hallway carpet destroyed; housing association won't cover damages

JJ_Egan

catalina66 wrote: »

I believe they're negligent about not fixing what must be a bigger issue. They did a patch up job in unblocking the drain, but I really am wondering if the pipes are not laid correctly, thus water flooding back into the house.

In that case you need to prove it by getting what you think is faulty examined . No use wondering about and feeling its wrong .

catalina66

JJ_Egan wrote: »

In that case you need to prove it by getting what you think is faulty examined . No use wondering about and feeling its wrong .

I just feel that if water is washing back into the property a second time in the same way, that surely must show that the HA aren't fixing a more major issue. Also, it's rented sheltered housing. My health really isn't good. I'm not a scrounger or anything; I just feel that there seems to be an obvious problem that the HA aren't looking into properly. I'm not wondering etc. I posted here as I don't practically know what to do. I can't pay out lots of money to have surveys etc, as I'm already down on my finances due to losing the carpet and wondering what to do about that. Vital white goods via Littlewoods, and money is needed for that, plus various things relevant to health.

kazzah

similar happened to my late MIL when a huge water tank in the flat above her was badly repaired and ended up having a massive leak and ruined all my MIL's carpets ( actually things were so damaged she had to move out of the flat whilst it was repaired and dried out)
the HA tried VERY hard to get my MIL to claim on her household insurance but hubby and I flatly refused to let her-
there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing but eventually they capitulated and paid for replacement carpets and re-decorating throughout
keep on at them - perhaps think about the local press - often these HA don't like negative publicity - and might just cave in - I really think they are being very mean - a hallway carpet isn't going to cost a huge amount of money
good luck

JJ_Egan

Contact your local councillor and or local MP .

wealdroam

catalina66 wrote: »

JJ_Egan wrote: »

]In that case you need to prove it by getting what you think is faulty examined . No use wondering about and feeling its wrong .

I'm not wondering etc.

Make up your mind.
You were the first to mention wondering:

catalina66 wrote: »

...I really am wondering if the pipes are not laid correctly, thus water flooding back into the house.

catalina66 wrote: »

I posted here as I don't practically know what to do. I can't pay out lots of money to have surveys etc, as I'm already down on my finances due to losing the carpet and wondering what to do about that. Vital white goods via Littlewoods, and money is needed for that...

These are all very good reasons why you need insurance.
In fact these are very good reasons why a person in your position cannot afford not to have insurance.

catalina66

kazzah wrote: »

similar happened to my late MIL when a huge water tank in the flat above her was badly repaired and ended up having a massive leak and ruined all my MIL's carpets ( actually things were so damaged she had to move out of the flat whilst it was repaired and dried out)
the HA tried VERY hard to get my MIL to claim on her household insurance but hubby and I flatly refused to let her-
there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing but eventually they capitulated and paid for replacement carpets and re-decorating throughout
keep on at them - perhaps think about the local press - often these HA don't like negative publicity - and might just cave in - I really think they are being very mean - a hallway carpet isn't going to cost a huge amount of money
good luck

Sorry to hear about your MIL having to go through that, but I'm glad with your and your partner's support that things worked out fairly ... I think organisations nowadays try to pressure everyone to pay through the nose, when it may not be at all right to, and many just go along with that unquestioningly ... glad you didn't. Good advice, which I'll follow up, and I appreciate your understanding.

catalina66

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Contact your local councillor and or local MP .

Thank you for advice. Appreciate it.

catalina66

wealdroam wrote: »

Make up your mind.
You were the first to mention wondering:

These are all very good reasons why you need insurance.
In fact these are very good reasons why a person in your position cannot afford not to have insurance.

Really don't need this kind of criticism when I'm clearly struggling with this situation. Obviously I know insurance would have been preferable, and now it's not possible, as covered earlier in the thread. The concern is how to prevent further flooding, and deal with the aftermath of this flood.

tomtontom

molerat wrote: »

The HA could only be held responsible if they were negligent. Saying the same happened 3 years ago and they fixed it does not imply negligence. This is something that would be covered by insurance and the insurers may then argue liability with the HA. A hard lesson learned on the importance of insurance I think.

This ^^

On the information given the council are maintaining the drains as they should be. Unless you can prove otherwise you are going to struggle to get anywhere with their insurers.

Sounds like you could do with help with your budgeting - insurance should not be optional. Post on the Debtfree Wannabe board and they'll help you better manage your income and outgoings.

catalina66

tomtontom wrote: »

This ^^

On the information given the council are maintaining the drains as they should be. Unless you can prove otherwise you are going to struggle to get anywhere with their insurers.

Sounds like you could do with help with your budgeting - insurance should not be optional. Post on the Debtfree Wannabe board and they'll help you better manage your income and outgoings.

I'm good with budgeting, but thank you for directing me to the board. Appreciate that. I was just taken by surprise in this instance. Didn't know that things had changed to needing to have your own insurance. Have been in rented property for a long time, but had a lot of serious things happening in recent years, and didn't know things had changed.

They may be maintaining the drains but I still feel there must be something wrong with the angle of the pipes, for the same problem to happen despite any cleaning that's been done. And I had thought with the issue repeating they would look at the pipes; surprised they haven't.