housing association

[moosehead]

recently i had an issue with my housing association, i had my annual gas safety check in may.june and this resulted in my gas being turned off for three days as there was a gas leak.

 

three days later the gas contractors (organised by my H/A) came out in order to repair the leak. it was one guy on his own and they told me it could tkae all day resulting in me having to tkae the day off work as they couldnot narrow down when he would get there.

he ended up taking the skirting board off in the living room and managed to locate the leak. it appears that when the property was built they were unsure where the gas meter would be - when this was installed the installed the gas pipes going through the living room into the kitchen and to the boiler. They then boxed the pipes off with a skirting board - as they did this they nailed through the pipe so this had been leaking since the property had been built and my housing association are not excepting responsibility for this.

 

can anyone help?

[kennythecelt]

Sorry to hear about this trouble. Its alarming that this appears to be going on for so long, based on what the gas contractor said.

 

I would raise this as a formal complaint- the association will have a form and procedure for it to be investigated. I think you could also ask if they can compensate you and ask for their policy on this.

 

In the complaint I would raise the particular risk to yourself during the period but also your family and neighbours, if there had been an accident.

 

To ensure it gets attention i would also suggest you raise the possibility that this may have occured in other similar homes and it needs to be checked out.

 

You could also raise it with your residents association if there is one, or your councillor.

 

If the gas contractors would give you a statement of what occured that would be fantastic as you could then raise it with the Health and Safety Executive. http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/gas_law.htm

[moosehead]

Sorry to hear about this trouble. Its alarming that this appears to be going on for so long, based on what the gas contractor said.

 

I would raise this as a formal complaint- the association will have a form and procedure for it to be investigated. I think you could also ask if they can compensate you and ask for their policy on this.

 

In the complaint I would raise the particular risk to yourself during the period but also your family and neighbours, if there had been an accident.

 

To ensure it gets attention i would also suggest you raise the possibility that this may have occured in other similar homes and it needs to be checked out.

 

You could also raise it with your residents association if there is one, or your councillor.

 

If the gas contractors would give you a statement of what occured that would be fantastic as you could then raise it with the Health and Safety Executive. http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic/gas_law.htm

 

 

 

hi,

 

i have raised this as a formal complaint but the housing assocaition have such an apparent lack of concern over it. i have informed them that i have two sets of families in the same block both with children and the risk to them. the gas was leaking out of the vents in the living room and i have lit cnadles and such like inthere and have had my eleven month old nephew over on many occasion.

 

i am going to raise it with the housing ombudsman as i think it is disgraceful that they rendered the flats fit to be inhabited and have completed annual safety checks and have not picked this up sooner and told me that they were allowed a slack on the gas!!!!

[kennythecelt]

Hello again

 

Sorry I did not appreciate you had raised a formal complaint. Proceed to Housing Ombudsman.

 

I would raise it with HSE as well.

 

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[Surfer01]

What is more serious is that obviously the appliances had been serviced previously by a syupposedly competent servcie engineer, but the leak was never picked up. This demonstrates incompetence somewhere along the line. I would demand to see the certificates of the engineers that did the servicing previously. If they refuse to do this, then a SAR will reveal the names although it would cost you £10, but you should then get this back. It woudl also help you in your fight for compensation. Also good to get your MP involved in this or even the local rag.

[Surfer01]

Again damn edit function won't allow me to correct spelling!

[maroondevo52]

Thread moved to Residential and Commercial lettings Forum.

[sir_gilmour]

Hi

Welcome to The Consumer Action Group.

 

 

I am just letting you know that as you haven't had any replies to your post yet, it might be better if you post your message again in an appropriate sub-forum. You will get lots of help there.

 

Also take some time to read around the forum and get used to the layout. It is a big forum and takes a lot of getting used to.

 

 

Once you start to find your way, you will soon realise that it is fairly easy to get round and to get the help you need.

 

It can be bit confusing at first.