Fault in Sheltered Accommodation

tonyld

Hi
I am hoping someone can advise me here.
My 87 yr old Mum in Law lives in an MHA sheltered housing scheme, she and her husband (who sadly died in April) purchased the apartment new in 2011.

Over the last 2 weeks we had arranged for complete redecoration and new carpet, but when the fitters arrived they discovered and area of concrete floor which had crumbled. We had to postpone the carpet fitting until we checked the rest of the floor. additionally the fitter believed the concrete depth was inadequate (approx 25 mm)

I lifted the carpet in the spare bedroom only to find that the concrete here was soaking wet and the gripper rods had rotted away. (this room is adjacent to the wet room)

The buildings insurance is held by the freeholder and so far (for the crumbling floor) they are refusing to put a claim in to investigate and claim on our behalf, stating that the concrete screed is a 'finish' and therefore not part of the structure of the building. They state they are seeking legal advice. I am waiting to hear about their view on the wet floor.

I am aware of other instances where wet rooms have leaked into neighbouring flats and have been fixed by the freeholder so we may have a precedent for this

Meanwhile my elderly and frail Mother in Law is having to live in a flat with most of her possessions either packed in boxes or piled up around the walls because we cannot put anything back.

Can anyone here advise us of our rights and how we can put this right?
Does the Freeholder have any responsibility for the state of the concrete floor?
Is the Top layer of concrete a 'finish' or does it form part of the structure of the building?
Should we be seeking legal advice on our rights in this kind of circumstance?

Thanks for reading
Regards

Tony

magn8p

Wetrooms, in order to make them waterproof, are tanked - a critical part of building wetrooms which is sometimes overlooked. Please read https://www.ccl-wetrooms.co.uk/technical/wet-room-technical-help-desk/wet-room-construction-details/ for more details about the process.

I suggest that you call an independent bathroom fitter or a plumber to see if the wetroom has been tanked. In your case it sounds like it hasn't been. In this case the freeholding company is clearly at fault for not fixing it her place preemptively especially after fixing same/similar issues with other flats.

Sorry to hear about what she is going through but I hope this issue will resolved soon for her.

tonyld wrote: »

Hi
I am hoping someone can advise me here.
My 87 yr old Mum in Law lives in an MHA sheltered housing scheme, she and her husband (who sadly died in April) purchased the apartment new in 2011.

Over the last 2 weeks we had arranged for complete redecoration and new carpet, but when the fitters arrived they discovered and area of concrete floor which had crumbled. We had to postpone the carpet fitting until we checked the rest of the floor. additionally the fitter believed the concrete depth was inadequate (approx 25 mm)

I lifted the carpet in the spare bedroom only to find that the concrete here was soaking wet and the gripper rods had rotted away. (this room is adjacent to the wet room)

The buildings insurance is held by the freeholder and so far (for the crumbling floor) they are refusing to put a claim in to investigate and claim on our behalf, stating that the concrete screed is a 'finish' and therefore not part of the structure of the building. They state they are seeking legal advice. I am waiting to hear about their view on the wet floor.

I am aware of other instances where wet rooms have leaked into neighbouring flats and have been fixed by the freeholder so we may have a precedent for this

Meanwhile my elderly and frail Mother in Law is having to live in a flat with most of her possessions either packed in boxes or piled up around the walls because we cannot put anything back.

Can anyone here advise us of our rights and how we can put this right?
Does the Freeholder have any responsibility for the state of the concrete floor?
Is the Top layer of concrete a 'finish' or does it form part of the structure of the building?
Should we be seeking legal advice on our rights in this kind of circumstance?

Thanks for reading
Regards

Tony

Furts

I suspect you have a can of worms here. My approach would be to get the warranty policy details issued when MiL purchased , then scrutinise these. Does she have these in the flat, or with a solicitor, for example? Then there are probably two sections, and my guess is years 2+ would apply - could be different hence you have to look. A screed failure would not be deemed structural, but you could argue it is a floor failure. The wet issue would not be deemed structural - it should have been dealt with in years 1-2. Hence I doubt the warranty covers this unless design/build/latent defects are a section in there.

All round I think it is a insurance claim, and also a latent defect. Unfortunately it is also the price you pay for modern building, wet rooms, and sheltered housing/appartment type building.

littlerock

what is a latent defect?

Le_Kirk

littlerock wrote: »

what is a latent defect?

Something which is hidden, in a building, something that could not be determined or seen by a reasonably thorough inspection of the building.

tonyld

Hi all

I just thought I would post here an update on my original issue.
It is now 6 month since the problem was discovered and only last week did we manage to get a face to face with a director and a senior manager of the scheme.

Up to this point we had thrown everything at them - emails, solicitors letters, etc none of which made any impression on them. We just received the 'hand in the face' message - claim through Premier Insurance. It wasn't until we came across an organisation called ARCO who aim to make retirement community owners act responsibly. They took on the issue for us on the basis that we had been treated very badly in our dealings with the management company.

They have now agreed to take on the repairs, liaise with Premier on our behalf and claim what they can, anything not claimable they will cover, and although not actually stated I am pretty sure this is on 'without prejudice' basis.

I just hope that my Mother in Law will live long enough to see the flat restored, she is not in the best of health right now.

Furts

tonyld wrote: »

Hi all

I just thought I would post here an update on my original issue.
It is now 6 month since the problem was discovered and only last week did we manage to get a face to face with a director and a senior manager of the scheme.

Up to this point we had thrown everything at them - emails, solicitors letters, etc none of which made any impression on them. We just received the 'hand in the face' message - claim through Premier Insurance. It wasn't until we came across an organisation called ARCO who aim to make retirement community owners act responsibly. They took on the issue for us on the basis that we had been treated very badly in our dealings with the management company.

They have now agreed to take on the repairs, liaise with Premier on our behalf and claim what they can, anything not claimable they will cover, and although not actually stated I am pretty sure this is on 'without prejudice' basis.

I just hope that my Mother in Law will live long enough to see the flat restored, she is not in the best of health right now.

Good to get feedback, and even better when the feedback is positive. Well done!