Former soldier gets apology from housing chiefs over leaking roof in his Greenwich home
By William Brook
An ex-serviceman is considering taking his property manager to court after living with constant leaks has made his life a misery.
Andrew Ferris, 36, now an electrical engineer, has been putting up with a leaky roof and long stretches without hot water at Sir Walter Rayleigh Court in Greenwich since he moved in last June, 2019.
Mr Ferris and his neighbours have complained to property managers L&Q repeatedly, but maintenance has been poor, with leak repairs lasting only until the next period of heavy rain.
This is despite residents paying a sizable £260 monthly service charge.
Mr Ferris said: “I’ve never met such a bunch of incompetent people as at L&Q.
“No one’s got a clue what’s going on. There doesn’t seem to be anyone that comes round to inspect work.
“That amount for a service charge is high money, and for that you’d expect to live somewhere nice.
“We get sent messages whenever there is a problem with our water, and I must have had 60 messages this year.
“It’s like a nightmare living here. I’ve had enough. I just don’t want to live here anymore, especially with Covid going on as well.”
Mr Ferris said that the state of his home is starting to affect his mental health, and that he wishes he never moved into the property in the first place.
He has contacted Matthew Pennycook, the MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, but has had no response.
Mr Ferris served four and a half years in the British Army, and will be contacting Army charities in the hope that they will support him and perhaps rehouse him.
An L&Q spokesperson said: “We apologise that Mr Ferris has been affected by the roof leaks at Sir Walter Reilly Court.
“The welfare of our residents is our utmost priority and we know this situation is frustrating.
“Unfortunately, the leaks in this building are a result of an issue with the roof when it was built. As this is a latent defect, we are working closely with the developer, Durkan, to reach a permanent solution.
“Patches of the roof have been repaired in the interim and Durkan have reassured us that repairs to the roof above Mr Ferris’s flat are due to be carried out this week.
“We are in regular communication with the residents in this building, including Mr Ferris and will update them as soon as we have agreed the next steps.”
L&Q claim that Durkan has accepted full responsibility for the issues with the roof.
A Durkan spokesperson said: “We are currently working with L&Q to find the best way to resolve this issue and expect a solution to be agreed shortly.”
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Never ever buy shared ownership as you have absolutely no rights whatsoever. Emailing your local MP gets you absolutely nowhere as they just respond saying don’t really understand your problem then when you explain further send you links as to what they deem is enough to silence you with regard to what they have raised in Gov Q time. No one is questioning shared ownership and it needs to be addressed. Not even Martin Lewis is acknowledging emails. I have a 55% shared ownership with NHG which I originally tried to sell in Dec 2019. I cannot sell because the percentage is too high for any in-coming buyer and no-one who could afford 100% is not prepared to get into the minefield of Banks and extra costs to buy. I have had to release two Final Salary Pension Schemes in order to get full ownership – am in the whole process now. It took me crying on the phone to NHG to make their resales department finally listen to me. I am almost 60 years of age and never ever expected to be in this position – truly shameful and wonder why it has not been taken up by the Press before.
L&Q is flustercluck organisation. it’s managed by incompetent and unaccountable employees. They collect high rates from residents and spend it on n poorly managed subcontractors.
Mr Ferris wrote to me on 20 October and I responded on 2 November.