in need of some advice re housing association

fishingcinema

hello i am in desperate need of some advice

i live in a first floor housing association owned flat and when i put in my fish tank i into the front room had he housing area manager and a surveyor come to check that everything was structuly safe and sound as its a large tank and my loving neibour below was concerned was it safe and what would happen if the tank went and all the water ect ect

so they came out saw the tank and the surveyor said quote: its not a weight issue and seemed eather happy, then my housing area manager said that the neibours were concerned if the tank were to go about the water and asked if i had home insurance wich i have she asked to see a copy wich i took into her

all was good and well untill i had a small water problem i have to do a regular water change i had my water change made up in a container that i put in my bedroom that is situated at the opposite end of the flat some how that had fallen over and i had lost some water from it max 6 litres next thing a few days later i get a knock at the door and its my housing officer holding a letter and she said to meme and a suveyor are coming out at 9.30 in the morning regarding the leak into the flat below i said is there still a leak i assumed that because we have concrete floors that the floorboards had taken most of the water as they had swollen up the floorboards were poor before as when she came on her first visit she told me to rais a job to get them replaced

the next day sure enough 9.30 came and she turned up with 2 men the came in nd checked over every inch of every room trying to find a problem they spent ages around the tank looking at the floorboardsand so on desperate to find them stained by water or evidence of a leak wich they could not one of the men seemed on my side as he was saying no i seen no evidence of a leak from here then they went into the bedroom jumped up and down and said the floorbaords were spongey i xplained what hadd happened

and she said you will have to pay for the floorboards to be replaced and all the electrical work to the flat below wich could not have been alot as all there main electrical wires are underneath my floorboards and i have had no one asking to acces them and also apparently she has had to totaly redecorate the room sorry but in my opinion if you have a leak coming through your celing you put something underneath to catch the water you dont just leave it she did not even knock to say there was a leak.

they then said we will contact you with instructions of what you need to do so after several days and several phone calls i eventualy got hold of her and she has said that the tank has to go because of the leak

my argument is that the leak was not from the fishtank but from a accident at the other end of the flat and i said to her ou have already been out surveyed the tank and said its ok to have as long as i have adiquete insurance she replyed no i did not say you could have the tank and i did not say that it has to go to wich my reply was move me to a sutible place where i can have it then ans she said you know it dose not work that way you have to wait your turn (i thought do u really :rolleyes:)

they were supposed to send me a letter saying it had to go and a timeframe in wich t do i am still waitin for this

i have looked at my tennancy agreement and the only thing i can find is
under pets section

(c) in flats not to keep any pets or other animal (other than small caged or tanked pet such as birds or small aquatic creatures) without the prior written consent of the association

they are small fish in a large tank

dose anyone know where i stand what can i do or am i stuffed like turkey

please any advice would be greatly appreciated

silvercar

The fact is that the accident wouldn't have happened if you didn't have the tank. The fact that the accident was at the other end of the tank is not relevent.

If you want to get to keep the tank at the very least you are going to have to take responsiblity for any damage caused because you have the tank.

It may be that having this accident within a short time of moving in means that the perceived risk of letting you keep the tank in the flat is too great.

In reaching their decisions the housing association have to have regard for how others are affected by your actions.

If you do have adequate insurance then presumably the insurance will pay for the damage?

It is your right to have whatever hobby you want, but if it impacts on others the HA has a duty of care to other tenants.

Whereas the HA has an obligation to house you, it clearly doesn't have an obligation to house your fish.

PasturesNew

I was at a party in a house once. Small scuffle broke out and the whole tank front was punctured!

poppysarah

So they're that proactive if you have a minor leak?

6l is quite a lot if it comes through your light fittings.

Floorboards will dry properly if there is no prolonged exposure and tbh most council's wouldn't replace them until it'd all dried out and then probably not.

Catblue

Not sure, really, but I'm not sure that I would risk going to bat with the Housing Association over this. They could eventually evict you and you may not be eligible for Housing Association accommodation any more. Can you afford private rents?

The water that you stored in the bedroom was there in order to service the fish tank, so the leak was directly caused by the presence of the fish tank. The fact that you are apparently unable to change water in a fish tank without cocking it up should not be the neighbour's responsibility.

No offence, but the neighbour had concerns before you moved the fish in and those concerns have since been entirely justified by your subsequent negligence.

I sincerely don't imagine that the HA will rehouse you based on the fact that you seem unable to manage a fish tank without flooding neighbouring properties.

Stop whining.

Be a responsible adult.

Get rid of the fish.

fishingcinema

PasturesNew wrote: »

I was at a party in a house once. Small scuffle broke out and the whole tank front was punctured!

bet that was a nice persian wet rug for the owner no chance of any partys here though

fishingcinema

poppysarah wrote: »

So they're that proactive if you have a minor leak?

6l is quite a lot if it comes through your light fittings.

Floorboards will dry properly if there is no prolonged exposure and tbh most council's wouldn't replace them until it'd all dried out and then probably not.

seems to be that way,floorboards have dried out but they have swolen and as i said before they were already rubbish to begin with

poppysarah

Why don't you ask to be moved to a ground floor property where your tank wouldn't be a problem?

fishingcinema

Catblue wrote: »

Not sure, really, but I'm not sure that I would risk going to bat with the Housing Association over this. They could eventually evict you and you may not be eligible for Housing Association accommodation any more. Can you afford private rents?

The water that you stored in the bedroom was there in order to service the fish tank, so the leak was directly caused by the presence of the fish tank. The fact that you are apparently unable to change water in a fish tank without cocking it up should not be the neighbour's responsibility.

No offence, but the neighbour had concerns before you moved the fish in and those concerns have since been entirely justified by your subsequent negligence.

I sincerely don't imagine that the HA will rehouse you based on the fact that you seem unable to manage a fish tank without flooding neighbouring properties.

Stop whining.

Be a responsible adult.

Get rid of the fish.

ease up i came on here for some advice not to be spoken to like a complete idiot or a bit of [EMAIL="s@it"]s@it[/EMAIL] on the bottom of your shoe:mad: go on i suppose you are one of those perfect people that never have accidents

fishingcinema

poppysarah wrote: »

Why don't you ask to be moved to a ground floor property where your tank wouldn't be a problem?

hi i did ask for a move but got told that i have to wait my turn
i fel down the stairs leading up to my flats a few months back whilst carrying my two young childeren up injuring my back and asked about a move then but still they say they have no properties so its a waiting game

silvercar

fishingcinema wrote: »

ease up i came on here for some advice not to be spoken to like a complete idiot or a bit of [EMAIL="s@it"]s@it[/EMAIL] on the bottom of your shoe:mad: go on i suppose you are one of those perfect people that never have accidents

Have you come on here only to here opinions that agree with you?

You've received advice from 4 or 5 people who have all suggested that the HA has no obligation to allow you to keep the tank as you have already shown that damage has been caused by you doing so.

Who do you think should pay for the damage?

Accidents do happen, but sensible precautions minimise risks. Why didn't you store the new water near to the tank, rather than store it at the opposite end of the flat, therefore increasing the risk of a spillage?