Left 94 yr old to die in back room as not fixed subsidence 3yr ago

lindseyhodges

Mums house subsided sept 22 due to neighbours trees, survey and trees removed was quick, 1yr of testing, then approved for fixing which required front room & kitchen to be emptied , tiles, plaster etc to be removed, cracks filled and the put back together & decorated. 2 yrs & various abandoned schedules  later still not done, mum ended up dying in her back room in Feb 25. The roof has had no fix despite video showing sky visible all across where the kitchen Extention moved away. There are new bare wires protruding from walls & kitchen units. Electric has been flicked off at switch but not locked off which i feel could have been dangerous had anyone of us flicked it on not realising. Rarely ever been any communication from the ins company or contractors, i have to chase at every turn. The kitchen units could not be rebuilt so had to be replaced and they said they had to test floor tiles incase they were asbestos, these caused delays. But should we really still be in this position now ? They advised us it was hard to get contractors so would be a wait but that was 18mth ago, then they were meant to finish 8th march, now its August and all thats been done is plaster to kitchen and kitchen units & electric put in but not finished, no flooring , no wall tiles, or painting to kitchen, no paint or wallpaper to lounge, no fix to roof.. No communication from them to say why they've abandoned it again. Ive put in another complaint to Royal sun alliance but they have just passed the book to contractors to respond. On top of all that the house has had to stay insured with them at a premium cost 100% higher for last 3 yr as not sorted and now its unoccupied its only covered for fire & explosion and due again next month. Im intendending to goto ombudsman but thought I'd better wait till finished so I know exactly how much we are out of pocket with all the bills and loss of rent since march.  But as its not getting finished should I just do ombudsman now ? Can I get my own contractors in to finish it instead of loosing another tenant? Or would I have to foot that bill ? We're running out of money trying to keep our house and this house bills paid. Thankyou

Boohoo

lindseyhodges said:

Mums house subsided sept 22 due to neighbours trees, survey and trees removed was quick, 1yr of testing, then approved for fixing which required front room & kitchen to be emptied , tiles, plaster etc to be removed, cracks filled and the put back together & decorated. 2 yrs & various abandoned schedules  later still not done, mum ended up dying in her back room in Feb 25. The roof has had no fix despite video showing sky visible all across where the kitchen Extention moved away. There are new bare wires protruding from walls & kitchen units. Electric has been flicked off at switch but not locked off which i feel could have been dangerous had anyone of us flicked it on not realising. Rarely ever been any communication from the ins company or contractors, i have to chase at every turn. The kitchen units could not be rebuilt so had to be replaced and they said they had to test floor tiles incase they were asbestos, these caused delays. But should we really still be in this position now ? They advised us it was hard to get contractors so would be a wait but that was 18mth ago, then they were meant to finish 8th march, now its August and all thats been done is plaster to kitchen and kitchen units & electric put in but not finished, no flooring , no wall tiles, or painting to kitchen, no paint or wallpaper to lounge, no fix to roof.. No communication from them to say why they've abandoned it again. Ive put in another complaint to Royal sun alliance but they have just passed the book to contractors to respond. On top of all that the house has had to stay insured with them at a premium cost 100% higher for last 3 yr as not sorted and now its unoccupied its only covered for fire & explosion and due again next month. Im intendending to goto ombudsman but thought I'd better wait till finished so I know exactly how much we are out of pocket with all the bills and loss of rent since march.  But as its not getting finished should I just do ombudsman now ? Can I get my own contractors in to finish it instead of loosing another tenant? Or would I have to foot that bill ? We're running out of money trying to keep our house and this house bills paid. Thankyou

Hard to read this wall of text.

You need to break it up with some paragraphs.

What has a tenant got do with your mum's house?

DE_612183

So your house ( or your mums ) was insured with RSA.

Next doors trees caused subsidence - Sept 22.

Sometime in 2023 RSA approved remedial work ( you claimed against your insurance? )

2 years later they are still working on it.

You were / have rented it out since march - but have lost money ( not sure you can claim that back unless you had landlords insurance ).

Is that about right?

XRS200

If you had a response to your complaint, there should have been info about going to the Ombudsman. 6 month time limit from memory.

elsien

Surely if they’ve managed to get a tenant in, the property  can’t be as bad as the initial post implies. Unless the tenant is just living in the back room as well.

Annemos

Just one note that is positive about the situation with your house. 

The Trees have been removed and you do not seem to have any issues concerning a need for any Underpinning etc. So you are not in dispute about what has actually been done to cure the Subsidence. (That is an awful thing that can happen, before Homeowners have even got to the repair stage.) 

This problem seems to be solely related to the time the repairs are taking . And this is now having an impact on what you can do with the property, now that your Mum has passed away. Now she has passed away, you want to rent it out. But that is not possible with all this going on. All this is having a monetary impact on you and also distress and inconvenience. 

Is that a correct Summary? 

