Please advise: Council grant work - major problems

fad1211

HI, I wonder if anybody could help advise me.

My 90 year old gran had her house done up in grant work about 10 years ago. This was a major project taken up by the council and they were renovating blocks of houses at a time by one particular contractor.

Now everything seemed OK, except for the damp proofing. My nan stays alone, and her backroom has always been used as a storage room, so nobody really went in there.

Due to age, she has decided to move in with my parents, and the property is now empty. When I emptied the back room today, there was unbelievable damp all accross the walls, and the wooden floor is also rotton, so much so that my ds fell through the floor.

This damp work was suppose to have been done 10 years ago, by the councils contractors, which they clearly failed to do, but took the money from council anyway.

I rang the council up today, who has informed me there is nothing they can do. The contractors have gone bust, but my argument is that the council should still be liable as their inspectors approved of the work which wasnt done. Poor gran cannot afford to pay thousands for damp proofing so I wanted to know is there anything that can be done. Is the council liable?

I appreciate any advise and replies, thanks for reading, Marilyn.

CaptainKidd

As you say the room hasent been used in years, so probably no ventilation and circulation of air which wouldnt have helped with the dampness, also i am not getting a dig in here but would it not be partley your grans fault for not reporting the problem sooner, just because the room was rarely used and full of stuff is no excuse as dampness can usualy be smelt quite obviousley.

Iam guessing this is a bought house? If so does your nan have insurance she could make a claim?