Is anyone here a surveyor?

I need some rapid help in getting the management company of my block to take responsibility for a huge leak!

where is the leak coming from? are you a tenant or lessee? (what makes you think you need a surveyor?)

I'm a thermal imaging consultant but in Ireland...do work in London occasionally but unless they're paying for it it's not really worth your while getting me over... are you in a hurry for it?

The leak is coming from somewhere above the concrete slab that forms the floor of the ground floor.
It would seem to be coming from a retail unit that is part of the block- a Nisa Local.

However the owner of the Nisa says that it is not his store, so he will not pay for whatever needs to be done to rectify the situation.

To be fair I see his point as the leak only happens after heavy rain, suggesting that it is a fault with the original builders- the block is just over 2 years old.

The management company (seperate entity) are blaming Nisa, and saying that we as residents should hire cars and then charge them to Nisa (the leak has blown the car lifts electrics, trapping all the cars in the garage).

Now the problem is that we can hire a car- £700 deposit, then £100 a day, and then charge it too Nisa, but they will not pay it as they say that it is not them.

So I could really do with a surveyor who can say, with authority, "the water is coming from there", so that I can get someone to take responsibility for this.

This would not be so important to me if I did not need my car to pick family members up from the airport and then drive everyone to a funeral next week, however I do so it is!

Ti Thermal Imaging

Try these guys, don't know them personally but they're the first ones I found when searching in London and they look good...

I'l have a look, thanks. Any ideas on what a reasonable fee is likely to be?

it doesn't matter one bit.

you are a tenant/lessee with a contract with your landlord/freeholder. Presumably that contracts states right of use and access to communal parts. They have a duty to uphold their end of the bargain and as such **they **are liable.

You do not have a contract with nisa or the managing agent. The managing agent is in place to represent the freeholder as an agent. what he says represents the freeholder, but that doesn't mean that he has a duty to you.

My advice: do not go down the route of engaging a surveyor. You'll take on an implied liability by the act of investigating this. Get the landlord/freeholders solicitors details and get yourself a solicitor who can fax a letter over to them stating that you hold them liable for breach of contract and costs incurred if normal service isn't resumed pronto.

Eh.... lets see... probably somewhere between £300 and £500 roughly... you'll probably get charged for day... send them an e-mail and see though, they could be cheaper or more expensive... it's not too complicated a job though...

it doesn't matter one bit.

you are a tenant/lessee with a contract with your landlord/freeholder. Presumably that contracts states right of use and access to communal parts. They have a duty to uphold their end of the bargain and as such **they **are liable.

You do not have a contract with nisa or the managing agent. The managing agent is in place to represent the freeholder as an agent. what he says represents the freeholder, but that doesn't mean that he has a duty to you.

My advice: do not go down the route of engaging a surveyor. You'll take on an implied liability by the act of investigating this. Get the landlord/freeholders solicitors details and get yourself a solicitor who can fax a letter over to them stating that you hold them liable for breach of contract and costs incurred if normal service isn't resumed pronto.

I spoke to the FD of the company that holds the freehold- he said that it was nothing to do with them as they pay the management company to manage the situation.

He said that as the freeholder he would do nothing, as it was not his responsibility.

Eh.... lets see... probably somewhere between £300 and £500 roughly... you'll probably get charged for day... send them an e-mail and see though, they could be cheaper or more expensive... it's not too complicated a job though...

£595 plus VAT for a day, sounded like a nice chap on the phone.

Yeah... to be fair that's not too bad... verging on the steep side but Thermography is big dorrah... good results though, I'd take it

I spoke to the FD of the company that holds the freehold- he said that it was nothing to do with them as they pay the management company to manage the situation.

He said that as the freeholder he would do nothing, as it was not his responsibility.

WHO ISA YOUR CONTRACT WITH? are you a tenant or a lessee?

I rent the house with two others from the landlord (a friend who used to live in the property).

(assuming you don't want to screw over your friend) Does she own the lease or rent from someone else?

As far as I understand it:

The landlord owns the flat, the freehold is with Vision Homes, who use Action Homes to manage the freehold.

Therefore Action Homes are responsible for all outside, communal, and access repairs/issues etc, on behalf of Vision Homes.

