Having an incarcerated freeholder and negligent managing agents meant that when we were finally able to secure RTM we inherited a roof that looked like this. Rotten and missing flashing, rotten water tank housing (including insulation and covers), holed and defective roof felting and sections of replaced asphalt that had cracked and become uneven, holding pools of stagnant water..
which had made my load bearing kitchen wall look like this because water being stored at the base of the water tank was coming through the roof and down the wall!
There was considerable fire damage caused by a sub-tenant setting fire to the mound of rubbish continually dumped in the communal walkway and the so-called managing agents (at the time) had let the buildings insurance lapse!
We inherited an abandoned, boarded up and neglected flat which became rate infested and when the boards were finally taken down to start work, we found the ceiling had collapsed!
The building was cracked and damaged in various places…
we inherited these..
we had a cracked and leaning boundary wall, due to a rather large tree on the other side of it!
and if all that wasn’t bad enough, we also inherited some incredibly shoddy workmanship carried out by individual landlords showing externally throughout the block…
What we didn’t inherit was any funding from the previous freeholder and agent so where on earth did we start?
After setting up an interim service charge budget to start getting some money in, the first big (visible) job we did was to install some external lighting to the rear of the building, the communal walkway and on the stair landings. More than one resident had said how scary it was round round the back of the block and one poor resident actually broke both ankles on one of the darkened stairwells!
We also thought it important to do some smaller jobs to show that work had commenced so we had some proper steps with handrails built. The originals were only makeshift ones made out of a few bricks with slabs of concrete which were far from secure and a danger to not our gardener but also for the very small children who also scrambld up them when playing.
We purchased a couple of garden benches because we were sick of the sight of what passed for garden furniture in the eyes of some of the renting tenants. We later had to have the water tap replaced because somebody nicked it!
The commencement of roof repairs initially consisted of sealing the worst cracks in order to ensure that inhabitants didn’t continue to suffer any more than they had already (despite the fact all the landlords were already aware of the situation). We also had to effect temporary covers for the tanks at various stages before we were able to fully replace their housings. An enormous amount of rubbish was also removed over time.
As more money came in (albeit slowly) we continued to focus on the roof and the water tanks, slowly steadily covering the roof with felt and replacing the tank housings.
Some more good news is that there has now been some considerable work done to the interior of the derelict flat and the boards have finally come down, revealing new windows and a new front door. Great!
Something that is not so easy to remedy is the leak coming from the underside of the flat above the seat of the fire. The owner tried to repair it but inadvertently made the problem worse. We got a risk assessor to see the leak and were advised that as the problem was worse, we might be able to get someone out under the trace and access element of the buildings insurance. Whilst this is which exactly what happened and they repaired a bt of grouting they didn’t do enough ‘tracing’ and the leak is still there. Insurers have agreed to come back and do some more ‘tracing’!
Front gates were installed because for a long time people kept treating the block as an extension of the bus stop by wandering in, making residents nervous. We still get people on the premises that shouldn’t be here (ranging from children whose mothers have their mobile phones firmly clamped against their ears and oblivious to their offspring running around unchecked to abusive drunks who want to use the property as a toilet) but overall it has been money well spent.
The cracked and leaning boundary wall has been shored up for the time being until we can carry out the work to the drains and ultimately the tree.
We’ve also been replacing pipework.
Our forecourt is not in the best of condition but Virgin didn’t help its appearance with this shoddy cable installation!
Whilst we continue to sort out the neglect, the issue of fly-tipping also keeps us busy. We have got it mainly under control (these pictures were taken over a period of several months) but it still really irritates me when it happens. The council couldn’t make it easier to dispose of this kind of rubbish if they tried!
Our drains blocked a couple of years or so ago, a combination of rice, cigarette butts and some very heavy rain This was the result and whilst we might not have been too thrilled, one little resident was certainly happy!
