Anyone who has ever lived in rented accommodation will know how hard it is to get the land lord to do anything, however my landlord takes the biscuit. Not one tiny little rich tea either ohhhh no the whole contents of Burtons biscuits.
Over a year ago the woman who owns the flat downstairs came up and told us we had a leak, we called out the plumber who eventually found it under the bath, after much pulling humming and hawing and blaming my youngest kid saying she had flooded the bathroom during her bath. Erm NO SHE DIDN'T. I know she didn't cos she is still being supervised during bath time.
Its OK love (I hate being called love btw) its fixed, so the plumber said. The joiner however argued and said he had had the same problem and needed to replace the bit pipe going from the bath drain to the waste pipe outside, but no the plumber knows best so it was taped up.
Less than 2 months later knock knock at my door again we had flooded downstairs, but this time it wasn't a small leak drip drip dripping ohh no it was their whole bathroom ceiling being in their bath!!!!!!
Again we called them out again the plumber said he had "fixed" it again all he had done was tape up the join, this time however he admitted it would just cost £2 for a piece of pipe longer than the one there at present. Did he replace it?? Did he heck as like.
Guess what a short time later we heard the familiar knock knock at the front door. Again we were flooding the flt downstairs.
Now not being plumbers we wont attempt to fix the problem we could make it a whole lot worse. So every time we get the knock at the door we do as we are supposed to do and call out the housing association, who send out a joiner (to take the bath panel off) and a plumber (to re tape up the join where the pipe has moved) and every time we are told its not a temporary join its a permanent fix!!!
I got so peeved off with this happening, because we cant use the bath when I know we are flooding downstairs, which of course means my kids cant be bathed nor can I keep my HS areas clean which can mean bathing twice per day, I called out the housing inspector.
Trevor came out (not bear in mind he has never worked as a plumber or joiner he joined the housing assoc as a housing inspector with no formal training in housing repairs) he tells me the tape on the pipe is not a temporary repair it is a permanent repair. I know what the plumber told me, I also know what will happen again and again but what do I know I just live here wondering what will happen next.
Will one of my children be in the bath when it falls through the floor?? Will we end up staring down a gaping hole in the floor at the bathroom downstairs??
All I know is I am sick of the constant calls to the housing association with their lackadaisical attitude towards repairs.
As long as Trevor can't see the problem it doesn't exist. I have called them out about the windows rattling as they are opened, its OK Trevor can open and close them using brute strength that neither of my children nor I have, the heating "seems" to work when he is here so of course it does all the time. I have cupboard doors opening all by themselves, no problem there of course its because the flat was built in 1958.
Well I have lived in flats older than this and never had the problems. Could it be the fact that the housing association couldn't organise a drunken night out in a brewery?? Could it be the fact that they will pick the cheapest contractor not the one with experience of dealing with rented properties??
Then I call them up and ask when repairs are going to be done and I get told "we don't know what we are doing with the flatted stock" which basically means they couldn't care less as long as we pay them the rent each and every month.
Well here is a novel idea if you don't want to be held responsible for the repairs sell the flats back to the council, they at least made sure the flats were habitable and weather proof, ohh and they do repairs.
Maybe then we wouldn't keep flooding the guy downstairs meaning the housing assoc pays for a new ceiling for them, costing much more than a £2 piece of pipe!!!!!
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