So for the long post. I appreciate it's a lot to read.
Hi, I am asking for advice for my Mum and Dad who are 79 and 81 respectively. They live in a ground floor flat as they suffer with mobility issues. My Dad has had 5 mini strokes known as TIA's.
Whist they were on holiday the flat above them had a water leak due to a faulty inlet pipe on their toilet. When my Mum and Dad came home they discovered pretty extensive water damage to their flat. The couple in the flat above were notified of the issue and agreed not to use the toilet until the problem with the toilet was fixed, which they did.
My Mum and Dad were told their house was uninhabitable to damp and mould and that they would have to find some temporary accommodation {they came to live with me and my wife} whilst the flat was first dried out by a dehumidifier and the mould treated. They hired said dehumidifier and treated the mould paying out of their own pocket.
The management company contacted the landlord of the flat above and after a couple of weeks he agreed to pay for the damage and costs incurred. So we waited for the flat to dry and for the landlord to arrange repairs caused by the considerable water damage. Time went on and we were told the landlord had changed his mind and reneged on the offer to pay for damages.
By this time, four weeks had past. Then after some correspondence from the management company on behalf of my Mum and Dad he admitted liability for a second time and agreed to cover all costs.
Margetts, the letting agent, then authorised one of their contractors to look at the damage and quote for repairs to the flat. He did this and the day before the work was to commence the landlord once again changed his mind and said he wasn't covering the damage any more as he wasn't liable due to it being an unforeseeable event. He claims his public liability insurance covers this. .
I don't think public liability insurance would cover this from what people have told me and he tried to make them settle for 500 as a full and final settlement. Needless to say that wouldn't come close to covering their outlay in repairing the damage. Any advice on this would be appreciated.
I almost think he got a friend at an insurance company to try and scare my Mum and Dad into settling for that but I don't have proof.. I have read and spoken to other people who say we should win this case through the small claims court as it's his responsibility to maintain the property above and he's admitted liability twice.
At this point my elderly Mum and Dad were so stressed, wanted to get back into their flat and had the work carried out by the Margetts contractor who had originally seen the work. They have paid for this out of their own pocket so they could finally go home. My Dad has mobility issues and was struggling with the stairs in our house and nearly fell down the stairs one day which meant they needed to get back into their flat as soon as possible. In the end they spent 8 weeks stopping with us. . The landlord has now instructed Margetts who have been conversing on his behalf to no longer talk to us. He advised them to ask us to contact him directly by email which we have done, to try and reach a reasonable settlement. He has not replied to any of our emails trying to reach a settlement.
Our only alternative is to make a small claims court claim against him. I have read up a bit about this but would like advice on what we can charge for. Can we charge for 8 weeks accommodation as the house was uninhabitable? Can we claim for stress caused by his delaying tactics and mind changes?
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. We intend to charge him for our costs to fix the ceilings, treat the mould, two lots of hire for the dehumidifier and the cost of the electric to power it for 8 weeks and excess for the contents insurance claim for the items damaged by the water ingress. We have evidence for all the damage.
Also we would like any advice on what to do if he won't provide his details so we can take him to the court. We have requested this from him but so far no reply. The management company and the letting agent have his details but can't pass them on for GDPR reasons. Any help with any of this would be amazing.
I guess the things I would like advice on are
1) Can we claim any costs for the 8 weeks their flat was uninhabitable and they came to live with us?
2) Can we claim any emotional damages which have put considerable toll on my parents?
3) We are looking to do an online Small Claims court , he has now replied but giving us a care of address using Margetts again. Do we need his details as the defendant for the Court case or is the care of address of the Lettings agent enough?
Thank you
