help needed with 3rd stage complaint

02/11/2009 7:39 pm

For our HA, the unofficial guidelines for tenants trying to get repairs done are:

Call the local council Environmental Health officer in to assess your flat. They have the power to force the landlord to do repairs that the EH officer lists, and to do them fast. This is for health & safety hazards such as extensive damp, unsafe things, rodents, etc.

Also use a solicitor (or nearest law centre or CAB). Solicitor/law centre letters make our landlord jumpy, faster action ensues. They could check the terms of the hand over from one HA to another?

Put everything in writing. Keep all emails. Take notes immediately of all phone calls. Take photos of the state of the disrepair.

Our landlord likes to pretend the problem was first reported 'only' six months ago, not the actual several years ago that is not uncommon. Keeping records proves them wrong.

Whatever compensation they offer when you finally get that far - are you sure it is enough to compensate for the stress, time taken, etc.

Good luck

03/11/2009 11:46 am

Gillian do you have a local TRA perhaps the Chair can help you and have the experience has a one Resident to another Resident to guide and help


But make sure he/she is not out for themselves i.e. got own Agenda because some Resident's that our nodding dog's to the Chief Executive, Director's and Officer's because some Resident's like rubbing shoulders with the Officer's and no really interested in Resident's issues and have a Agenda of they own. Watch out. I not saying all the same but in my Housing Assocation whom I with now plenty of them. In my previous Housing Association all Resident sitting in these group one hundred per cent behind the Resident.

Ask around you Fellow Resident

03/11/2009 4:02 pm

Again that right you are entitled to get your belonging's i.e. Person property in store if major works. Thinks about what said about takening someone with you if anyone been present when discussing the issues affecting you that take along has witness's - have you had a interview this the Chief Executive has he/she been to you house- please people are asking for you phone number we can put you right. Not all that use's this website our Officer's of a Housing Association.

03/11/2009 6:29 pm

For our HA at least, mice are definitely a landlord responsibility. If the landlord does not deal with them, you call environmental health. They deal with ensuring there are no health hazards. They will be able to list what needs to be done to keep the mice out.

We had mice eating through a front door in a basement flat, and it was definitely the landlord who had to sort it out. They also have responsibility for rats, including in communal areas and courtyards.

The kitchen may not be up to Decent Homes standard, though this standard is full of loopholes. The government seemed to expect HAs to be full of goodwill and willing to exceed the minimal standards. Many are happy to do it well, some have had difficulty raising the money, even though they are selling loads of properties to finance it.

Other pests, for eg bed bugs, are not a landlord responsibility (unless they are there before you move in). The local authority has a service for bed bugs etc that you pay for.

04/11/2009 0:54 am

It varies from one HA to another. Ours takes responsibility for rats and mice in the communal areas, and inside flats. I would definitely expect any landlord to be responsible for ensuring that the flats are reasonably rodent-proof - no gaps around pipes etc.
One good reason for having the landlord responsible is that if they are in one flat, they will get into all of them and the communal areas. If residents are putting down their own poison etc, it is hazardous.
On our estate there is a brand new conversion - it was handed over to a tenant with water leaking in, the central heating piping ending in mid-air so no circuit, no heating, and with mice in residence. There were no mice before the conversion work was done. A couple of months later part of the floor and ceiling in one room collapsed, due to a long-standing leak from two floors above. Floor joists had rotted I think.
I know that a lot of social housing landlords do take responsibility for rodent infestations, because a number of the larger pest control companies have the contracts - for inside flats or in communal areas. The only rats our local authority deals with are the ones in the streets, nesting under the trees, etc.

If the condition of the property is the reason rodents get in easily, it is up to the landlord to sort it out. It is a health hazard.
Also, a lot of RSL residents are living on benefits or other very low incomes, and cannot afford the local council 'affordable' contract pest control, let alone any other pest control company costs. So if one low income family cannot afford to deal with rodents, they will spread.
They carry a lot of diseases - if close to rivers, Weil's disease too.
It just makes sense to have the RSL deal with rodents.

The local council is not responsible for rodents in private properties - only in streets. What happens in council housing I don't know.