How much compensation is reasonable?

donnalou

Hi There,

I hope I've posted this in the right place.
Last week we returned from a week away in Devon. We stayed in a place that was listed as a luxurious apartment with unlimited seaviews. Although the apartment was lovely we didn't get any seaviews because 5 of the days we had a huge cherry picker vehicle blocking our view with the engine running so the smell and the noise was awful. As if this wasn't bad enough the outside of the building was being decorated so we had men peering through our windows from 8am. For two days they were scraping paint of the pipes outside the window where my baby was sleeping so she was unable to have a nap. We paid £700 for the week, they have offered me £175 as compensation but I don't think it's enough.

I would be grateful for any advice on this and whether asking for more is being greedy?

Thanks in advance
Donna

greenface

Did they warn you of the work going on ? did they give you any chance to move/cancel or accept. If it was on another property i would argue not a chance . As it was the place you were staying i would hope differently . Did you make any complaints or people aware from day 1 or just when you got home. How was the £175 worked out? did you take photos or better videos ?

donnalou

No we had no warning of the works, I phoned the management company on the Wednesday who informed the letting agent. The letting agent asked if we wanted to move to the Thursday but with a baby and elderly mum I thought it would be too much hassle. £175 is 25% of the cost of the holiday. Yes I got great photos which I've emailed to them.

susancs

donnalou wrote: »

No we had no warning of the works, I phoned the management company on the Wednesday who informed the letting agent. The letting agent asked if we wanted to move to the Thursday but with a baby and elderly mum I thought it would be too much hassle. £175 is 25% of the cost of the holiday. Yes I got great photos which I've emailed to them.

I do think they should have warned you in advance that the outside of the building was being painted and offered either alternative accomodation or a discount for the inconvenience. In regard to the cherry picker which I assume was a local authority machine, I think in fairness that the letting agent cannot be held responsible for this as they probably had no advance notice or control over this. Only you know how much impact the exterior being paining had on your holiday, as we will all have different perspectives. For example our family usually are out from early morning until evening when on holiday so it would have little impact on our holiday, but you might be in more during daytime so it would impact on your holiday enjoyment.

IMO I probably would not look for compensation for Thursday onwards as you were offered a move, but decided for the understandable reasons you stated not to move. For the other days the painters were outside your holiday apartment, You could consider how this impacted on your holiday enjoyment and look for compensation in line with this.

greenface

Why would the cherry picker be a council one ? It will be what they wewre standing on to paint the building . AFAIK. As youve paid it will be difficult to recover all but how much you can recover against what youve been offered is your decision wether its worth the hassle of the fight maybe courts etc . But promise them once compo has been paid you are going to leave bad comments all over the internet about them .(could up the compo) then leave bad comments anyway ..

donnalou

Thanks for your replies. The Cherry Picker wasn't a council one, it was just used to stand on to paint the building.

Anyway the agency rang me today and asked if I had received the email offering 25% back I said I didn't think that was acceptable. She said the owner would then like to offer 50% back. I probably could have pushed for more but rather than go through the hassle I accepted.

kingfisherblue

You were offered the chance to move, but chose not to, so 50% refund is a reasonable deal.

susancs

donnalou wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. The Cherry Picker wasn't a council one, it was just used to stand on to paint the building.

Anyway the agency rang me today and asked if I had received the email offering 25% back I said I didn't think that was acceptable. She said the owner would then like to offer 50% back. I probably could have pushed for more but rather than go through the hassle I accepted.

Apologies for my mistake. I thought a cherrypicker was the raised platform on the back of council trucks that are used for street and traffic light maintenance and to cut back trees over the road, I did not realise that they were used by painters instead of scaffolding. The landlord and letting agents have not behaved well IMO as they knew in advance that you would have a lot of disruptions from the exterior maintenance machines and workers and did not contact you as soon as they knew the work was to go ahead to advise you of it and offer you a reduction or full refund or alternative accomodation. I am glad you got more compensation, but like another poster said, I would be putting a review detailing your experiences.

greenface

"luxurious apartment with unlimited seaviews"

Just going back to your first post . How well and how good was the place . Would you stay again without the disruption . This could be a better deal breaker than a 50% compo