Married Quarters (MQ) Residents 18 June 2008 at 7:51PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in UK Armed Forces MoneySaving 421 replies 86.7K views

Marker_2

Is there a list available with all the deficits that DHE go on to award grading of a house?

EmmEve

You could ring your local Housing Information Centre and see if they can tell you about the insulation. If not just try MHS.


If you swap your furniture before march out because its damaged i imagine you will still get charged for it. They will have paperwork on all the stuff you've had and given back etc etc. They've always checked it before taking it back with me.

Space_Cowby

davilown wrote: »

I have a proble with my insulation in the attic. There is about 3 inches of it and the house is permantly cold. It has very high ceilings (12'). I had the central heating flushed through last years but the heat dissapates out so quickly.

What is the legal amount of insulation in a MQ? Who do I ask - DHE or MHS?

No set amounts but what is or is not there is taken into account when the rent levels are set.

This type of work is normally done as part of a heating or roofing upgrade.

kitchpoo

Rainbow_Butterfly wrote: »

Hi there, I have a question.

A couple of months ago we had a Modern housing contracted gas engineer from clearblue out to do our yearly safety check on our boiler/gas fire.
I was convinced for 2 days after this that I could smell gas.. hubby told me I was imagining it. We went out for a walk on the sunday (check was done on friday) and came back to a very strong gas smell.
I rang transco, who came out and said there was a large gas leak and it was immediately dangerous, they turned it off outside.
MHS then sent another engineer out from enterprise to sort the problem and it transpired that the previous engineer had 'forgotten' to close a valve and this was the cause of the leak.
This apparently was a very dangerous thing to do, and had we gone away for the weekend, come back and turned a light on that would have been the end of us.
I raised a complaint with MHS, had a call back saying the engineer was being investigated by his own company and ta very much for letting them know.
I asked about compensation and was told by the person on the phone that they didnt know anything about that and that I would need to write into the liverpool address detailing why I think I should be entitled to it.

So my question is.. do MHS pay compensation for !!!! ups like this, and if so what should I put in my letter?

xx

You wont get any compensation, but you could call the HSE, you can even fill a form in on-line for the HSE and they investigate each one rigerously.

kitchpoo

Space_Cowby wrote: »

No set amounts but what is or is not there is taken into account when the rent levels are set.

This type of work is normally done as part of a heating or roofing upgrade.

One issue..... MHS and DE will query why you have been in the loft when you are not meant to, so careful how you approach this subject.

FloraMac

We have just had 2 weeks of work in our quarter after which we received £20 'goodwill' vouchers because of the problems we had (which we did voice our dissatisfaction over).
Just because it is a married quarter you still deserve a professional service in all areas.
We were certainly never in any danger so put in an official complaint.

I have learnt if I am not satisfied, complain and keep complaining - (in a perfectly reasonable manner of course).

sammie383

lauren1983 wrote: »

Thanks for the fast reply sparky.

Just to make sure im right with what im thinking.

Is phase 1 his basic training?

I also ask because we were told we couldnt get MQ until after his trade training

I cant seem to find your first question Lauren, but if your DF is joining the army and about to do his phase 1, and you are either married or getting married soon, you SHOULD be entitled to married quarters when he starts his phase 2 ( trade training ). It depends what trade your DF is doing....You should get him to ask when he starts phase 2.

I am just speaking from our experience......

when my Df joined up we were initailly told we had to wait til he'd finished phase 2, then we were told it was whenever he was posted somewhere for longer than 6 months. Then we were told yes we would be entitled on phase 2 as it was longer than the 6 months, but soon after we were told again that we wouldnt be. Eventually we got a straight answer from some wives who lived on teh same garrison my hubby is at for phase 2, and we are now living in MQ's whilst he completes phase 2.


HTH x

genieuk

kitchpoo wrote: »

One issue..... MHS and DE will query why you have been in the loft when you are not meant to, so careful how you approach this subject.

Sorry have I missed something here not allowed in the loft. For one in Blandford depending on qtr you could not actually open the hatch sufficiently.

But Northern Ireland we had proper ladders attached to the loft door enabling us to enter the loft space and store things there, and the area was already boarded for us to crawl around on (too tall to stand).

We always check the loft on moving in to a new qtr you never know what the previous tenants have left up there.

FloraMac

You are absolutely right, everyone goes in their lofts or at least checks it out. We were told cannot use it and they actually removed the light last month!
Anyway we have highlighted the crap left up there by workmen and whoever else and the lack of insulation.
They are sending someone out to sort.

I have a few friends who work in the business and apparently most people do use their loft, mainly as the storage in quarters is so poor, but in reality it does state you should not.

kitchpoo

**TOP TIP**

Now I no longer work for MHS I can let you know about the compensation scheme. If you call in some work, or get a letter through stating a time and date of an apointment for MHS to attend the property and it does not happen, or they are late (ie - the letter says am and they arrive mid afternoon), then complain, and keep complaining. All missed appointments gain a £20 voucher. (MHS number then option 4 IIRC)

A good one is to call in a number of multi-trade repairs at one time (plumbing, joinery, electrical) as this may send 1 contractor to do all 3 - and if they dont turn up then you get 3x£20 (1 per job number) On the other hand you may get 3 different contractors.

Ones to check and commonly alowed to slip are annual gas safety inspections and 2.5 yearly electrical inspections.