As far as I understand it:

The landlord owns the flat, the freehold is with Vision Homes, who use Action Homes to manage the freehold.

Therefore Action Homes are responsible for all outside, communal, and access repairs/issues etc, on behalf of Vision Homes.

ok, so, your friend/landlord needs to formally communicate with the managing agent stating that the freeholder has failed to meet it's obligations under her lease, and that if they cannot (in a reasonable period of time) provide a plan to rectify the situation she will be instructing her solicitors to recover losses incurred as a result of this failure.

you have a contract with her only, and she has a liability to you.
she has a contract with the freeholder, and the freeholder has a liability to her.
the freeholder has a contract with the managing agent, and the managing agent has a liability to the freeholder.
No-one has a cotract with Nisa.
The freeholder has buildings insurance to deal with this.

If your landlord writes to the agent (who is a representative of the freeholder) and gets no joy, then the managing agent is liable to the freeholder for failing to ensure that the freeholders contractual commitments are met.

BTW. I'm a director of a freehold company, have been through this a few times.

Thanks for the advice Fred- much appreciated.

My concern is time based here- which is why I was trying to get things such as the surveyor sorted out!

The landlord is aware, but getting him to get Action/Vision homes is going to take time.

I have to pick up two very large wreaths in London, then get to Heathrow to pick up the GF's father, then to Eastbourne, pick up the rest of the family and get them all to the cemetary.

Then essentially do that in reverse. So I need a big car (which I have but cannot use!), and I need it by the weekend.

My concern is that if the lift is not fixed by Friday then it will be too late to hire a suitable car, at which point I am, frankly, buggered.

I'd just like either Action or Vision homes to say that they will provide a suitable car on Friday if the lift is still banjaxed, but they both deny responsibility...

Feels like I am going around in circles!

Thanks again for the advice, and if anyone reading this has a large estate car they can lend me please speak up!

To be honist even if you got a surveyor in today (unlikely) the chances of anything being done by friday are more or less zero.

All I want is for the responsibility for the leak to be established- then I have someone that I can say "It is your fault, here is the invoice for the car hire".

The thermal imaging company said that they should be able to get an engineer to do the survey this week.

I may be grasping at straws...

Listen to fred! If you conduct a survey, you may be accepting responsibility, which is mad. Presumably if you did have to rent a vehicle, whoever turns out to be responsible will be liable for any costs incurred. But definitley not the corner shop!

I have taken on board everything that Fred has said- I got a reply from the landlord:

Me:
Action Homes, Nisa and Vision Homes are all denying any responsibility when I speak to them, have you got anywhere?

Him:

Not in a way which will result in resolution this week.

You would be better off renting the necessary car and trying to get the money back for that then hiring a surveyor and so on.

There is always a small claims court option avaible to you once the problem has been remedied and a clear line of fault has been established.

I have taken on board everything that Fred has said- I got a reply from the landlord:

Me:
Action Homes, Nisa and Vision Homes are all denying any responsibility when I speak to them, have you got anywhere?

Him:

Not in a way which will result in resolution this week.

As bad as it sounds you are not going to get any resolution even if you hire a surveyor and they say it is a maintanace or construction issue. Fred is right and there is no point in you engaging a surveyor directly. If you go down this path the other parties will simply dispute your surveyors findings and since they didn't engage the surveyor and didn't instruct you to engage a surveyor you will be out of pocket and really struggle to recover your costs.

You need to get your landlord to act and act in writing not just casual phone conversations. I assume you don't want to start seding threatening letters to your friend and landlord but it always pays to get things in writing, so send him and official complaint and if need be write a letter for her to send to the freeholder. Once you start establishing a paper trail you will have some backing behind your expense claim for a renting a car for the weekend, but make sure you get your complaint in writing and then start hassling for a formal response.

I suspect what is going to happen this time is what happened last time- the floor slab dried out, and no-one found out who was truly to blame.

If this happens again then I will have no-one to charge the car rental too.

I won't engage a surveyor myself- I am suggesting to Action homes and Nisa that they engage one together so the fault can be fixed and blame apportioned.

That said, I'm close to giving up now.