The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Nargleblast

Then kick off big time, they have their own property maintenance teams. It's not acceptable.

DryTheRain

An awful lot of these services been contracted out, and when profit replaces local connection, quick fixes become the order of the day and accountability goes down the drain. It also gets pretty exhausting chasing issues up all the time, particularly if you have health issues to contend with. 

I had to wait three days for an emergency boiler repair last week, and as for the roof that’s been going on for several years now. The last time it was supposedly fixed the contractors left the scaffolding up for four months, jamming the sitting room and kitchen windows shut in the middle of a heatwave.

That’s why I’d suggest cc-ing a councillor or MP daz, it’s an urgent issue and will almost certainly get it resolved quickly.

elaine241

daz378 said:

If a repair can not be successfully done from the inside.....external  repair  would be very expensive....hire of a cradle etc.to fix one flat ...imagine policy would be to fob off customer..if possible

This is the landlords problem not yours. It maybe worthwhile speaking to other residents to see if they have similar issues with their windows. If they have several tenants complaining they may well sort it all out. Is it a private landlord or council/social landlord? Private landlords are usually the slowest to deal with this sort of thing, but they also do not want to lose tenants as this can results in void properties and loss of income. Plus its a right pain getting new tenants! I know!!

elaine241

elaine241 said:

daz378 said:

If a repair can not be successfully done from the inside.....external  repair  would be very expensive....hire of a cradle etc.to fix one flat ...imagine policy would be to fob off customer..if possible

This is the landlords problem not yours. It maybe worthwhile speaking to other residents to see if they have similar issues with their windows. If they have several tenants complaining they may well sort it all out. Is it a private landlord or council/social landlord? Private landlords are usually the slowest to deal with this sort of thing, but they also do not want to lose tenants as this can results in void properties and loss of income. Plus its a right pain getting new tenants! I know!!

Just read the rest of the posts if its Housing Association get onto the website and look at the procedure for reporting a problem, then what to do if you are not happy, then onto their complaints procedure! Enjoy your bedtime reading DAZ! :-)

monnagran

daz.  This is intolerable.  When you have exhausted all the suggested procedures you may have to pull in the big guns.
Let me tell you about my water leak.  Are you sitting comfortably?

I had a water leak in the track above my cottage.  It started when engineers arrived to install an unrequested and unwanted water meter.  At first it was just a small trickle that quickly morphed into a spring and eventually became a steady stream pouring down the track, past my cottage and down to the farm next door where it turned their farmyard into a lake.  Incidentally, they couldn't fit the meter anyway.
This state of affairs lasted for 2 years during which engineers came at irregular intervals, poked around at the source of the leak, scratched their heads, sucked their teeth and went home again.  The file of my letters to the water authority in question grew to War and Peace proportions.  The authority  occasionally wrote back, reassuring me that there was no problem/if there was a problem it was my fault/there was a problem but the last engineers had solved it/if the last engineers had not solved it, which they could hardly believe, I must be mistaken, then the next set of engineers who would be arriving next Friday/Monday/ Thursday fortnight/ next month/Sometime in the next decade, would have it sorted immediately and would I kindly go away and boil my head.
Well, they didn't actually use those exact words but it is what they meant.

In the middle of a heat wave a drought was announced and we were urged to use water as sparingly as possible.  I wrote to the water authority and said that within a week I would be inviting the local press, national newspapers, my MP, several television companies, Old Uncle Tom Cobbley and all to come and watch the gallons of water gushing its merry way down our lane and across the farmyard into oblivion.
With 48 hours 3 vans arrived, the leak was stopped, everything dried up and the ducks in the farmyard were rendered homeless.

What I'm saying daz, is that the threat of publicity concentrates official minds wonderfully.

Thank you for letting me tell my boring story again.  You are a patient lot.

daz378

But it's not  a frequent problem....its leaked twice since the end of August   only happens with windy torrential rain...apart from that  I enjoy living in the flat....I've just put up with it....and only 400 pound a month rent....7 year waiting list to get a council flat  (private 600 a month) at least....but will complain  in case it gets worse....probably  wont be inspected this side of xmas  too busy at work...thanks for the info and suggestions 

Serendipitious

I've read this thread for a long time but never posted on this thread before, so I'll say hello to everyone first!

Daz, I had similar problems with poorly fitting windows in my last place - I lived half way up a 12 storey block. The windows were very old and one winter they suddenly stopped closing properly, leaving gaps you could see daylight through. Even a slight breeze screeched and whistled through, and strong winds sounded like the background to a film about Polar exploration. It took 9 months from reporting it to getting a proper fix done, various attempts were made by the HA workforce, but it had to go to external contractors in the end. I raised a formal complaint in month 7 and then suddenly it was done within weeks. All done from the inside. Hope yours gets done faster, but do keep a note of phone calls/visits/outcomes in case you need to refer to them later.

CCW007

To Daz, just to add to the good advice already given, follow up every contact in writing (even just an email "to confirm I called today to discuss X issue and you promised to do Y by such and such date") so you have an audit trail of the issue and there is no confusion over what action was promised.

elaine241

Well funny how we are all quite good at supporting Daz in a totally off topic issue. I think we all have skills and experiences that have helped him decide his course of action. Being a "capitalist pig" landlord   I usually have to deal with issues my tenants bring up!

Well Wales is heading for another lockdown from 28th December for at least three weeks. I can not say I am surprised the way the cases have been rising, not counting the 11,000 positive cases that have been missed off the daily totals. I for one have barely ventured near the shops only doing once a week grocery and errands/animal feed etc I have noticed that the shops on the day I go are very quiet, so maybe others are doing the minimum as well. My father is expecting an operation /biopsy early Jan so I will not be seeing him at all over Christmas. My sister is recovering from an operation and now has an infection, so again no contact there. This Christmas is going to be very very quiet! My elderly friend who has basically shielded from March except for the occasional meet at a garden centre for a coffee, will be coming to my house for Xmas. The boys have been out of school now for nearly two weeks and OH has taken this week off so I am the only one likely to meet strangers. My preps have held up well and I have plenty of stores to see me through the lock down if items go out of stock like they did last time. Apart from fresh dairy produce  as in loads of milk!, I could probably just stay home and avoid the shops altogether!

MingVase

Just what I'm going to do Elaine