on glass btw. for big andy the broker is marsh ltd bedford st belfast 02890556100 and it appears to me they deal with all exec/ex exec property in norn iron. good luck.

miserly_mum

gerf wrote: »

there is a separate issue of buildings insurance which is not electable. you pay this separate to the service charge. i asked for and got a copy of the policy and it is like any normal buildings insurance. we had a broken window and i got a claim form from the broker. i have had the window fixed but haven't filled in the claim form yet. but i presume it will be like any other insurance claim - £25 excess on glass btw. for big andy the broker is marsh ltd bedford st belfast 02890556100 and it appears to me they deal with all exec/ex exec property in norn iron. good luck.

Surely the OP would know if he was paying the type of service charges /insurance Gerf is talking about? If he isn't then why would he expect the HIHE to do his repairs when they don't even own the property any more?

It's almost impossible to get any repairs done as an NIHE tenant nowadays and the list of things they won't repair gets longer and longer every year. That is one of the main reasons i'm no longer an NIHE tenant.

BigAndy_79

Hi Folks.

Just a quick message to tell you that I have finally had this solved. The NIHE sent me a letter that I got about ten days ago, apologising about the level of service on this occasion falling below the "normally excellent standards." Hmmmm. Anyway, after them sending a PLUMBER from Red Sky, I unexpectantly opened the door on Friday to two gentlemen who spent time insulaating my roofspace, and the problem now appears to have been resolved !

I shall now be taking the time to answer the questions on the form that they have sent me, as I really did have one damn terrible experience with them !!