Advise on cost of repairs please

fishingcinema

Hi there

some of you may remember me posting a while ago rergarding problems with youths and other tennants in the housing !!! flat i was living in.

I had mp letters, doctors letters along with other letters of support requesting i be moved to other accomidation.

I had meetings at home with the housing association and was told i am not priority, so i said that if need be for my childrens health and saftey and my health i will find private accomidation if they were not willing to help me, i was told this would be a bad mpve but because of the circimstances i took it upon myself to do this.

I wrote a letter to the housing assiciation and handed my keys back into them. phoned housing benifit up and stopped my claim.

This was in june, thursday i get a letter from the housing !!! with a bill for £2222.19

Broken down as
Rent arrears £447.10 Trace fee £78.00
Recharge £1697.09

Item Details Ammount
Recharge repair Recharge repair cost £1346.91
Recharge repair Recharge rapair cost(admin fee) £67.33
Remove all items to tip, replace kitchen door, refit/replce closers to doors, replace missing skirting to lounge and hallway, clean complete property, replace front door lock(only one key) clear shed of all items.

Total services £1414.24
Total vat £282.85
Total due £1697.09

Then on a seperate sheet it states

Make good all holes in ceiling and walls £30
Replace damages kitchen door £131.77
Replace missing/damaged skirting £415.84
Refit closers and replace missing closers to internal doors £56.28
Replace missing/damaged mortice latches £63.44
Clean exceptionaly dirty property £215.90
Clear shed of all items £30
Job slot remove all items in property to tip £205.65
Replace damaged double socket in lounge £28.77
Replace missing smoke detector in hallway £89.71
Replace lock to front door (only one key) £63.37
Cut 2 extra keys for front door £15.00


Now i am no angel and agree that i need to pay for some things but do not think the cost they have billed are appropriet.

I lived in the property for 5 years and when i viewed the flat there were mould patches and central heating pipes sticking up through the floorboards that i was assured would be removed before i got the keys, they never were and i had to pay someone to come and do this, when i spoke to the housing !!! aboth this they said i should have phoned them, the flat was also a state when i moved in, i have pics to prove this and so has my local mp, the housing !!! gave me £100 decorating grant when i moved in.

I agree to certian things and my pricing comes from the b and q trade book.

£30 make good all holes in celings and walls.

Replace missing damaged skirting in lounge/halway although there was only 1 x 14ft wall in the hallway that needed replacing and 1 x 4ft bit in the hallway, i have allowed for cost to replace all the loung and hallway at a cost of £27.46+vat.

Refit closers and replace closers to internal doors, i took the handles off the 2 bedroom doors so my young ones could not close there fingers in the doors, but they were all placed above the bedroom door so were still in the property, at a cost of £3.41 + vat.

£30 Clear shed of all items, i was naughty and left quite a few items in the shed.

Replace damaged double socket in lounge £1.70+ vat.


I do not agree with and think they have over priced

£ 131.77 Replace damaged kitchen door, the doors in the flat were the old heavy fore doors 6mm ply fronted and there was a 2 inch square of the ply missing at the bottom when i moved in, its where a door stop was used on it.

£415.83 Replace missing/damaged skirting, have stated abve in agree to

£56.28 Refit closers and replace missing closers to internal doors, like i said this was only to 2 bedroom doors cost £3.41+ vat

£63.44 Replace missing/damaged mortice latches, if i have googled this right its the little metal surround on the side of the door where it closes. they were never touched so do not see why they would need to be replaced, even if they were they are £0.75p each+ vat x 5 doors in the flat.

£215.90 Clean exceptionaly dirty flat, the only room that was dustyy not dirty was the kitchen as i had tiled worktop and circle sinks when i moved out i had to put the standard sink back in, every room was stripped down to the floorboards and hovered numerous occasions.

£205.65 Job lslot to remove all items in property to tip, the only items left in the flat were 2 x cupboards from the kitchen and the kitchen door fronts as they were properyt of the housing association.

£28.77 Replace damaged double socket in lounge £28.77, this was not damaged simply turned sideways from when i had a fish tank, £1.70 + vat

£89.71 Replace missing smoke detector in hallway, this went off at silly o clock several years ago and would not stop babies were young and sleep was rare so it went to live in the woods, i asked the housing !!! on a home visit regarding this and was told it is not mandatory for the housing !!! to fit smoke alarms in there propertys, even so cost £10.00 inc vat (tool station)

£64.37 replace lock to front door (only one key) i only ever had one key and handed it back even so £8+ vat

£15.00 Cut 2 extra keys for front door, £7.00 but there should be keys with the new door lock they just paid £64.37 for surely.

Like i said i am no angel and admit that some thing needed doing and have been honest, i also appreciate that on top of these costs i have quoted i need to put labour costs onto so lets say 2 days work at £100 a day £200.

