Married Quarters (MQ) Residents

EmmEve

Old_Trout wrote: »

Sorry I haven't read through everything and somebody might have written about this already. I can't find anything on the DE website about who to complain about neighbours.
We have a problem with one lot who leave their dog in the garden with access to the garage while they're away and the poor creature just keeps barking and barking. It's bad enough during the day but during the night when you're trying to sleep.... Nightmare.
Last night it went on from about 8pm to about 2 am. Guess how much sleep I got? The dog barks very loudly for a while, stops and sometimes goes quiet. The quiet periods might be 5 minutes or 30 minutes and then it starts again. My sister was visiting and said she was going barmy with the noise during the day. Even if you close the windows and you have the telly on, you can still hear it. It is quite a large dog and I've been in the garden on a nice sunny day when it's suddenly appeared with head and paws over the fence barking madly. I've been scared that one day it will jump over while I'm in the garden. I don't want to approach the neighbours directly since I don't know what they are like and don't want to end up with my car scratched or something worse.
Any ideas?

You would complain to DE. You should have an estate manager who would be able to deal with this.

Maybe you could pop a note through the door? They don't have to know who its from. Or maybe have a word with your welfare office and see if they will have a word with your neighbours for you?

adam918

Hi ive just applied for my first FMQ and received a letter saying they were short of accomodation and would i be prepared to move into a Substitute Service Families Accommodation, apparently its grade 1?? Does anyone know what this is? and if i should say yes or no??

Many Thanks
Adam

EmmEve

I think that means they will move you into a private rent property?

Trying_to_be_good

Yep, SSFA is a private rental of an equivalent standard, and Grade 1 is top. You should only pay SFA rates, so most people would jump at the opportunity!

Binkx

Looking on the MHS website I found this -
"
Strategic Facilities Plan (SFP) – Life Cycle Replacements
Various elements of properties have an expected life e.g. boilers, roofs and wiring."

Does anyone know what the life of a boiler is?

I have moved into a quarter and my gas bill has doubled. The only reason is that we have an old boiler. I am looking to get it replaced if it is lifex.

Cheers

Rainbow_Butterfly

Binkx wrote: »

Looking on the MHS website I found this -
"
Strategic Facilities Plan (SFP) – Life Cycle Replacements
Various elements of properties have an expected life e.g. boilers, roofs and wiring."

Does anyone know what the life of a boiler is?

I have moved into a quarter and my gas bill has doubled. The only reason is that we have an old boiler. I am looking to get it replaced if it is lifex.

Cheers

If it gives you an idea.. the one in our last MQ had a sticker on... it was made in 1958!
Most MQ have gas back boilers behind the gas fire. They are incredibley inefficient and your gas bill will be huge.

You have very little chance of getting it replaced if it is still passing its safety certificate every year and is working ok... basically if its not broke dont (pay to!!) fix it seems to be their motto.

xx

EmmEve

Yes we have ancient back boiler. Every year i pray it will fail the safety inspection. It never does!

Rockahula

Hi Kitch, nice post and very considerate of you. I initially had a lot of probs in my MQ when moving in, what I will say is that it's in people's nature to phone the helpdesk and give abuse to the other person on the phone when its not even the fault of MHS, please be considerate they cant get it right every time.

There is a serious issue of funding and who will pay for what when it comes to repairs. I also would like to point out that a lot of MQ's are not kept tidy or up to standard and occupants have caused damage and then when they move out and new people move in, the new people think the place is a tip when the majority of the work or upkeep has been down to the occupants themselves. Please abuse this if you like but trust me I have handed over or been present when handing over Qtrs to give some of my Soldiers support and sometimes by proxy due to Ops etc and believe me the way some people live is beyond me. Many holes in walls, general cleanliness, gardens etc some patches are dumping grounds for TV's fridges, overflowing bins, tyres, scrap car compund etc We could all encourage our troops and families a little unless its a mixed civvy patch.

Anyway, my issue and burning question. My roof. Since moving in recently my house has no insulation AT ALL, after a few calls to MHS about the coldness (its unbelieveable the bills for gas so I am told to heat the properties is sky high), if there is a big problem with the insulation then it requires attention by MHS or DE (whoever is in agreement of who pays what).

Anyway, during a cold spell from Dec to Mar this year, with my two young kids the place was worse than Norway, I have been there many times, I could see my breath in the house every day, we had the heating on throughout, the coal fire burning all day/night, it was ok until night time, then going upstairs it was so cold . So cold it was unbearable, in fact the cold tap running water was warmer. When I eventually couldn't take no more, well my kids were suffering every night to be honest, I got someone out and they said it was because of the walls being built of stone and no cavity insulation - end of story. Not a happy bunny was I. When it snowed, all the civvy owned houses around the area less the military ones still had their snow on the roofs. About 80% of the MQ's in our estate didn't, and upon speaking to the occupants they all are cheesed of with the extreme coldness of the properties and the sky high bills for heating.

To make matters worse, I had an EPC Check conducted at my own expense and when the loft was checked, the insulation was below the minimum standard. It was noticed that the felt from the inside of the roof is non existant - you can see daylight through the roof, when it rains there is brown liquid that runs down some of our walls upstairs. People came out here, and there from MHS/DE and there is nothing they could do with ref to the felt, no-one will pay for it - too expensive.

I am not prepared to suffer in silence and just accept it but politeness to MHS always as its not their fault, after many calls and visits, the contractors turned up and replaced all Loft insulation in all of the properties in the 3 MQ patches dotted around our area. Has it helped, to be honest, no. The roof will still leak, the damage will still sustain due to he felt being like it is, I will move on in 2 years time and the people who move in will suffer the same as me, yet I will be expected to get rid of the brown mess down the walls and repaint over the place to make it look rosy, somehow I dont think I will be doing that !!

Long post - I am sorry but MHS are great - new contracts recently - good to see but when money is put before people's health and deterioration of properties happen you gotta ask the question of Why? I was happy to purchase the draught proofing for the windows and doors and sealant for the walls and windows. I will look after the house as best I can to make my stay comfortable, if the properties are below par/standard then like my soldiers they pay reduced rent - what happens then, there is not enough money generated from the rent to repair the damages.

Can anyone shed any light on the easiest solutions here !!

shoelady82

Quick question...

Does anyone know the maximum amount of charges DHE/DE can charge you on move out?

showlady82

chul30

Hello all, just a few points, I live in a MQ riddled with asbestos however I work for an asbestos removal company and can assure you that in most cases where asbestos is intact and left undisturbed it is fine, that said - a licensed contractor must be used to remove notifiable types of asbestos - check out ARCA for info - I agree that in many cases the occupants are left to discover the asbestos themselves when putting up pictures and like!! There should be a better info sheet on march in.

Other point - our particular cul di sac is in dire need of refurbishment (circa 1965!) but as mentioned you are only likely to get a single cupboard replaced as MHS have the contract for maintainence only. In our little area we have setup a residents action group complete with facebook group and named email so that collectively we can get something done. We have already been invited by area Housing officer to our area Families Consultation Group which is attended by area Housing officers MHS Liasion and defence Estates Liasion, they are very keen to hear what proposals we have in place and we are getting nearer to some resolution. The key is not to demand what you think you're entitled to but remember budgets and protocol and gently show them what small steps they can take in improving the situation. Do it as a group and you take collective responsibility but you have greater lobbying power :-)

MHS??? sadly the last 5 yrs they have been proven as underperforming (as they well know) its not their fault they aren't given enough money to do the job efficiently.