========================================================

Notes to consider:   

1.  Any Complaint that you have submitted to RSA, where they have sent you a Final Response, you HAVE to have approached the Ombudsman Service within 6 months of the date of that Final Response. (If they didn't send any response at all, then I believe your start date for the 6 months, would start on the point that 8 weeks has expired.) 

Furthermore, any Ombudsman case related to that Complaint, will only be considering what has happened up to the Date of the Final Response. Also it will only tend to address the actual issues raised in the Complaint and not any other peripheral things that were not complained about. 

So you have to be careful if you have been storing up these Complaint issues with the intention of just going to the Ombudsman in one go (doing it all together in one Super Complaint), to make sure that you are not time-barring yourself on those old Complaints. 


You need to go through your Complaints to date. Analyse if there were Final Responses. What the issues were in each Complaint and make sure you are still within the 6 months for each of them. If not, then the Ombudsman cannot consider them.

2.   Another thing to look at. Have the Loss Adjusters actually refused to do any of the repairs? For example the Roof issue. If refused, did they give a reason? That is a different issue, than just taking too long or not having been started yet. 


3. When you have sorted out which of the old Complaints are still able to go to the Ombudsman. Then you can add supplemental Complaint issues for things that have been happening more recently. (As long as you have given RSA their 8 week time period to respond on those additional issues.)  And open up an FOS Complaint. 


a.   In the Complaint to the Ombudsman, you will only need to do a brief summary on what the issue causing Subsidence was (Trees) and that they were taken down on X date. This is because, as I said at the start, this is not an issue. There is no Complaint about this aspect. So no need to swamp the Ombudsman with lots of detail. Just a very brief outline. 

Your Complaint, I think, will be around the Following: 

b.    The Repairs are Taking too Long.  The Communications are lacking and inadequate.  They are taking so long and your Mother has passed away and it is preventing you from renting out the Property. 

c.    You are also asked to say what you would like as a remedy: 

You might decide to say. If RSA and their Contractors cannot finish the repairs within the next X months, then I would like to be given permission to get quotes in myself and have my own Contractors finish the remaining repairs, with an adequate reimbursement from RSA. 

You will also say that you are of the opinion that RSA should be paying you Compensation for the Time Delays, the Distress and Inconvenience. Also that you would like compensation to be considered for the Fact that it has not been possible to rent the property out after your Mother's death since March 2025 ( shortly after her death). Say it has now been Y months from the Date the Repairs were due to be started. What is that date? 



The Ombudsman Service would review what you have described. It would then review any reasons from RSA as to why there are all the delays to see if they are reasonable. 


Does this help a bit?    

sheramber

DE_612183 said:

So your house ( or your mums ) was insured with RSA.

Next doors trees caused subsidence - Sept 22.

Sometime in 2023 RSA approved remedial work ( you claimed against your insurance? )

2 years later they are still working on it.

You were / have rented it out since march - but have lost money ( not sure you can claim that back unless you had landlords insurance ).

Is that about right?

I doubt the house could be rented out in the state given.

I think the it is the loss of  potential rent from being unable to  rent it out. 

Boohoo

sheramber said:

DE_612183 said:

So your house ( or your mums ) was insured with RSA.

Next doors trees caused subsidence - Sept 22.

Sometime in 2023 RSA approved remedial work ( you claimed against your insurance? )

2 years later they are still working on it.

You were / have rented it out since march - but have lost money ( not sure you can claim that back unless you had landlords insurance ).

Is that about right?

I doubt the house could be rented out in the state given.

I think the it is the loss of  potential rent from being unable to  rent it out. 

Hard to work out from the wall of text but mum died Feb 25 so would the estate have been done and all proceeds past to OP in 5 months.

As for renting if it is in a bad way would people want to rent it knowing they have to move out at short notice due to major building work about to start?

Annemos

Boohoo said:

sheramber said:

I doubt the house could be rented out in the state given.

I think the it is the loss of  potential rent from being unable to  rent it out. 

but mum died Feb 25 so would the estate have been done and all proceeds past to OP in 5 months.

As for renting if it is in a bad way would people want to rent it knowing they have to move out at short notice due to major building work about to start?

Our Mum died in mid-April and Probate was granted very quickly within a couple of months. 


Yes, having been in a home during the process of being repaired after Subsidence, I can confirm my place was in an awful state.

Mine is quite a small bungalow and all the furniture had to be moved out of the Living Room, so that it was completely empty. Artex (Asbestos) ceiling had to come down, new flooring needed to go in, walls replastered, all painted etc etc. And it also went on for months, as I had started a Complaint.  

I had chairs, cupboards and possessions stacked up in the bedrooms. The settee was on its end in the very small hall, so that I had to twist around it to even get into my bathroom. 

I had 2 camping chairs in the Living Room. 

The only way I could put with it was because I owned the place! No way would I have wanted to rent a place in that condition as a renter.