Redrow Homes!!!!!!!!!

Lloyd74

Hello, 3 years ago I bought a brand new one bedroomed ground floor flat built by Redrow.

Last October when I came back from holiday, boiling hot water had started to drip through my bathroom light and a brown stain appeared on the ceiling. I got onto the management company straight away (they are the people who "maintain and manage" the site shall I say) to see if they will send someone around to locate and stop the leak.

It turned out that the company they sent was and still is owed £14,000+ for work previously done on this site so needless to say they were reluctant to carry out the necessary work as the ceiling needed to be taken down. They visited a couple of times during November and December but failed to do anything.

As a result the leak gradually got worse and just after christmas it got to a point where the leak got out of control and flooded my bathroom and part of the kitchen floor. The ceiling is destroyed and I now need a new bathroom and kitchen floor.

I got hold of the management company (eventually) to see what I needed to do next and they informed me that I needed to get 2 quotes from local building contractors and pass them on to them. I did that within a week but it took them 6 weeks to decide which one to give the go ahead. Finally they gave the go ahead for the cheapest one to carry out the work but now it seems that this particular builder is a bit reluctant to do the work too as he has to invoice the management company who still owe £14k+ to another contractor and also owe in excess of £34k to various energy and water companies.

So now I am stuck with a hole in my bathroom ceiling and ruined kitchen and bathroom floors and no one to fix it.

This ultimately is Redrow's fault because when I eventually got a plumber around (3 full wheelie bins of hot water and 24 hours after all hell broke loose) he told me that whoever installed the pipes running above my ceiling did not push them completely in so therefore over time the pipe above pushed down on the pipe below and gradually opened up a gap allowing hot water to escape. Redrow also in all of their wisdom put the stop !!!! under the sink (as you do) but then put a large piece of panelling in front of it, completely blocking access to it so I could not shut the water off. The only way we shut the supply off was to cut the supply to the whole block of flats. When we did this the plumber then literally took 1 minute to push the pipe back together and tighten it, something which Redrow did not do.

As a result of Redrow's poor workmanship I now have about £1000+ worth of damage not to mention a day and a half off work and £55 callout charge to the plumber.

WHAT CAN I DO????????

I have been trying to sell the flat for the past year to move back closer to my widowed mother but clearly no one will buy it with a huge hole in the ceiling. I have now had to take it off the market.

I pay this management company £97 a month which includes all kinds of things like buildings insurance, gas, water, electric etc. It also includes landscaping of the gardens, window cleaning and litter picking. I had a letter last week stating that these services are now suspended due to their cash flow problems (so where is my £97 a month going) and will no longer be under taken but there was no indication of a reduction in the monthly fee.

Shall I see my solicitor?

I also believe there could be more problems above my ceiling as I can hear dripping every now and then but I can't see where it's dripping from. I can just hear it hitting the ceiling.

I will name the Management Company if someone asks and if its right to do so.

Advice on what I could do or who I could see is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Tom_Jones

make a claim on your building insurance.

Lloyd74

I have, its done through the management company as part of the £97 a month fee.

phill99

Lloyd74 wrote: »

Shall I see my solicitor?

Yes, Given the situation you have described, I don't see there is an alternative. Most Managament Companies are affiliated to Billy the Kid and Wyatt Erp.