Also i never was contaced once about this dispite the housing !!! having my phone number on the millions of letters that i sent to them whilst living in the property and this also brings me to the trace fee of £78.00 why not phone me?? also surely i should have had a quote to say this is what was wrong with the property when you handed it back and this is how much it will cost to fix it, i know why i never received one and why they will not be able to provide me one as it is all done by inhouse staff.

i am after peoples advise on this please, i do not know where to start, what the housing !!! is legaly allowed to or not to do, i am going to see a solicitor on tues and the housing !!! on weds to discuss the whole thing, i have also contacted the housing !!! and received a payment card to start paying as i said i agree to some just not all of it nor there costs, i have not got alot left out of earnings to pay as have a bill of £795pm to pay on privatly rented accomidation and housing benefit only covers £550 as i have 2 girls of similar ages dispite them having seperate rooms, but thats a different story and a decision i made to wake up healthy and safe as a family every morning with my 2 little girls.

Thanks to anyone that reads this, and i appreciate any comments/advise, i am not going to trow a hissy fit if i am told something i do not agree with.

many thanks again :0)

BitterAndTwisted

All of those charges seem perfectly reasonable to me. Why the dickens did you leave stuff in there that needed to be disposed of?

G_M

Write to the HA with a breakdown of what you are willing to pay. Use your post above to list each item you accept responsibility for, and how much you believe you should be charged for it, and also list which items you do NOT feel responsible for, and why.

Take the letter with you and use it as the basis for discussion, then leave it with them.

Bear in mind the costs they are applying are their contractor costs - not the same as getting an odd-job-man in to do the work, or doing it yourself.

Wee_Willy_Harris

All seems pretty standard to me too. In the spirit of Moneysaving and as a heads-up to other tenants who may be in the same position, you could have saved a whole heap of money by leaving the property empty, clean and putting right any damage you admit that you did. You could also have saved a bit more if you'd attended the checkout and provided a forwarding address. I'm afraid that your labour cost estimates are way short of the mark.

fishingcinema

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

All of those charges seem perfectly reasonable to me. Why the dickens did you leave stuff in there that needed to be disposed of?

Please re-read the post
not disputing the cost to clear the shed my own fault and the items left in the property belonged to the housing association, but thanks for your reply.

fishingcinema

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

All seems pretty standard to me too. In the spirit of Moneysaving and as a heads-up to other tenants who may be in the same position, you could have saved a whole heap of money by leaving the property empty, clean and putting right any damage you admit that you did. You could also have saved a bit more if you'd attended the checkout and provided a forwarding address. I'm afraid that your labour cost estimates are way short of the mark.

Attended check out? sorry do not know what this is, and what labour cost should i be looking at then please, thanks.

fishingcinema

G_M wrote: »

Write to the HA with a breakdown of what you are willing to pay. Use your post above to list each item you accept responsibility for, and how much you believe you should be charged for it, and also list which items you do NOT feel responsible for, and why.

Take the letter with you and use it as the basis for discussion, then leave it with them.

Bear in mind the costs they are applying are their contractor costs - not the same as getting an odd-job-man in to do the work, or doing it yourself.

Hi there

Thanks for that, what is their contractor costs please.

many thanks.

Wee_Willy_Harris

fishingcinema wrote: »

Attended check out? sorry do not know what this is, and what labour cost should i be looking at then please, thanks.

Well, for example, the £28.77 to replace the damaged double socket in the lounge, which you have priced up at a couple of quid. I'd say £25 for an electrician to replace a wall socket was pretty much spot on. You can apply the same logic to the rest of your prices.

fishingcinema

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

Well, for example, the £28.77 to replace the damaged double socket in the lounge, which you have priced up at a couple of quid. I'd say £25 for an electrician to replace a wall socket was pretty much spot on. You can apply the same logic to the rest of your prices.

thanks for that.

G_M

fishingcinema wrote: »

Hi there

Thanks for that, what is their contractor costs please.

many thanks.

I'm afraid I don't work for the HA. Or for their contractors. So I don't know what their contractors costs are. Probobly variable depending on the skill-set. Electrician? Carpenter? Plumber... etc

But most contractors charge £30+ just to come out (travelling time and costs etc) and then an hourly rate afer that.

££sc££

When you gave your notice to end the tenancy, did housing association write to you telling you what you needed to do and/or make an appointment for you to show you what you needed to do to prevent a recharge? If you didn't give notice, then you kind of missed your opportunity for this. I wouldn't expect them to be ringing you after you've returned the property giving you quotes, the housing association will rely on rental income and will need to get it relet asap.

If you are unhappy you need to take the issue through their complaints process. In your complaint, I wouldn't bother listing how much you think each job should have cost by getting prices off Google. The HA will have had to employ contractors to do the works, probably on an agreed schedule of rates. Clearly them having too employ an electrician, to travel to the premises and do the works plus VAT, plus the HA's cost of organising the works is going to cost a lot more than getting the part off the net.

Trace fee? - did you give them your forwarding address? -

As a housing officer, most of the costs seems pretty standard and similar to what the organisation i work for charges. (although that doesn't mean I necessarily agree they're good value for money)

Although skirting charge seems high from the description you give.

Make sure you evidence what the property was like when you moved in, they probably hear all the time what tenants say it was like when they move in, so make sure you've got evidence.

If you're certain the place was left clean, ask for photos to the contrary (for the cleaning charge).

And await outcome of formal complaint.