Me vs neglected council house subsidence

Mr_elburro

Good day,
It's been 5 years we are trying to get Lambeth council to address a subsidence issue for the 2 properties (abandoned and in a state of complete disrepair) attached to our house.
We resorted to involve our local MP that managed to get a reply from the council.
The promises from Lambeth didn't materialize and the works (planned for January 19) never commenced.
The basic maintenance is non existent and both front and back garden are overgrown.
As a result our house is starting to show several large cracks a bit everywhere.
We have no idea on what to do and feel very depressed to see such a neglect.
How can we force the council to take responsability for these properties, repair them and eventually claim for damages.
Thanks
Mr Burro

FreeBear

Do you have legal cover with your household insurance ?
If so, get them on the case.
Failing that (or perhaps as well), contact your mortgage provider - They have a vested interest in protecting their assets, so may be interested in bringing pressure on the council to get something done.

stragglebod

After 5 years the council have - rightly - concluded that they can safely ignore you without any consequence.

So if you want things to change you'll need to get a solicitor involved.

daveyjp

Like all Councils Lambeth will be huge - if their housing department aren't doing what they should go to their Environmental Health Department and report a sub standard house.

You do also have three Councillors who you should be contacting today and making a nuisance of yourself until it is sorted.

RelievedSheff

I would contact your home insurers and let them know about the situation. They may be able to put pressure on the council to repair the adjacent properties if they are damaging yours.

MX5huggy

They have 2 empty properties, yet 21000 people on the housing waiting list? Local councillors, MP, local press even national press should all be interested.

Apodemus

MX5huggy wrote: »

They have 2 empty properties, yet 21000 people on the housing waiting list? Local councillors, MP, local press even national press should all be interested.

Quite possible, though that the properties are not economical to repair compared to the cost of replacement with a modern equivalent that meets the current standards of insulation and accommodation. In this case the presence of a connected private house makes things very difficult.

It may also be the case that the whole row is equally affected by subsidence, in which case the OP will face their share of a very large bill if the Council does act to stabilise it’s portion of the row.

dlmcr

In theory the process should go something like this: you would need to get a qualified structural engineer to visit and write a report that conclusively identifies the issues with the neighbouring properties as having caused the issues to your property. Then you need to get an estate agent to value your property a) in its current condition and b) in the condition without the issues caused by the neighbouring properties. The difference is the £ in damages you are claiming for. Then you take private action through the courts to claim this £ amount together with an injunction to make the council carry out the repairs to the neighbouring properties. These may need to be 2 separate cases. The court will hear your case and the councils case if they are there and they will award you the damages as well as hopefully order that the council repair the properties. Of course if all the houses are affected by an issue like subsidence then it is not really the case that the adjoining properties have caused the issue which is why you need a SE involved initially.