On the 18th July 2013 we managed to move back to the flat even if there were and still are some unfinished works such as the flicking lights, an oven that trips half of the fuse box every time we have tried to use it, faulty entrance door, broken tiles, broken stop cocks for the water mains, etc.
On the 20th July 2013, only a couple of days later we experienced the first disaster. The cistern on the bathroom was overflown and the water flooded the newly installed wooden floor. This happened because the hole for the old external overflow was not sealed properly after the installation of the new mechanism inside the cistern.
I had to sent many emails to the insurance as well as to the loss adjuster in order to persuade someone to come and fix the problem. In the meantime we had to switch off the water supply to the cistern and use a plastic backet since the other toilet was delivered to us blocked and unusable.
On the 22nd July 2013, the contractor fixed the problem with the cistern mechanism and resealed the hole. His argument was that when he left the cistern was working without a problem. My argument was that if that mechanism is good only for a few days then it is not fit for purpose and therefore the quality of the specific job was not good enough.
On the 16th September 2013, there wasn’t any resolution regarding the outstanding issues. In addition to that the wooden floor in the living room started to become wobbly.
On the 29th September 2013, a big section of the floor in the living room as well as the hallway was totally broken and became very dangerous.
On the 02nd October 2013, a big group of contractors and subcontractors as well as the loss adjuster (6 people in total) had visited my property. The saw the problems and they agreed that something was wrong. They tried to reassure me that they will do anything possible to fix it.
On the 23rd October 2013, and only after many unanswered emails and calls I managed to receive a reply from the contractor. Unfortunately that email was very generic concerning the logistics of the repairs.
On the 30th October 2013, Capital Services Ltd still did not have a clear plan for solving the outstanding issues inside my home. The Projects Director stated in his email:
With regards to the other point made on progressing the other items we are currently working with the insurance company to put a plan together, once the proposals have been confirmed we will advise accordingly.
On the 13th November 2013, an engineer from Right Windows company visited my property in order to inspect the windows and doors. In the end he did some repairs.
On the 18th November 2013, Apollo engineers visited my property and changed two out of three stop cocks. This happened after 4 months of waiting and many emails to the Head of Service and Delivery in Camden Council.
The engineers from Apollo promised to arrange another visit in order to replace the last stop cock which actually was the main problem from the beginning. We will have to wait for them to confirm another appointment hopefully soon.
On the 19th November 2013, CountryWide arranged our alternative accommodation on the Premier Inn hotel for the duration of the repair works.
Read the next chapter: “Moving Out (Nov 2013)”