Lucy v Stevenage Homes Round II

Lucy Johnson has copied me her email correspondence with Ann Hensley. She thought it might be useful for other leaseholders to read the exchange.

From Ann Hensley:

I am now able to respond to your further queries regarding the charges applied to flat block for 2009/10.

I will start with the repairs.

1. Underground leak. I received more detailed information on what had to be done to resolve the underground leak. Two men had to excavate to a depth of three feet through solid concrete to locate the leak. They also found that the stopcock to the block was leaking as well. Both leaks were repaired, the drain was reinstated as well as a new gully and the stopcock box and chamber were reinstated as was the manhole cover and paving. The surrounding area was backfilled and all excavations were made good. All resulting debris was removed.

This work took 3.25 days for two operatives; also included in the cost were the materials.

Once I received this information I telephoned React Fast who had given you the quote of £549 + VAT, asking them to quote on the above. They advised me that they do not ever carry out work on flat blocks as the pipes are shared by all residents. She stated that the quote given to you was on the understanding that it was a house and this was their basic quote and that the quote only included work to locate and resolve one leak; additional leaks would incur additional charges. And that once the leak was repaired they would not carry out any work to fill in the hole left behind. This would be the responsibility of the home owner.

In view of this I feel that the charge levied for this work by our contractors was reasonable.

2. Blocked guttering. This work took 2 men as ladders were required and took 2 hours to resolve. The gutters were cleaned out and then flushed through to ensure that the blockage was gone. The charges are from a nationally used schedule of rates.

3. Bin room light. The light switch was renewed on 12.11.09 following a report that the light could not be turned off. A further report was received by either you or your husband on 25.11.09 again stating that the light was on all the time so our electrician returned to the block to check the situation. He found the switch in working order so no further work was required. The charge levied was for the inspection to the block.

4, caretaking / cleaning charge You also requested more detail on the caretaking / cleaning charge. I can advise that the block was blitz cleaned in April, July and September 2009 and again in January and March 2010. Fly tipping was removed in August 2009. A total of 12 hours and 24 minutes was spent at this flat block. Also an allowance is made to each flat block to cover the caretakers undertaking the following duties throughout the year:

• Regular vehicle checks
• Attending meetings
• Collecting stores
• Removing graffiti
• Caretakers BICSc training
• Estate walkabouts
• Paper work
• Putting up posters
• Unloading rubbish and putting Diesel in vans
• Clean ups/walkabouts
• Collecting water to do the cleans

The total for this is then divided between all blocks. Each block therefore has the same time apportioned to them.

I hope all this additional information has resolved your queries and once again invite you to become a key leaseholder for your flat block to help us to ensure that repairs and services carried out at the block are to a high standard.

Regards
Anne Hensley

Now Lucy’s reply on 03/11/2010

Anne,
I don’t feel that I received satisfactory response from Stevenage Homes regarding my enquiries.

1. Underground leak
Stopcock -I have spoken with Veolia Water about the work done. They informed me that Stevenage Homes asked them to repair the stopcock so that they could repair the leaking pipe. Veolia Water have confirmed that the work was done and that because it was a mains stopcock and therefore their responsibility to repair, they did not charge Stevenage Homes for this repair. So how does Stevenge Homes count this as “1 leak” and charge me for it?

As for the lengths of time taken, 2 men came and dug a hole, covered it with a board then disappeared for the day. They ame back the next day, spent a couple of hours working then disappeared again. On the third day they returned and filled the hole. Does this constitute 3.25 days of labour? In reality it was actually less than 1 day but spread out for 3.25 days to maximise the bill.

Michael says £1378 is reasonable. Let’s assumes that they used the most expensive concrete and pipe and it cost £378 that means the 2 workmen must be charging £153 each per day. Seems I wasted my time going to university! I could have just bought a spade and earned double.

React Fast – A quota is about how much they will charge on similar job, not that I would actually ask them to carry out the work. The fact is a random company I found from Yellow Page is half of what Stevenage Homes charged me for.

Please give me the exact breakdown of the cost, how much is spent on material and how much for the labour.

2. Blocked guttering
2 men 2 hours – so £52.07 an hour. How on earth do you think that a gutter cleaner gets £52.07 per hour is reasonable. Please explain.

3. Bin room light
You apparently came to repair the light switch on 12/11/09, really don’t understand how would I reported a fault on 25/11/2009 even after you “repaired” it? Obviously the repair has not been done on 12/11/09.

4. Caretaking
Fly tipping – have you tried to identify where the fly tipping come from? What is/are the item(s) that you removed?

5.
It’s mentioned in the repair section on your website, “Once the work has been completed the worksperson will attempt to get one of the tenants in the block to agree that the work has been completed. They may not go back to the original tenant that reported the repair”. Please give me the details of whom in my block signed these work off(underground leak, blocked guttering, Bin room light & fly tipping), and I would like to see the scans of their signatures.

6. Repair work for year 2010/11 so farDo you have any records of repairs carried out so far for year 2010/11? Please give me the details, especially the cost. I don’t want another nasty shock when I receive another bill.

7. Key leaseholder
“To receive and review periodic repairs reports” – Will you send to me the reports automatically if I am the key leaseholder? What do you mean of “periodic”? Every month? Every quarter?

I do not feel Stevenage Homes offers any help to leaseholders or try to solve any problems that leaseholders have. Every enquiry is only about you defending Stevenage Homes rather than finding solutions.

I await your prompt response.

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Tags: Anne Hensley, Lucy Johnson, Michael Olawepo, React Fast, Veolia