Forum Topic

Housing Repairs, advice needed.

Can I ask for advice?I consider it urgent.Ealing London Borough Council Housing repairs will not fix it.It is the light in the Bathroom. It is not the bulb, it is the switch at the top of the pull-cord. It no longer clicks on or off, currently stuck on off.It is way beyond myself in my 60s and mum who is 89 to climb ladders to fix.It is too dark to use a lot of the time without the light on, especially for mum.We cannot afford to have it repaired privately as the council have told us to do.The Council insist it is not their job, it is their house, their freehold, we've lived here since 1966.As it is the bathroom, we were not even allowed to change the bulb last time. And are banned from any electrical devices including extension leads etc..Does anyone know any other avenue we can turn too, legal if need be? We need to have full use of the bathroom/toilet.t must be a health issue?

Leslie Bailey ● 1841d18 Comments

Have you contacted your Councillors?  Contact as many as you like.  I think you will find that Citizens Advice will ask you the same.You just have to find the Councillors page and put in your postcode.  Then you can email as many as you want.

Philippa Bond ● 1836d

Unfortunately, I think we all wearily very well know, that when it comes to LBE, what they say, and what they DO......Are two entirely different things?

Rosco White ● 1837d

Assuming the original poster is a council tenant, Ealing Council's 'Who Repairs What' leaflet at: https://www.ealing.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/12467/who_repairs_what.pdf - is quite clear that repairing 'sockets and switches' is 'done by us'.

Peter Evans ● 1837d

"Councillors rarely act in the best interests of their voters."Would that be, in the main, Labour Ward Councillors Mr Ozegovic?I think it might be, none of the Labour Councillors seem to me to have the guts to rock ole "Several Houses, Several Jobs, Secret Council Loan's" boat??!!    😉I mean, we're only the Residents, who pay for everything.

Rosco White ● 1837d

I work in social housing in senior management in repairs.. we have disrepair cases come in and it hurts.. Councillors rarely act in the best interests of their voters.. I  would go straight to citizens advice as they are best suited to getting things done.

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 1837d

As previously stated you should contact your Councillors as soon as possible. They are there to help you in these situations.

Pat Kingham ● 1838d

It starting to go wrong already. But it highlights something else, This particular council has convinced itself it no longer has to carry out essential repairs.

Leslie Bailey ● 1838d

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/repairs_and_maintenance_in_council_and_housing_association_homesPretty embarrassing too that a housing charity would have to have information like this on their website.

Philippa Bond ● 1839d

Complaining and the complaints process is a delay process. If your social landlord refuses to put right repair faults the best option is to contact the local citizens advice or even a solicitor to take up a disrepair case against the council.. This would be very embarrassing for them. You can try the environmental housing team they may act but doubt it they only get involved in cases of private landlords..

Nicolas Ozegovic ● 1839d

It was repaired after immense arguing on phone, online, and then a mention of taking the answers given to me by the council to the ombudsman. But the repair person said the light is on it's way our and will eventually fail, and I need to request a new one, although he got the current one to come on again.But Council again insist it is our Job, not theirs, despite it being a sealed unit and not one we can change ourselves. So back to square one for a new light.I'm still going ahead with the ombudsman as the Council is Clearly and Knowingly giving false information to people on health and safety issues.Incidentally anyone wanting to report a Council House repair without the arguing and fighting over the phone, the current working email address is RepairLink@ealing.gov.uk, not the one that crops up in searches. Then you bypass the phoneline.

Leslie Bailey ● 1839d

Your Councillors are there to intercede with the Council on your behalf.  This is part of their job.  You can find your Councillors here:https://ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/Councillors.aspxJust copy and paste the above into your browser.

Philippa Bond ● 1840d

I'm going to call in the Ombudsman. As the information as given to me by the Council themselves that they are not responsible was and is clearly false, it must have been knowingly false when given to me. Now they are backtracking, but I'm still having to wait until the end of the month before I can have lighting in the bathroom/toilet.Remember, this is public money that all locals paid for via their Council Tax and income Tax.

Leslie Bailey ● 1840d

Sounds like you are being given the wrong information by the person on the end of the phone .Under the "right to repair "scheme the Council are obligated to carry out repairs to their property within a certain time scale as a previous post has said contact a councillor or citizens advice.....

David Burke ● 1840d

Get in touch with your local Councillors.  Sorry I don't know who they are but if you are online you can access their contact details from the Council website.

Pat Kingham ● 1841d

Maybe Citizen's Advice can help - they have volunteers some of whom are legally qualified. They will need to see a copy of the tenancy agreement. But firstly why not try your local Councillor?If you do buy a the temporary light please, for longevity of battery, opt for an LED, and not incandescent, model

Philip Coe ● 1841d

It's electronics and therefore the Council has to be responsible, as we are not allowed to interfere with wiring etc.. But for a council employee to tell me they the property owner and Landlord are not responsible is false. If I had a private Landlord the Council would jump down their throats and make them repair it.

Leslie Bailey ● 1841d

I can't really advise on anything to do with the council's obligation to carry out the repair although your case seems pretty clear cut from what you say.As a short term solution to the light issue I think you should be able to get a battery powered push activated light that can be stuck with adhesive to the wall from somewhere like Wilko.

Mark Evans ● 1841d

I want heads to roll, this is getting too much. There is no way that woman on the phone can tell me health and safety is not a Landlord's concern. We also still have an almost non-functioning wash basin in the bathroom too, after four plumber visits and three leaks/floods.The council is non-functioning and putting our health at risk.

Leslie Bailey ● 1841d