Help For Boyfriend

ultimatedingbat

Hiya,
I'm writing this for my boyfriend as he doesnt have a PC. I really want to be able to help him out with some problems he is having. Before people judge me for doing this, he struggles with literacy so would struggle a lot to do this on phones with people.

On 23rd December a pipe burst in the flat upstairs and it;s caused some damage to his bathroom. Plaster on the ceiling is !!!!!!ed and there's water dripping. The paint is ruined and some stuffs been water damaged.

It's now January 5th and the council still have not been out!

He has been staying with me over xmas and his friend has been looking after his place. It's lucky really because he has had the flu and a chest infection!

I am trying to find out whether this is all really how it's supposed to be? He has no way to bath and has to go to a friends to shower, and currently cant use the bathroom sink, and then to top it off he gets a mini shower when he goes to the loo.

It's damp and it isn't his fault but the council aren't coming out to fix it! They've said it might e ven be another week.

They really do take the mick. In his hallway ceiling there's been something dead between the floorboards of upstairs and his ceiling (the pool of blood soaked into the ceiling) and they council confirmed somethings dead but havent done anything so it smells.

His kitchen is barely passable (they've been promising a refit since february last year and still not done it!)

IS there anything to be done? Can anyone give me advice to give him?
Thanks

dmg24

Did you mean to post on the Benefits board? You would be best to repost on the Renting board.

seven-day-weekend

I actually don't think that it has been a very long time if it only happened on the 23rd January. There have been Christmas and New Year holidays in between.

Can he manage using the kitchen sink instead of the bathroom for now? I wouldn't hold your breath about the kitchen refit. Councils have no money for things like that, so if it the kitchen is workable you may have to wait a long time.

I would still keep ringing them though, to give them a prod.

Oldernotwiser

I agree with 7DW. There's only been about 6 working days since the incident, many council staff will have taken extra holidays and there will have been lots of broken pipes etc. during this period.

Has he put a claim in on his contents insurance for any damaged belongings?

ultimatedingbat

It just seems insane they can leave it in such a state as it would have affected his health. It's damp and there is still water coming through. Isn't it making more work for them? The plaster is off the roof now, the walls are ruined, the paint is ruined (annoying as we just decorated!!!)

THe items damaged aren't worth claiming on insurance and he is using the kitchen sink currently.

Kitchen refit - It is barely liveable/useable. HE has no working oven/cooker so he is using a camping stove and a microwave, a nackered kitchen sink, cupboards with no doors (all the councils work i might add after their 'starting' of the refit).

ultimatedingbat

Realised i missed an important note lol i posted it here as he is on housing benefit

worbikeman

Same thing happened to me last year only it wasnt fresh water leaking thru the bathroom ceiling it was raw sewage from all the 10 floors above me (a split soil pipe, apparantly). I had buckets and cloths down all the time and had to keep rinsing them out and changing them. The smell was horrendous. It took the council SEVEN WEEKS to bother to come round and sort it. Ironically the building was full of workmen doing tenants' decent homes refurbs at the time, but being as I'm a leaseholder - tough sht. One sympathises.

ultimatedingbat

worbikeman wrote: »

Same thing happened to me last year only it wasnt fresh water leaking thru the bathroom ceiling it was raw sewage from all the 10 floors above me (a split soil pipe, apparantly). I had buckets and cloths down all the time and had to keep rinsing them out and changing them. The smell was horrendous. It took the council SEVEN WEEKS to bother to come round and sort it. Ironically the building was full of workmen doing tenants' decent homes refurbs at the time, but being as I'm a leaseholder - tough sht. One sympathises.

THankfully this is fresh water!

Loopy_Girl

ultimatedingbat wrote: »

THe items damaged aren't worth claiming on insurance and he is using the kitchen sink currently.

Really? For a start he has no cooker...if there was ever a time to utilise your insurance then I think a time like this would be appropriate.

To be honest though I am getting the impression that he doesn't have any at all.

Oldernotwiser

ultimatedingbat wrote: »

Kitchen refit - It is barely liveable/useable. HE has no working oven/cooker so he is using a camping stove and a microwave, a nackered kitchen sink, cupboards with no doors (all the councils work i might add after their 'starting' of the refit).

But that's not the council's fault, surely?

ultimatedingbat

The cooker isn't the councils fault, it was a simple case of it's broken and he couldnt afford a new one till recently. But then the council basically told him not to get anything for the kitchen until they do the refit because they ahve to wrip everything out of it to do the refit.

And as the cooker wasnt damanged by the water and clearly wasnt he cant claim on insurance for that. He does have insurance but thankfully all that was damaged by the bathroom itself was a radio and some other bits. As it isn't his pipe that's burst, not his fault.