Lazy incompetent housing officers!

[AliCat69]

Can anyone advise? We live in one of 4 maisonettes all originally council owned but we now own one of them (bought by my husband 15 yrs ago). The houses originally were leased by the council along with a shop and a garage for each tenant. When they sold us our house they included a small piece of land that took a lot of our time and money to make use of, and included a balcony and a pathway but these are partially under the control of the council. Although the garages are supposed to be residential, they didn't include one, despite a desperate lack of parking space.

The situation now is that one house, shop and garage is leased to one family who don't use the house. One house and the remaining 3 shops and garages are leased by one man who also doesn't use his house or garages except for storage of his shop goods. He sub-lets one garage to us (he isn't supposed to). The other house is leased by a council tenant.

At the back of the house is a communal balcony and an enclosed communal area that should serve as a garden with two flights of steps but the whole area, apart from the bit we own is in a terrible state of disrepair and we have rats running about.

In 2007 i wrote to the council stating that we wanted them to work with us to clean everything up and make it habitable. This had been done previously by my husband and neighbour but the council workmen ruined it when doing some maintenance work.

I had a reply to say they would look into it. Four years on however, we are still waiting. We have had a few visits from council officials, surveyers and workmen etc but it was only when i contacted environmental health that anything was done and even then, they only came to board up the balcony and one flight of stairs. So now it looks even worse and we are one fire exit less.

I have repeatedly asked for an update but i just get fobbed off. They are now saying the work is out to tender. How long should that take?? Good grief, we'll be in an old folks home before it gets done!

So now we're in a bit of a mess as our local council has sold all their housing stock to Homes for You and there are massive spending cuts being made. I'm worried now that they are going to refuse to do the work and it really is horrible. There's no safe place to let our children play out and the garages and garden are disgusting and dangerous.

I have written to everyone i can think can help within the council including the chief executive and had some very polite replies but no joy.

I did ask one local councillor for help but she simply forwarded my email to the very housing officer i was having problems with - without asking my permission or even replying first!

Talk about an incompetent council!!!!

Does anyone have any ideas? Pleeeeeeaaaase????

[rebel11]

Hi ali

 

Welcome to CAG

The guys will advise as soon as they are available. Thread moved.

[Conniff]

Contact your MP. This is what they are there for. Find out when the next surgery is to be held and be there.

[stu007]

Hi AliCat69

 

As you point out you are one fire exit less, this is a fire safety issue as well so I would contact your local fire station and ask their advice and possibly to visit to do a fire inspection of the building pointing out the fire exit blocked off by the council.

[Conniff]

Hi AliCat69

 

As you point out you are one fire exit less, this is a fire safety issue as well so I would contact your local fire station and ask their advice and possibly to visit to do a fire inspection of the building pointing out the fire exit blocked off by the council.

 

I like that. If you can get a fire safety officer on your side and declare it unsafe, you have it in the bag.

[AliCat69]

Thanks so much for these replies. I've got a bit tired of it all to be honest so i needed a boost to get me back on track. I'll contact the MP (although anyone in any kind of authority always seems to be in cahoots with the council) and the fire service. I hadn't thought of that one!

I'll let you know how i get on.

Fingers crossed - again...

[Alicat_69]

Well, we contacted the fire safety officer and although he was very sympathetic and he had concerns about the boarded up fire exit he couldn't enforce anything. I can't remember why. Anyway, he told me to pass on his concerns to the council which i did.

 

I've also passed on the details to our local MP and we now include one of her reps into all relevant emails.

 

We've now received amongst LOTS of other things:

 

a vague email saying they'll be starting work soon,

a notice to move our untaxed car so they can put a skip in it's place (on our land, they assumed it was theirs),

a letter with our costs for the work involved (all incorrect), including notice of our consultation period of 30 days from the date of the letter (4th November) giving us until 5th November (spot the mistake!!)

a start date of the 14th November (leaving us no time to consult) followed 3 days later by a schedule of works that bears no resemblance to the works discussed and agreed in the first place.

 

We're now getting emails explaining how and why they've reached certain figures etc and they all seem to relate to the original lease from 2003 that was given to my husband. He thinks they're trying to cover up for their mistakes and I can make very little sense of any of it so i'm now wondering if we need legal guidance and if so, who would be brave or knowledeable enough to take on a local council. Our town is notoriously cliquey and i'm not sure how to proceed.

[Alicat_69]

Oh yes, and i made a mistake when i mentioned Home for You. The housing dept in question is actually an ex council houing dept that is now a charitable organisation that has been set up BY the council. They're still rubbish and now they can use their charitable status to their advantage.