Council offering me £4000.

ashleym1992 · 8 June 2017 at 1:54PM

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to be posting this, if it is not then im sorry.

So my sister had a property with the Council for over 10 years, and well the outside wall over the years became dangerous so bad the kids couldn't play out in the back garden, it was a danger as it was hanging over at least 1 foot, my sister rang and wrote them numerous letters over the years, with little to no response, the wall still hasn't been took down to this day. and as of the past year there has been a rat infestation leading to a lot of damaged property and personal belongings, my sister and her family had to move into emergency accommodation while the council get the rat problem sorted out, its been over a year and they still haven't done anything to get the problem sorted.

They have offered my sister £4000, for all the damaged property, and in return they want the keys back for the house, but my sister has more than enough paperwork and other information showing that they have basically neglected her through the years. so was just wondering if anyone else has been in this situation before and what they would recommend or advise on what to do.

Would be greatly appreciate any advice on this matter, Thanks.

martinthebandit · 8 June 2017 at 1:57PM

Couple of questions,

How did a leaning wall cause a rat infestation?

Why couldn't the kids play in the rest of the garden?

Why didn't she take the wall down herself?

ashleym1992 · 8 June 2017 at 2:17PM

Hi, Thanks for the response,

The wall didn't cause the rat infestation.

The garden was that small it was not much wider and longer than an entry.

The council said she was not allowed to take the wall down.

Thanks.

xylophone · 8 June 2017 at 2:21PM

Why didn't she take the wall down herself?

Remove a wall that didn't belong to her?:eek:

xylophone · 8 June 2017 at 2:22PM

and in return they want the keys back for the house,

She being offered another council property?

ashleym1992 · 8 June 2017 at 6:05PM

She is in a new property, because she was on a waiting list for 5 years with another council, the wall was always going bad ways as the neighbour's tree was pushing it out as the roots was growing under my sisters garden, resulting in raised slabs and the sloped wall and causing numerous holes leading into the property and entry, the exterior of the bathroom wall also has a big crack leading inside and we also think this is because of the damage the neighbours tree has caused.

she first alerted the council about the wall in 2008, on numerous occasions she had different people assessing the situation the council was aware of the root of the problem and she has the paperwork to prove this. she was told she would get billed for taking the wall down, she got environmental health involved and the environmental health wanted to just take the wall down but was told nothing would be put back there to replace the wall, so my sister resorted to putting 10 doors against the wall to hold it up, as at the time she had 2 children and 2 dogs and couldn't risk any more accidents.

when my nephew was 2 years old he tripped over one of the slabs that was raised due to the wall being pushed out, my sister tried to sue them but the solicitor left her position.

around august 2016 my sister reported all of the repairs in the property again as she discovered rats were living in the garden and they was becoming more territorial and she was worried they was going to get in the property as their are a number of holes leading into the property due to the damage the wall has caused over the years. The council sent someone out to observe the situation and write down the repairs AGAIN as my sister reported the issues and explained it had gone beyond the stage of repair as it been left for years and needed sorted asap as this situation had been going on too long.

A lady came out and was shocked at what she discovered and basically said no one she be living with this and reassured my sister that she was going back to the office and reporting this as an emergency my sister couldn't stress how much she had been put through and the last thing she wanted was rats in her property. 3 weeks later my sister hadn't heard anything after ringing and chasing to find out what was going on, to be honest my sister was used to the council services after what they had put her through but then rats became present in the property and during this time my sister discovered she was pregnant with her 3rd child, my nephew also has behaviour issues and is currently being assessed for ADHD and AUTISM so this reflected and had a massive impact on his routine and behaviour not only at home but at school.After the rats became present in the property obvious my sister reported this and the council didn't seem to care for 2 weeks my sister and her 2 children and pets all resided to one room in the house as the their was more then one rat having the run of the property pest control came out a few times and confirmed this, after that my sister and her children were put in hotels and then in a emergency accommodation most of her belongings are still in the old property and she has had to chuck most her furniture, housing provide her with air beds and quilts and that's it.

Enterprise_1701C · 8 June 2017 at 6:38PM

The council is not responsible for a rat infestation, that tends to be down to the way the garden is treated as well as the way the house is treated.

As for the wall, did this definitely belong to the council? And if it was caused by the neighbour's tree, did she not even consider asking the neighbours to do something about it under their insurance?

And if a wall was genuinely that dangerous I would have taken it down and dealt with the consequences later. Maybe have said that it had started to fall down so you were concerned for the safety of your kids.

martinthebandit · 8 June 2017 at 7:22PM

xylophone wrote: »

Remove a wall that didn't belong to her?:eek:

If it was threatening the safety of my children and there was no alternative then yes certainly.

One dark night it would have fallen down properly.

ashleym1992 · 9 June 2017 at 12:41AM

The rats was nothing to do with the garden as it was always well maintained as well as the house.

Yes it belonged to the council hence why my sister didn't knock it down, and as for the neighbours they was Asian and didn't speak a word of English and kept themselves to themselves, they used to chuck food out into their garden, bins overfilled and rubbish everywhere my sister told the council about them and they did nothing.

and the council didn't see it that way.

Caz3121 · 9 June 2017 at 9:03AM

ashleym1992 wrote: »

my sister and her family had to move into emergency accommodation while the council get the rat problem sorted out, its been over a year and they still haven't done anything to get the problem sorted.

They have offered my sister £4000, for all the damaged property, and in return they want the keys back for the house,

ashleym1992 wrote: »

She is in a new property

is the property she is now in the emergency accommodation or her new home?
is she wanting to go back to the old property?
can she quantify her financial losses? is she still paying rent on the property?
I am not sure if the actual question is whether £4k is a reasonable amount of compensation for what she has been through or something else?

ashleym1992 · 9 June 2017 at 10:13AM

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The property is her new home,
and no not after all that she's been through over the years in that house, and the kids wont even dare go into the house now, because of the rat situation.
and yeah the losses are well over £4k, and no not anymore.
and well yeah basically if its a offer that should be better or would it be better off fighting it in court, cause to be honest the £4k offer was a insult in comparison to what she and her family have been through over the past 10 years in that house.

Thanks.

Council offering me £4000.

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