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My property is a 300 year old Farmhouse which was the subject of major renovations in 1994. In 1998, the Coal Authority began mining in the area underneath my property and land, mining continued until the pits were all closed down in 2016, and as a result, my property has been subjected to coal mining subsidence over the years. Each claim I have put in, the CA have denied responsibility and pushed me to arbitration. Each time, I have won at arbitration.
In 2016, I was forced to put in a claim for my house which was suffering from subsidence, which showed itself in the form of huge cracks in the walls of the rooms at the front of my house. The CA denied responsibility. We took it to arbitration and won . I had an `expert` submit the claim for me, and he also drew up plans for a solution which he believed would sort the problems out. The CA refused to accept my `experts` opinion, and they also refused to accept his plan for resolving the problem, and so CEDR appointed an Independent Expert to come out and look at the property and come up with a plan of action to solve the problem.
The Independent expert came out, assessed the property and drew up a plan of action to resolve the problem and the CA sent in their own contractors to do the work. After working here a couple of days, my Partner became very concerned with the way they were carrying out the work, as all the plaster had to be removed on the affected walls, and they were attempting to remove the plaster with a 1 inch wood chisel and consequently were damaging the bricks underneath. The Contractors then said the work was a lot more than they had quoted for as they believed that a lot more had needed to be done once they`d seen the bricks underneath the plaster and they said they believed the walls were unsafe, and they walked off the job stating they`d be back with the Independent Expert to decide which way to go.
A few weeks later, the Independent Expert came back out to look at what was going on, and he stated quite emphatically that the CA`s contractors had damaged the bricks by trying to take the plaster off with a 1 inch wood chisel and he confirmed this in his report to the CA.
Obviously, we didn`t want those contractors back, as in the words of the Independent expert, they were `cowboys` who clearly didn`t know what they were doing! We were told we could get our own contractor in, so we got our builder to meet the Independent Expert as the property. Our builder listened to the Expert, but voiced his opinion that the work he was suggesting wouldn`t be sufficient to stop the house from moving, he said the works suggested were like putting a sticking plaster on a heart attack, and that the house need underpinning, or knocking down and being rebuilt on a raft, as has happened with another property in our area! We told the CA what our builder had said, but they pointed out that we were bound by the terms of the arbitration, and as such, had to accept the Independent Experts opinion.
Our builder began to do the work, he did over and above what the Independent Expert had suggested, and we took photo`s all of the way through the work .
Fast forward 6 months and the works carried out have failed, just as our builder had said they would. The cracks are back in exactly the same places! WE contacted the Expert and he refused to get involved and said the repairs couldn`t have failed and the house couldn`t still be moving and suggested we get another experts opinion, bearing in mind we have already had our own experts opinion which the CA wouldn`t accept, so there seemed little point in getting another! We also contacted the CA, who after lockdown and many months of arguing, came out to inspect the property in July of this year and they agreed the works hadn`t solved the problems...hereby lies the problem....
The CA are saying that they paid to have the works done as per the Independent Experts recommendation and so it isn`t down to them to solve it. However, they said they were willing to have a meeting with the expert and us to try find a way forward. The expert stated he would have a meeting with the CA, but didn`t want us to be present, ( we believe he was going to repeat what he`d said to us, i.e that it must be settlement cracks and that the work couldn`t have failed), we stated that as part of arbitration, all parties have to be included in any correspondence/meetings etc, so we needed to be present.
We are now awaiting a meeting to be set up between all parties.
Our question is, who is liable here? The CA wouldn`t accept our own experts opinion and suggested works, preferring to get CEDR to appoint an expert, that experts works plan has failed. The CA are saying it is not up to them to pay for the works to be done again as they have fulfilled their liability in paying for the first works. Is it going to be down to us to pursue the expert to get this resolved, or is it down to the people who paid the bill, i.e the CA and who were responsible for the work needing doing in the first place because of Coal Mining Subsidence, and for not accepting our experts opinion?
I apologise for the length of this, but wanted to give the background.
Any help will be gratefully received.
Thank you
In 2016, I was forced to put in a claim for my house which was suffering from subsidence, which showed itself in the form of huge cracks in the walls of the rooms at the front of my house. The CA denied responsibility. We took it to arbitration and won . I had an `expert` submit the claim for me, and he also drew up plans for a solution which he believed would sort the problems out. The CA refused to accept my `experts` opinion, and they also refused to accept his plan for resolving the problem, and so CEDR appointed an Independent Expert to come out and look at the property and come up with a plan of action to solve the problem.
The Independent expert came out, assessed the property and drew up a plan of action to resolve the problem and the CA sent in their own contractors to do the work. After working here a couple of days, my Partner became very concerned with the way they were carrying out the work, as all the plaster had to be removed on the affected walls, and they were attempting to remove the plaster with a 1 inch wood chisel and consequently were damaging the bricks underneath. The Contractors then said the work was a lot more than they had quoted for as they believed that a lot more had needed to be done once they`d seen the bricks underneath the plaster and they said they believed the walls were unsafe, and they walked off the job stating they`d be back with the Independent Expert to decide which way to go.
A few weeks later, the Independent Expert came back out to look at what was going on, and he stated quite emphatically that the CA`s contractors had damaged the bricks by trying to take the plaster off with a 1 inch wood chisel and he confirmed this in his report to the CA.
Obviously, we didn`t want those contractors back, as in the words of the Independent expert, they were `cowboys` who clearly didn`t know what they were doing! We were told we could get our own contractor in, so we got our builder to meet the Independent Expert as the property. Our builder listened to the Expert, but voiced his opinion that the work he was suggesting wouldn`t be sufficient to stop the house from moving, he said the works suggested were like putting a sticking plaster on a heart attack, and that the house need underpinning, or knocking down and being rebuilt on a raft, as has happened with another property in our area! We told the CA what our builder had said, but they pointed out that we were bound by the terms of the arbitration, and as such, had to accept the Independent Experts opinion.
Our builder began to do the work, he did over and above what the Independent Expert had suggested, and we took photo`s all of the way through the work .
Fast forward 6 months and the works carried out have failed, just as our builder had said they would. The cracks are back in exactly the same places! WE contacted the Expert and he refused to get involved and said the repairs couldn`t have failed and the house couldn`t still be moving and suggested we get another experts opinion, bearing in mind we have already had our own experts opinion which the CA wouldn`t accept, so there seemed little point in getting another! We also contacted the CA, who after lockdown and many months of arguing, came out to inspect the property in July of this year and they agreed the works hadn`t solved the problems...hereby lies the problem....
The CA are saying that they paid to have the works done as per the Independent Experts recommendation and so it isn`t down to them to solve it. However, they said they were willing to have a meeting with the expert and us to try find a way forward. The expert stated he would have a meeting with the CA, but didn`t want us to be present, ( we believe he was going to repeat what he`d said to us, i.e that it must be settlement cracks and that the work couldn`t have failed), we stated that as part of arbitration, all parties have to be included in any correspondence/meetings etc, so we needed to be present.
We are now awaiting a meeting to be set up between all parties.
Our question is, who is liable here? The CA wouldn`t accept our own experts opinion and suggested works, preferring to get CEDR to appoint an expert, that experts works plan has failed. The CA are saying it is not up to them to pay for the works to be done again as they have fulfilled their liability in paying for the first works. Is it going to be down to us to pursue the expert to get this resolved, or is it down to the people who paid the bill, i.e the CA and who were responsible for the work needing doing in the first place because of Coal Mining Subsidence, and for not accepting our experts opinion?
I apologise for the length of this, but wanted to give the background.
Any help will be gratefully received.
Thank you
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