A little vent about my horrible house

aliasojo

MamaMoo wrote: »

He told me he wasn't doing anything else as he hadn't been told to. I called the council, who apologised for not telling Bob what needed doing, and they called him and told him what to do.

Bob, however, refused. Told us there was nothing wrong with our windows (even the guy waiting to do the fungicidal wash was telling him he could clearly see what needed doing!)

Who did you speak to at the council?

I'm assuming it wasn't anyone 'up high' otherwise Bob would have done what he was told.

You need to escalate this.

cavework

6 weeks response is pretty good also taking into account the Xmas break.
Do you have a tumble dryer and if so is it externally vented?
You have asked for this problem to be sorted out and your landlord has proved they are trying to resolve the problem .
Work with them and if you still have a problem after they have done everything they think is necessary , you will then be perfectly within your rights to take things further.

MamaMoo_2

aliasojo wrote: »

Who did you speak to at the council?

I'm assuming it wasn't anyone 'up high' otherwise Bob would have done what he was told.

You need to escalate this.

I spoke to a call centre operative who phoned the depot manager, and it was the repair depot manager who called Bob.

MamaMoo_2

cavework wrote: »

6 weeks response is pretty good also taking into account the Xmas break.
Do you have a tumble dryer and if so is it externally vented?
You have asked for this problem to be sorted out and your landlord has proved they are trying to resolve the problem .
Work with them and if you still have a problem after they have done everything they think is necessary , you will then be perfectly within your rights to take things further.

It's been 7 weeks today.

And so far, the windows should have been dealt with 3 times, twice the guy has done bug*er all (in fact yesterday he spent 30 minutes lurking in my bedroom with the mould guy rabbiting on about football. The mould guy was just ignoring him, bless him, but Bob wouldn't shut up)

If Bob had done his job the first time, this would have been fixed 31 days ago, but Bob hadn't been given the info, so it was forgivable.

Then no-one turned up for the appointment on Tuesday night.

Then yesterday, despite being told what needed doing, he didn't bother. The guy was a complete idiot. He kept losing his drill (that he was using to tighten the handles on my windows. Genius, as they're now so tight that they're hard to open.)

He ignored the job description and then basically called me and my husband liars, even though we can prove there washer problems with the windows (the toilet window is half held in with filler that my husban put there just to keep it temporarily held in place)

Oh, and the damp inspector wrote a list of what needed doing, and this was then confirmed when the service manager came around, and agreed that everything was necessary.

I'm just fed up now.

4th time lucky, eh?

rustyboy21

My OH's mum told me a story a while back, who was in a similar situation to yourself.

They lived in a very damp, very cold council house. One of her son's who was born with cystic fibrosis was always really bad in the house, especially in the winter. Whatever and whoever she spoke to, didn't sort the problem out, so took it into her own hands.

One morning, she packed up her ill son, packed a blanket, sandwiches and drinks and headed to the council offices. She asked to see the manager in charge of repairs, who wouldn't come down to see her. She said ok and went over into the middle of the floor of reception , laid the blanket out, sat on it and nursed her ill son. At lunch, they had a picnic, people passing by and looking, but not saying anything to her. Late afternoon, a man came and spoke to her. He said '' Mrs D, You look like you are not going to move from here are you?'' She said no, until something was sorted. He sat on the blanket with her and discussed what was wrong. He saw her son was really ill, went made a few calls and came back saying there is someone coming with a set of keys, have a look at the house, if it is ok , It is yours. If not someone will be out in a few days to sort the house out.

She left with the keys, the house was 4 doors down from where they lived. Even with no heating on it was drier and warmer than there house. The neighbours helped move them in that night ! She still lives there, and the people who moved into her old house are still having problems.

What I am trying to say is , Don't just rely on telephone, emails and letters. Make a nuisance of yourself, in a passive and calm nature. Don't know if it will still work ( This was 30 years ago ) but demonstration can work sometimes. Don't tkae no for an answer.

Good luck Mamma, try to keep your chin up !

darkpool

MamaMoo wrote: »

Yes, it's being sorted for free, but as I pay 100% of my rent, plus my council tax, plus an added "service charge" on top of my rent, I think that's the least I'm entitled to. Even if I lived in private rented accommodation, it would be the landlord's responsibility to sort it at no cost to myself.
Also, 6 weeks is a long time when you have two sick children. If you have kids, I'm sure you know in your heart of hearts that you'd be fighting this too.

i pay council tax as well, but i don't expect the council to fix my house for free.

i don't think 6 weeks over christmas is unreasonable to wait for repairs.

MamaMoo_2

darkpool wrote: »

i pay council tax as well, but i don't expect the council to fix my house for free.

i don't think 6 weeks over christmas is unreasonable to wait for repairs.

You seem to be missing the point. If they weren't so stupid and bothered to communicate, this job would have been done weeks ago!

[Deleted User]

you have been messed about terribly op. My dh and I would have done something about the windows and the cause of the problem by ourselves well before now. What exactly needs doing? Is the problem an obvious one that can be fixed by yourseves eg silicone, broken gutter whatever? Trouble is we have a section of society now that leans too much on the council and has lost initiative

MamaMoo_2

kittie wrote: »

you have been messed about terribly op. My dh and I would have done something about the windows and the cause of the problem by ourselves well before now. What exactly needs doing? Is the problem an obvious one that can be fixed by yourseves eg silicone, broken gutter whatever? Trouble is we have a section of society now that leans too much on the council and has lost initiative

We've been told they need realigning, the rubber seals replacing, and the foamy seals around the glass need replacing. The silicone is the smallest of jobs, and I'd happily do it myself, but there's no point until everything else is done and unfortunately, I wouldn't have a clue how to realign a window

KxMx

darkpool wrote: »

i pay council tax as well, but i don't expect the council to fix my house for free.

i don't think 6 weeks over christmas is unreasonable to wait for repairs.

We're not talking minor repairs here, like a faulty window handle or a dodgy toilet.

We are talking fixing something that is affecting the occupants health!