Hi

[woogle]

Hi im glad i found this site as in desperate need of help! My flat got flooded in Dec due to the Council's (Ipswich Borough council) Header tank in the loft leaked and actually came down three floors. Anyway They finally gave me a claim form and sent it off. Three months later i finally got an offer through (and they obviously admitted negligence) for £900 less than what i claimed for due to not having reciepts for anything or any other evidence (i gave what i could). Im on Disability living allowance and Incapacity benefit and can not afford the extra to buy everything again and what they offered was just not enough! I Rang them after getting a letter to say they are not going to up their offer and basically got laughed at and told i should have reciepts for thee things that got damaged! Its actually affecting my health as i am sleeping on a damp mattress and no sofa (both damaged in the flood) Aswell as lots more that got damaged! Sleeping on this mattress is giving me asthma attacks every night. I have been down the Citizens Advice Burea but they cant give me an appointment till the 5th of april and not hopefull even then as the insurer i spoke to doesnt think i will get very far...Is there any advice anybody can give me as im very desperate
Thanks

[Pyotor]

Re: Hi

Dont know if this helps in any way but here's what happened to me :-

I was living with my ex, a council worker came to fix a faulty boiler upstairs in one of the bedrooms whilst climbing the stairs he knocked a framed autographed photograph off the wall smashing the frame and tearing the photograph inside. We claimed from the council and we too didnt have a receipt for the item in question, the council said that they were only going to pay for the frame as a photograph doesnt have any monetary value. We obviously appealed this and as evidence of value we sent them information from suppliers showing what the item would cost to replace. Happily they paid in full.

What i'm saying is have you listed everything damaged and the cost to replace the item in your letters to the council? and if so Have they devalued your claim to account for "reasonable wear and tear" and "depreciation"?

[woogle]

Re: Hi

Thanks for replying. The council arent even dealing with it now. They passed it staright to their insurers. I did do a list of what it cost me to begin with and what it would cost to replace it now. And because of lack of paperwork (i think they forget i had a flood and it wasnt a little one) i have none of this now. When i rung the Insurer he stated how did i pay and that i should of used a credit card when buying the items....Not helpful at all to me and he was very rude in fact! So no they havent taken away the fact for wear and tear but am saying apparently im asking for a silly amount of money. Thanks for your reply though.