Property damage

[Nannie T]

I have had a full house rewire carried out by contractors for my local council. The contractors were ill equipped and channelled out walls without using dust sheets ruining my carpets. The brick and plaster dust covered furniture and electrical. They have damaged property, walls, paintwork and have left dirty, greasey marks all over walls, ceilings, light fittings etc. I have fibromyalgia and the stress and countless hrs cleaning up their mess has made me ill and the council are basically trying to tell me it's down to the contractors to sort out my issues and have refused to come and see for themselves the damage, mess and chaos the contractors have caused. Where do I stand? 

[Andyorch]

Hi and welcome to the forum NannieT

 

I assume this is council owned housing ?

 

Andy

[Nannie T]

Hi Andy, yes it is. I requested that new wiring was chased in as I've spent a lot of time and money making my house look nice. I obviously expected some mess but the blatant lack of respect for my belongings is unacceptable  

[Andyorch]

Problems during council or housing association repairs - Shelter England

ENGLAND.SHELTER.ORG.UK

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What you can do if the council or housing association arranges repairs that are disruptive or the work is done badly

 

[stu007]

Hi Nannie T

 

Sorry about the issues you are having especially with your own medical condition and having to deal with this.

 

Firstly let me be clear the Council are absolutely WRONG that it is for you to take these issue up with the Contractor.

 

Why the Council Employed the service of this Contractor to carry out these works on the Councils behalf therefore the buck fully stops with the Council as they Employed these Contractors not you.

 

Have been through a very similar issue to yours with my own Housing Association a few years ago with Kitchen & Bathroom upgrades and the contractors trashed my property and I am Disabled, it backfired on my Housing Association.

 

The Council are trying to pass the buck but ultimately they are responsible for their Contractors actions. and it is not for you to chase this contractor it is for the Council to deal with and sort out.

 

So what you need to do is follow their Complaints procedure and when you contact them you always state these 2 words first 'FORMAL COMPLAINT' whether in writing or email as they then have to legally record it as such on there systems and it is open to be viewed on a regulators inspection.

 

So I would word a follow up to this like:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Reference Number:  (insert reference number if you have been given one)

 

FORMAL COMPLAINT

 

Further to your last Letter/Email dated XX/XX/XXXX in which I informed you of your Contractors action within my property and the damage they have caused I find your response unacceptable that I have to take these issue up myself with your Contractor.

 

1. My Tenancy Agreement is with XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Council and NOT your Contractor.

 

2. XXXXXXXXXX Council employed the services of this Contractor and NOT the Tenant therefore you are responsible/liable for the actions of your Contractors.

 

(In this section clarify again all the issues/damage done by this Contractor)

 

Due to the above I now require the following:

 

1. Copy of the Complaints Policy (not the leaflet)

2. Copy of the Customer Care Charter/Policy (not the leaflet)

3. Copy of Cyclical & Planned Maintenance Policy (not the leaflet)

4. Copy of Repair & Maintenance Policy (not the leaflet)

5. Copy of Right to Repair Scheme Policy (not the leaflet)

6. Copy of Compensation & Decoration Policy (not the leaflet)

7. Copy of your Public Liability Insurance

 

I await your response.

 

 

[Nannie T]

Thankyou so much.

 

All communication with the council thus far has been by phone. One of the advisors did email the man who is responsible for the rewire at the council and stated on her email that this was now a complaint. This was supposed to be a 3 - 4 day job. We are now into the 3rd week!

 

Despite asking repeatedly to speak to the guy in charge at the council ( and email requests from council advisors to him asking him to phone me) he has not contacted me once and I keep getting told that I have to give the contractors time to do remedial works.

 

Whilst I understand that this is a reasonable request, I have 2 8ssues with it - 1. How much longer am I supposed to live in this chaos and 2. The contractor has glossed over how bad things got here when the council have been in touch about my concerns ( and in some instances have downright lied!) and without coming and seeing for himself this guy has no real idea of what is going on.

 

I will put all this in an email to the council as per your advice to ensure it is dealt with properly and that there is a paper trail. Thankyou  for taking the time to help.

[stu007]

Hi

 

If you have a mobile phone take photographs of everything to do with your issue also is these contractors are messing about not doing there job as required if your phone has the facility to record it then do exactly that build up evidence of these issue.

 

As I said I have a very similar issue and I photographed everything this contractor was doing on behalf of my Housing Association during the works but also video recorded what was going on in my property (on my mobile phone) right down to their employee watching Porn on their mobile phone in my property which I was shocked at and throw them out of my property (well demanded they leave due to this employee which they did) . This is how it backfired on my Housing Association due to the evidence I had and could have broadcast further of the actions of their contractor.

 

Do Not take the Councils Housings word as what you need to understand is are they actually following there own Policies and Procedures which is why I told you to ask for certain Policies form them.

 

What you do when you get these is you make sue you have a pencils/highlighter and as you read through them (take your time) just think to yourself in your present circumstances 'DID THEY DO THAT' if not mark it as you read through the Policies this way you are then building evidence from their own Policies to use against them with your present issue.