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Help - Disrepair Compensation Claim
Hi Forum,
I'm new here and cannot believe I found this forum, Yayy!
I would like some advice and guidance please, as to how much compensation I should be seeking from my social landlord due to disrepair and a failure for them to act on what I consider to be a serious health and safety risk and breach of tenancy.
Last year February (2018) my HA sent a plumber to change the kitchen taps. He did a terrible job and as a result he caused a severe leak. I calculated no less than two gallons of water in between the time they came to rectify the problem a weak later. In fact they wanted to send back the same handyman. Can you believe it!
I like my home and try to make it homely. So 9 years ago I fitted my own kitchen flooring. It was heavy-duty laminate but it was still in exceptional condition up until February 2018.
I thought this was then end of it, as there appeared to be no damage to the floor. It was only in the summer when my family and I began to suffer from headaches. It was strange, as we were perfectly fine outside but as soon as we entered the home we suffered from headaches. I proceeded to call my doctor thinking it was carbon monoxide poisoning but the boiler had just been serviced.
The floor in my kitchen began developing bumps and I sensed something more was going on, so I made a complaint. The repairs supervisor attended. He did no investigation under the kitchen base unit but raised a repair to change the kitchen base unit due to water damage.
The floor continued to get worse. I made another complaint and they attended in October (4 months on). The operative again failed to investigate because he did investigate tenant floorings. I made it clear that I did not want them to investigate my flooring but I wanted them to investigate under the kitchen base unit, which was their jurisdiction. He still refused to look. I was exasperated.
Then we began to be plagued by flying insects that looked something like a moth but disintegrated when you killed them with a tissue. They also left a black oily residue on the wall. I know them now to be drain flies. Again, the bumps in the laminate flooring appeared to worsen (mini hills). I knew this was not as a result of the water but something more. It just did not seem right. The stress it caused my family and I, waking up to floods of these insects.
We could no longer eat in the kitchen and hated to prepare food. all doors had to stay close. For the first time at Christmas, we ate food with trays on our laps in the front room.
I took the matter into my own hands and ripped up the kitchen flooring (October 18) and checked under the kitchen base unit myself and found that the boxed in soil stack, (which serves a minimum of 6 people above me), was leaking into my kitchen and waste was laying stagnant under my kitchen base unit. The waste also ran under the laminate floor and had infected the floor.
I made a complaint directly to the director and it was only at this time things began to move.
When they eventually visited the second time with both a plumber and a carpenter, they attempted to glue the crack in the soil stack, but I refused to have this. I knew this would not last and I would be in the same predicament again.
In February 2019, the repairs were finally completed by a competent drainage specialist (outsourced), but only after being toilet flushed on by two tenants above, whilst he proceeded to fix the soil pipe.
This is the shortened version but it is needless to say that the surveyor tried to convince me that it wasn't the soil stack that was leaking as the housing association would be in a lot of trouble. It clearly was the soil stack, as I witnessed the water coming into my kitchen with my own eyes.
So from February 2018 to March 2019 I have had to endure this. To add insult to injury they want to pay compensation of £2,100. I wanted to know if anyone has had a similar issue with their social landlord and could give any advice on what level of compensation I should be seeking?
My emotional health and family life has suffered and this has had led to me increasing my blood pressure dosage. Even now when I think about it, I cry because they just did not listen to me.
Any help would appreciated.
D
I'm new here and cannot believe I found this forum, Yayy!
I would like some advice and guidance please, as to how much compensation I should be seeking from my social landlord due to disrepair and a failure for them to act on what I consider to be a serious health and safety risk and breach of tenancy.
Last year February (2018) my HA sent a plumber to change the kitchen taps. He did a terrible job and as a result he caused a severe leak. I calculated no less than two gallons of water in between the time they came to rectify the problem a weak later. In fact they wanted to send back the same handyman. Can you believe it!
I like my home and try to make it homely. So 9 years ago I fitted my own kitchen flooring. It was heavy-duty laminate but it was still in exceptional condition up until February 2018.
I thought this was then end of it, as there appeared to be no damage to the floor. It was only in the summer when my family and I began to suffer from headaches. It was strange, as we were perfectly fine outside but as soon as we entered the home we suffered from headaches. I proceeded to call my doctor thinking it was carbon monoxide poisoning but the boiler had just been serviced.
The floor in my kitchen began developing bumps and I sensed something more was going on, so I made a complaint. The repairs supervisor attended. He did no investigation under the kitchen base unit but raised a repair to change the kitchen base unit due to water damage.
The floor continued to get worse. I made another complaint and they attended in October (4 months on). The operative again failed to investigate because he did investigate tenant floorings. I made it clear that I did not want them to investigate my flooring but I wanted them to investigate under the kitchen base unit, which was their jurisdiction. He still refused to look. I was exasperated.
Then we began to be plagued by flying insects that looked something like a moth but disintegrated when you killed them with a tissue. They also left a black oily residue on the wall. I know them now to be drain flies. Again, the bumps in the laminate flooring appeared to worsen (mini hills). I knew this was not as a result of the water but something more. It just did not seem right. The stress it caused my family and I, waking up to floods of these insects.
We could no longer eat in the kitchen and hated to prepare food. all doors had to stay close. For the first time at Christmas, we ate food with trays on our laps in the front room.
I took the matter into my own hands and ripped up the kitchen flooring (October 18) and checked under the kitchen base unit myself and found that the boxed in soil stack, (which serves a minimum of 6 people above me), was leaking into my kitchen and waste was laying stagnant under my kitchen base unit. The waste also ran under the laminate floor and had infected the floor.
I made a complaint directly to the director and it was only at this time things began to move.
When they eventually visited the second time with both a plumber and a carpenter, they attempted to glue the crack in the soil stack, but I refused to have this. I knew this would not last and I would be in the same predicament again.
In February 2019, the repairs were finally completed by a competent drainage specialist (outsourced), but only after being toilet flushed on by two tenants above, whilst he proceeded to fix the soil pipe.
This is the shortened version but it is needless to say that the surveyor tried to convince me that it wasn't the soil stack that was leaking as the housing association would be in a lot of trouble. It clearly was the soil stack, as I witnessed the water coming into my kitchen with my own eyes.
So from February 2018 to March 2019 I have had to endure this. To add insult to injury they want to pay compensation of £2,100. I wanted to know if anyone has had a similar issue with their social landlord and could give any advice on what level of compensation I should be seeking?
My emotional health and family life has suffered and this has had led to me increasing my blood pressure dosage. Even now when I think about it, I cry because they just did not listen to me.
Any help would appreciated.
D
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