Council House Drains
 

Just reported my outside drain being blocked, at least a yearly thing at mine certainly due to leaves/grass etc & the poor quality of drain itself - something i have to get jetted out every year as part of repairs! Well this year its not been too bad as i havent bothered with back garden cutting grass but has happened now due to the high winds & heavy rain blowing right through it!!

Well now rules have changed i will be charged for it now £56.20 to have it jetted if it is no fault of my own err how do i prove that & what does that mean other than no i haven't let kids put tissue paper down or the like ??

MMm notice tho as soon as im now being charged they can send someone up this afternoon rather than in a few days time:(

So thought i'd let you know of a new charge so u dont end up as shocked as me - now im going to be scared of emptying my bath & sink just in case the outside drain goes again because thats all ive been doing.

Now to take £56.20 out of the xmas budget now :mad:

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They are loverly for surprising u before xmas LOL. I've got a drain cover on it & secured - still not making any difference really

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I thought you rented Mel,the whole point of rental over purchase is that you aren't responsible for the ongoing maintainence of the property. If they are saying that this responsibility passed to you at some point ask them for your signed contract that you accepted the drains in their current state. You can't suddenly change a contract to make it unfavourable to one party without them accepting it.

Get onto your local councillor and the Observer as well.

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You would think so Ian i do rent the house & as its external drain & not internal then i thought they would have to cover it, i just cant wait for what silly reasons they will give me to justify the charge like hair balls like before.

Where the external drain outlet is situated is about 3-5 inches away from the grass in my back garden starts & being on the side it is enclosed with my shed & side of the house, when it rains the run off from my grass runs down the side of the house near to where drain is but it also brings with it this silty gunk down with it - that even the jetter will not remove from floor surface - total accident waiting to happen cos its very slippery when wet hehehehe & i do beleive thats the biggest cause of the problem. When it does puddle it gets bigger cos the grass soil is clay so thats really rubbish for draining certainly in the bad down pours we've had which then adds to my drain problem further as it runs back to drain.

Its not been a good day so far :( i've had my 3 badlucks already in space of an hr & half:eek:

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how is it that landlords of private properties are responsible for maintainance and repair of their properties but hyndburn homes arnt?

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Yep, sounds like they are trying it on, have a word with CAB as well, they should know what landlords are responsible for and what they can pass on

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Still waiting for drainman, this is all sounding dodgey to me, its external not internal if it was i could understand, water is draining fine internally, last year i made a complaint to inspectors as the drain man accused me on paper of being dirty purely judgemental & having a go about hair clogging up the external drains - errr i havent got alepicia [sp?] fair enough again if it was blocking u bends but it itsnt - the stuff he pulled out from drain rods were thick gungey stuff with mix of alsorts of debris, but funny enough inspectors then decided to resite my bath external pipe into --------- the toilet main external main pipe which leaks a little underneath anyway as was it going thro the kitchen external was too much flow that it was splashing out rather than into the drain, so me thinks they need to redo do the external drain pipes but we are dealing with the council here:(

All i can do is await the drain mans opinion as to whether im charged or not & going by last years account i will be, could do with an AW drainperson expert on here hehehehehe:D

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Just a thought & if i do get charged i think they should send me a list of things that they charge for in repairs so that then the tennant is aware & also therefore can ring about & get someone in at a reasonable rate & better quality than lining the councils pocket:rolleyes: i think that is fair enough if im 'supposed' to be responsible for it :confused:

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I 've spent more than my fair share of time unblocking drains (badly moved pipework which feeds into the main manhole which is on my propert)y. It blocks up about once every couple of months. Not a nice job at all. I've had a video survey done so that we can get the work done and everyone who feeds into the drains gets a share of the bill.

You need to know exactly what your contract with teh landlord is so I would recommend getting down to CAB and let their legal peeps have a look.

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Same here, ive got shared drains with Debbie upstairs, we have one that backs up every few days. We have fun unblocking it. I have now left a mop at the side of it so it can been used as a bungee.
We was told we would be charged if they came out to it too. The charging came into effect last year by the way :eek:
We have drain covers over them by the way.

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MMm its not right tho i bet they re did the tenancy agreement as well when they changed over sneaky gets!!! but the thing is only new tenants are properly aware & yeh before u ask me to read the tenancy agreement errrr its round the houses confusing. My last drain re do was before that came into effect hence the shock today - but i dont get why tenants are responsible for external drains, when more often or not its to do with external problems - maybe if they did the drains proper & did adequate fencing - which i've none at the back now so all their crap come straight into mine now grrrrr, still waiting for heating as per mentioned - oh & i hate the council - bunch of fashists!!

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What did i tell ya ..................... ITS NOT MY FAULT :D

What clogged it was the leaves silt & debris from the guttering blocking the drain nowt from my internal drainage at all!!! Even so i had to have my guttering fixed as well - sorted!

So i had to sign for the work to be carried out but he is going to put that the blockage was as above & not my fault nor prevention:D

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Thats good, £56.20 back in to the Christmas pressie fund :Banane44:

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less the £20 she spent on White lightning to celebrate! :D

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:rofl38: phew that saves me wrapping a few oranges up & claiming traditional xmas pressies hehehehe:D

Errr Ian i have expensive taste its several bottles of Tia Maria:D so that means not much of fund left hehehehehe. White lightening uurrrrggghghhhhh i cant stand f-ing cider its au de EX yuk!

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lets hope his boss aint reading this lol ;)

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Why it aint my fault & it was a repair which he did so cant see the problem:rolleyes: everyones happy now:D

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Mel, Your house now belongs to Hyndburn Homes doesn't it?
If so why are several people on this thread blaming HBC and saying speak to your Councillor? Its Hyndburn Homes you should be speaking with who have nothing to do with HBC.

