Local Authority caused damage to my property

UKSBD

Did they remove the downpipe too?

Judging by the brackets it looks like there was a gutter downpipe where the scaffolding is, it may have come down and extended on the flat roof to the other guttering.

If they moved it to make room for the scaffolding, you've now got all the water hitting the flat roof right where it is probably indented due to weight of scaffold.

Cocktail74

pmartin86 wrote: »

Obviously I'd keep on at the council and find out why they (or their contracted builder) decided to put scaffholding oon your property without even consulting you, but you have to admint, that roof is in poor condition and I think poputting ALL the blame on them is a bit of a push. Id be realistic in your expectations as there is clearly longstanding issues with ponding and what seems to be a significant depression thats been there for some time.

Thanks for your response, I agree that the roof does need some work, but it wasnt until after the scaffolding was put up was there a problem. I can evidence this with the council with photos of the area before and now.

UKSBD wrote: »

Did they remove the downpipe too?

Judging by the brackets it looks like there was a gutter downpipe where the scaffolding is, it may have come down and extended on the flat roof to the other guttering.

If they moved it to make room for the scaffolding, you've now got all the water hitting the flat roof right where it is probably indented due to weight of scaffold.

Yes they removed the down pipe and left it in the garden.

pmartin86

Cocktail74 wrote: »

Thanks for your response, I agree that the roof does need some work, but it wasnt until after the scaffolding was put up was there a problem. I can evidence this with the council with photos of the area before and now.

Appologies, just re-read my reply and realised it come accross a bit preachy, it was meant to be more along the lines of nudging you to how the council/builders might see it. Even if they have caused the damage, their still luikly to try and limit their liability and "histroic" damage is likely to be a key factor in doing that.

tired_dad

If they have removed a downpipe without consulting you, then surely they have liability.

Take pics of downpipe.

If you have legal cover with home insurance now is the time to call.

Cocktail74

pmartin86 wrote: »

Appologies, just re-read my reply and realised it come accross a bit preachy, it was meant to be more along the lines of nudging you to how the council/builders might see it. Even if they have caused the damage, their still luikly to try and limit their liability and "histroic" damage is likely to be a key factor in doing that.

Not at all, I think most of us would have the same view if we it was assumed we were responsible for similar damage.

tired_dad wrote: »

If they have removed a downpipe without consulting you, then surely they have liability.

Take pics of downpipe.

If you have legal cover with home insurance now is the time to call.

Ill be calling them again tomorrow to see if they have an update. I have plenty of pictures already :-)

Cocktail74

Called the local housing office today, took some time to explain the situation, but got the name and number of the person that the email was forwarded to.

Called them and they answered right away. Explained the my concerns and the damage caused and they will be sending someone out to look at it.

AlexMac

Be optimistic; Councils are in my experience generally reasonable if you approach them the right way. Be persistent; don't let the first person you contact brush you off; they might just want a quiet life, but front-line staff are at the bottom of a lonng chain of tiers of managers who don't want grief from local citizens working their way up the seniority.

And ultimately, the front-line Council person's boss's boss's boss's Boss is answerable to the elected Councillors... who are answerable to you! (because you elect them to run the Councile and spend YOUR Council tax money!

So as I say, if you rally have a grievance, work up the chain, and if that gets no-where, invoke their official Complaints procedure (googl it or check the Council website). And if that fails, go Political .

Complain to your local Ward Councillor- if you have a choice (you usually have three per ward) go for the one from the ruling political party depending on wheter Tories or Labour or whoever runs your Council

Find them from
https://www.writetothem.com/

or the Council website; round here the Councllors are busting a gut to be helpful as they are all up for re-election this May!

tonyh66

definitely looks like the weight of the scaffolding is resting on your roof. You also have something interesting going on above your window broken and loose bricks...

Cocktail74

Had a call back from the site manager this morning (7:50am!!), very apologetic and seems he may have had a telling of from the council. He said that they had forwarded my original email with the photographs and he confirmed that the scaffolding should not have been placed where it was. He didnt really have an answer as to what could be done now to fix any further damage but he reassured me that once the work had been completed and the scaffolding removed any damage would be rectified. This I am happy about, my concern is further damage at the moment.

tonyh66 wrote: »

definitely looks like the weight of the scaffolding is resting on your roof. You also have something interesting going on above your window broken and loose bricks...

Yes, when i looked back at the picture I seen this also. Will be looking at improvements to the external render over the next 12months .

Furts

Cocktail74 wrote: »

Had a call back from the site manager this morning (7:50am!!), very apologetic and seems he may have had a telling of from the council. He said that they had forwarded my original email with the photographs and he confirmed that the scaffolding should not have been placed where it was. He didnt really have an answer as to what could be done now to fix any further damage but he reassured me that once the work had been completed and the scaffolding removed any damage would be rectified. This I am happy about, my concern is further damage at the moment.



Yes, when i looked back at the picture I seen this also. Will be looking at improvements to the external render over the next 12months .

What this is telling you is the Site Manager is an incompetent, half wit. Having no answer means this person is not fit for purpose!

It would be easy to say this is being extreme but consider this ... accepting that the Site Manager has no intention of moving the scaffold until the work has been completed (because the completion of works is all that they really care about) it would be child's play to put a temporary covering to keep water off the porch roofs. Even a Monaflex tarpaulin pinched of a nearby stack of bricks would do the job! Which raises the question - why is the Site Manger not bothered, or motivated, to do this? The answer is they are an incompetent, half wit. Which is back to square one!