Three weeks ago I had a flood in one of my rental properties caused by faulty workmanship done under a Government Grant Scheme.
An Engineer was required to assess the damage and do an official report. He was quickly on the scene, within a couple of hours, a 12+ page report was completed. He informed me that the installation had just run out of the installers guarantee but was still covered under the scheme's guarantee. It should take a couple of days for his report to go through the appropriate channels and work would then commence to make the house habitable again.
Three weeks later, nothing has happened except I've run up my telephone bill with daily calls and being passed from one organisation to the other each refusing to accept responsibility and do any work. The gist of the problem being that EAGA, the company running the scheme for the government lost the contract in March and say they don't have any funding available to honour the guarantee. The new company, NEST, who took over the management contract in April insist EAGA has been paid and therefore it is not their responsibility.
Yesterday, I decided on a new tact. Find a person who could apply pressure in the right place.
My first call was to Torfaen Council. ( A few years ago they had approached me to start using grant funding. Their problem that all this money had been put in place for landlords to upgrade their properties but no landlords were using the funding. As I was the largest private landlord in Torfaen they wanted to show they were supporting landlords and encouraging the use of the grants.) While the female operator empathised she could only give me NEST's phone number.
My second call was to NEST and again I was told EAGA were responsible and I should try being more forceful with them. As if I haven't given them a hard time over the last 3 weeks. The female operator empathised and suggested I contact my MP.
My third call was to the Welsh Assembly where I was finally put through to David. Off came my business woman hat and on went the helpless female hat. David listened to my sob story. 'Well, the buck stops here' he said. 'I'll ring you back within 2 hours'.
Two hours went by - nothing. Three hours - nothing. Four hours - nothing. Five hours later and my phone is ringing non stop. NEST, EAGA, British Gas, the installation company all eager to get my property rentable again.
In 3 weeks David is the first male I have spoken to apart from the Engineer. Although he didn't manage the two hours timeframe he got action within a day. Is he good at his job? I don't know but how refreshing to talk to someone who would take action and not try fobbing me off.
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