please someone help me make a complaint to the council

[Joa]

Aw, dear, poor poor girl

I do feel for you.

Let me get it straight: your front was broken/drafty, you were under the impression that the council will not replace it, so you did it yourself. You spend a lot of money seemingly needlesly.

Sit down and write a stonking complaint to the landlord (I presume council?). This kind of disrepair is a landlord's responsibility. You were seriously misled. You were also badly treated when you called to complain. Now your children's Christmas will be pitiful, due to the inspector's lack of adequate information.

Make copies: one for the landlord, one for the Council's Chief Executive, one for the Head of Housing, one for your local counselor, one for your MP, one for the local paper.

You do not have to use legal language- all you need to say that the landlord has a duty to repair and they did not fulfill this duty to your serious detriment and now you are considering taking your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman if you are not recompensed speedily.

Use strong emotive phrases but be polite; lone parent, small children, Christmas ruined, not being able to pay for essentials, etc etc.

Make a lot of noise, make an utter nuisance of yourself, make them want you to go awayso badly, that they compensate you swiftly.

The crucial think in the "snowed under" strategy is to send a lot of letters to a lot of important people, so about getting the names and addresses.

[Joa]

Ed may be right; n the other hand, he may not, but because there is so much at stake I would still campaign and complain. Complaint letter doesn't cost much- it takes a little time to compose, it takes some effort to lay it out in a chronological and logical order and it may generate a good outcome.

In order to establish facts about the dates of replacement programme (when was it decided, who was entitled, what was proposed)- why not submit Freedom of Information Act access request?

I am pretty certain that if your front door was faulty to the point that it stopped performing it's function properly i.e. kept letting the wind in, did not proteect from elements etc - your landlord had a statutory duty to repair under section 11 (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/landlords-tenants/74057-disrepairs-privately-rented-accommodation.html#post641938 ) where it says that the landlord must keep in repair (see below) the structure and exterior of the building or part of a building which is let to the tenant.

and

The landlord's obligation to repair only comes into operation when there has been damage to the structure and/or exterior which requires it is made good. The landlord is therefore obliged to put right something that has gone wrong, or which does not work in the way it was intended to work.

 

If in doubt about the detailed grounds for a complaint, my rule of thumb is to go ahead. Be reasonable and polite. If your complaint is rejected, the letter will carry the arguments for the rejection of your complaint. It will be up to you to see whether these arguments are true, make sense and are irrefutable or not.

[Joa]

She isn't out of pocket really

... er, she is! Big time! And needlessly too. If she was only advised properly by the "inspectors"! You bet she feels bad. £590 is a lot of dosh for a lone parent, trust me.

 

Esio, we really appreciate your comment about your lack of sympathy. Beautiful.

Also, we are really glad that you must be one of these people who never makes mistakes, always seeks advice from knowledgeable people and carefully, reasonably approaches each problem.

How lucky you must be.

Additionally, we feel it is very insightful to tell the OP what she should have done instead of what she could do now. It allows us to feel superior, doesn't it. Especially if it's not our door that lets the cold and rain in and it is not us being messed around by whole host of jobsworths, patronising "customer services" slappers, and couldn't-care-less employees.

 

Do you work for "the council" Esio?

 

With regards to the posters who point out that OP hasn't got grounds for a complaint: with respect, I have pointed it out in my previous posts that she may or may not have legal leg to stand on, but we don't know the full facts and I wouldn't want to discourage OP from taking action without full knowledge. I have referred to my rule of thumb; if in doubt (and it doesn't cost you)- complain and see what comes out of the woodwork.

 

I know that OP proposed to replace the doors herself when she was offered to have it "re-sealed" but we really don't know much: how could "re-sealing" help with a large gap? What was the overall condition of the door? Was the replacement program in a pipeline? It is not only legal arguments that we have to contend with, it is also other factors, like possible misinformation from council officials etc.

 

And finally; my experience of local authorities who are landlords and their repairs track record tells me that in 9 out of 10 cases, council screws up.

[Joa]

I agree with my learned friend JOA, if it all fails.

I am not sure if that means you agree with me or not, sorry I am foreign

 

Council will not need to replace the door, OP has already did that, the issue is now whether she should have been told that there is a replacement program on the way and whether the inspectors misled her.

 

As for the manners; yeah, I totally agree, civilised and respectful discussion should be the rule......yet sometimes I get carried away by some of the more special posts. You know how it feels.....when you can barely restrain yourself. So yup, I put my hands up, I can be a nasty girl. So bite me

[Joa]

I , on the other hand, have a great sympathy, but that's maybe because I fully understand what it means to be a lone parent in a council house and the value of £590 in such circumstances. I fully believe the OP when she says : im sat here in floods of tears.

Naive and misinformed? Possibly.

Greedy and whining? Not at all.

How would you react if you spent your money in a circumstances when you did not have much and few weeks later you'd have found out that you did not have to spend that money at all but nobody bothered to tell you when you asked? Pretty ****ed off- I would.

 

I do not believe that she made her bargain- I feel she was possibly cheated out of a bargain. It is possible that she did not have to spend this huge amount of money at all.

As for the free windfall, I wonder what did you mean by this? Did you mean landlord fulfilling repair duty? Did you mean tenants getting what they are entitled to?