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Yeh it Hyndburn Homes regenerated from old council im afraid the same people work for this new org as they did for the old one - so basically still the council to most people. Yeh been dealt with by Hyndburn Homes.

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It just annoys me that everyone blames HBC for what is someones else's fault. Yes HBC very often stuff up and make themselves look stupid and get abuse on here for it. The same is happening in the Central Heating thread, thats all HBC's fault as well :D

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Well we can tell u own your own home & dont have to deal with some council extentions otherwise u would understand! :D

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Does the phone go through HBC or have they moved that as well?

We only bought our house 4 ish years ago. Before that we lived in a North British Housing Association house so we had the same problems, except that they were very good and professional.

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I had this a few years ago and i found out something then that not a lot of people know and United Utilities dont admit to. If you can prove your house was built before October 1938 then all the outside drains and sewers that run through your garden belong to United Utilities. So if anything goes wrong with the outside drains and sewers ring United Utilities and they will come and unblock them for free. They came and did mine. If your house was built after October 1938 then the sewers and drains belong to the owner of the house.

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I think Mel is with BT :D :D

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Neil, its still the same managers who are running the show and still the same cowboys ... sorry i mean repair men that do the repairs.

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John Wayne will be turning in his grave at that remark. :p

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lol :D :D :D

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No its thro brittish telecom:confused:

They changed their number as part of the new change of name as Jimmi says its still run & worked by the very same people as when it was HBC & still as much as a pain in th'arse as HBC:D

Housing associations are different & least more with it but their rents are higher than council on average.......these monkeyjobs worth former council dare insult the name HA...:D I was perviously with New Progress HA & there were excellent couldnt fault them at all & apparently said same of me too:o just a shame i could put their house up here it'll be perfection!

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OOhhh i wouldnt know when Jack built this house:confused: as far as im aware its the house owners aka hyndburn homes hehehehehe as they sorted it & best not dare to try the charge on & convienently loose the paperwork!

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Quick question Neil,
Who allowed HH to take over and change the contract such that tenanats became responsible for drains etc in the first place? Oh yep, that will be the council. They should have protected the same rights that the tenants had previously in the sale of the properties to HH. Whilst its HH who are making the charge, its the council that allowed them to change the terms in their favour. I don't recall any tenant having any say on the sale?

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"But the changes were on display ..."

"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."

"That's the display department."

"With a torch."

"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."

"So had the stairs."

"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard."

Apologies to Douglas Adams but this sprung immediately to mind. :D

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Or this

"People of Earth, your attention please," a voice said, and it was wonderful. Wonderful perfect quadrophonic sound with distortion levels so low as to make a brave man weep.

"This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council," the voice continued. "As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less that two of your Earth minutes. Thank you."

The PA died away.

Uncomprehending terror settled on the watching people of Earth. The terror moved slowly through the gathered crowds as if they were iron fillings on a sheet of board and a magnet was moving beneath them. Panic sprouted again, desperate fleeing panic, but there was nowhere to flee to.

Observing this, the Vogons turned on their PA again. It said:

"There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department on Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now."

The PA fell silent again and its echo drifted off across the land. The huge ships turned slowly in the sky with easy power. On the underside of each a hatchway opened, an empty black space.

By this time somebody somewhere must have manned a radio transmitter, located a wavelength and broadcasted a message back to the Vogon ships, to plead on behalf of the planet. Nobody ever heard what they said, they only heard the reply. The PA slammed back into life again. The voice was annoyed. It said:

"What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? For heaven's sake mankind, it's only four light years away you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that's your own lookout.

"Energize the demolition beams."

Light poured out into the hatchways.

"I don't know," said the voice on the PA, "apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all." It cut off.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.

There was a terrible ghastly noise.

There was a terrible ghastly silence.

Re: Council House Drains
 

Hyndburn Homes is a regeneratd version of the council incorporating a Housing Association called Contour, basically the reason for the change over to HH than stopping as the council was that HH can claim regeneration grants in order to bring housing stock to required standards by 2010 set by Gov. If the council stayed as it was it would receive no such grants & thus housing stock wouldnt be improved. There was a vote for this change by the tenants a year before the changeover took place, but face it council tenants were encouraged to vote a yes as it implied if no change happened then our homes would not be upgraded & would only survice as many homes like mine still in the dark ages would remain so as no allotment of revenue would cover the cost of upgrading, ie necessary heating systems, im still on econ 7 blowers & old emmersion; re-wiring; glazing; poor standards of kitchens & bathrooms. Under new system there is supposed to be a rent freeze where it goes up every year for the next 5 years as previously with council & it would be an improved & better service for tenants. Unfortunately we all discover that the same staff as was once previous council are working for HH & there have been teething problems already. They mentioned a lot of the positive imputs the new Hyndburn Homes would bring but of course certain things wiithin repairs have now changed but notice we have to sift thro the small print now & not expressed as to what happened before & how it is now - till u ring & get a shock. Yes i was as many others a council tenant before the transfer & now is tenant of Hyndburn Homes.

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LOL! I like those entwisi :D

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Have you ever read/listened to Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy?

Top bloke was old Doug(no not that one!)

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They'd claim not but i think they will have, HH are using most of the previous HBC housing staff:rolleyes:

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They were probably outsourced under TUPE or similar

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Well they'll say its Hyndburn Homes & nowt to do with us blerb:)

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Well yeh as i proved yesterday, but if the crap hits the fan u watch HBC distance themselves further hehhehee:D