Leaking chimney stack shared with social housing

EachPenny

aleggsmac wrote: »

We have now written a formal, second tier complaint as per the HA's guidance on complaints. This is the step before Ombudsman, which we've mentioned on the phone and also in writing. We've laid out what we think is an acceptable conclusion (removal of the stack), and said that we aren't budging on this as nothing else will guarantee safety and a water tight property. We also CC'd the Chief Executive, who has already responded and forwarded it onwards.

Interesting that they only have a two-stage process... many public sector organisations opt for three (typically a 'standard' complaint, a review by a manager, a review by the CEO).

Be prepared for them to respond saying they will treat it as a Stage 1 complaint because you've not previously complained. Don't expend too much effort fighting this, if they haven't given you the answer you want then just fire it back to them as a Stage 2.

aleggsmac

We complained in August, about the same issue so this was stage 2.

Apparently, they assigned the job to someone who left and they never chased up the issue to check if it were done.

Long and short of it - the Chief Exec. forwarded our email onto a different head of something, who then chased it up fairly quickly. He got it discussed in a meeting, and allowed us to remove it (after he said he didn't want a 3rd party - our roofer - doing it, to which we replied that the person doing the job had to be '3rd party' to us or them!). He then sent an email detailing an agreement that we would pay half and half for the removal, so we had our roofer come remove it, invoice us (which we paid) and now we're being reimbursed.

All this has been agreed in writing, so we're safe. Thanks for all your replies - wouldn't have thought of some of the avenues suggested ourselves (being new to home ownership!) so we're grateful for the help.

Victory is ours!

(Neighbour had no clue what was happening the whole time, didn't even notice it had gone til we pointed it out, and then didn't care either way!)

nyermen

Glad the result is good for you, and thanks for coming back to let us know the outcome.

zaqxsw

Pleased to see this is sorted.

If you have a shared structure / asset that requires repair, you can serve a notice on the neighbour under Section 2(2)(b) of the party wall act. This would apply to a chimney stack or a shared boundary wall, for example. You would then trigger a process by which you can address the situation. The neighbour would have 14 days to respond to the notice so it breaks the stalemate.
There is a disadvantage with regards to proceeding in the way I have suggested. That is the associated costs which can be disproportionate. Under the party wall act the neighbour can appoint a surveyor and ultimately this can cost more than the repair itself. So coming to a mutual agreement is encouraged, but the party wall act can be useful if there is disagreement or you are simply not making any progress.