My world is falling down

[Will]

As some of you have seen from my FB updates my ceiling collapsed in my flat. Some of you have been to see me and stayed with me, so you can appreciate this a little more.

A bit of my stuff has been damaged, but the biggest thing is the amount of dust and dirt that now covers the lounge! I've cleared most of it up but it's going to take a few goes to get the place tidy. I weighed the bags of rubble - it came to over 200kg! Had anyone been under there.... :/ Also, some of you know I'm quite proud at keeping my place relatively tidy.. so this has set my OCD off big time!

My landlady came to see the damage this morning and was gobsmacked - and to her credit has got the builders round straight away to have a look at things.

For those that do not know, it's a victorian mansion with 15ft ceilings, and cornicing around the sides.

I'm thinking of asking for a discount or amnesty from having to pay next month's rent owing to the inconvenience caused (although I'm going on holiday for 2 weeks, it's just the principle of it - I've had to take a day off work today and will have to take the day off tomorrow for the builders to come round). Also, I'll have to put in a claim with my insurance, but will request the landlady to cover the excess value, as well as get her to pay for the cleaning materials I've had to buy to get the rubble out and the dust. I don't think that's unfair do you?


Here are the pics of my horror this morning at 330am!

General horror



Damaged speaker :/



Clear desk policy in effect...



Another desk shot



Mantle piece



Futon a mess



Coffee table



More carnage - Yes I had been doing some ironing tonight



Ceiling pic



Desk - I'm usually uber tidy - this makes my OCD bad :/



Giant slab of doom



Caranage



Giant slabs of concrete/mortar



Dust on hi-fi kit



Back of futon and corner of desk



Dusty TV and Audio equipment :/



Pic of the exposed ceiling:



Here's a vid:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/8136/dtbt.mp4

I'm now filthy, have moved everything out of the room and put dust sheets everywhere ready for them to come and rip everything down tomorrow. What a palava. I'm knackered. Up since before 4am and been non stop clearing all day.

I blame el nino!

[Knipples]

I've sat on that futon!

As I said elsewhere, I hope it can be fixed and things sorted out without too much hassle.

[Dymetrie]

Fruity, Will, that looks horrible!

Lucky that you weren't sitting there when it dropped.

Fingers crossed that it gets sorted quickly and that your landlady is gracious and pays your insurance excess.

[Mark]

200kg? Ouch! Even more glad no-one was under that.

Assuming the place was well-maintained, I'd be mindful with the compensation that she'll have to pay to get it fixed just as you will to have your stuff replaced. That said, you can but ask and your requests don't seem unreasonable.

[Grandad]

re your offer to her, I would say you are being far too soft tbh

[Desmo]

I don't think you're being too soft, I think you've got it about right. You shouldn't have to pay out for anything and she's getting it all done quickly. There's no need to "grab what you can" out of the situation

[TinkerBell]

100% agree with Desmo. She is doing what she can to help and at the end of the day she wasn't to know it was going to happen.

[volospian]

What caused the collapse?

As for your offer... I don't know enough of the background to really comment. If you had told her time and again that the ceiling was fit to collapse and she had done nothing about it, then I'd be hitting her for all I could, if, however, it was a totally "out of the blue" thing, and that you had no inkling that the ceiling was unsafe, let alone told your landlady about the issue, then I think that asking her for compensation for an event that was entirely unexpected is perhaps a bit harsh and that maybe the second half (cover excess and pay for cleaning, etc.) would be reasonable.

PS. Glad you're OK though... damn lucky you weren't sitting on the futon, enjoying a glass of red and a re-run of the X Factor at the time!!

[Kitten]

I think Will would prefer to have the ceiling fall in on his head than watch X~ factor!

[Will]

She was aware that repair work had been done on the ceiling, and she had had a structural survey done apparently.

However, whether it be a chance of fate or not, I'm still being inconvenienced, having to take time off work, having to move out of my flat basically as the lounge is unusable, unplug and remove all my equipment, furniture etc... so they can rip the ceiling down.

The letter I have sent by recorded delivery yesterday to the insurers, letting agents and landlord, state that I will not be paying rent this month, and that I expect at the least a conciliatory reduction in proportion to the disruption as stated in one of the clauses of the contract (it's in black and white). Furthermore, I shall be demanding that the excess on my insurance is paid (£100) for any claim I may take (with a statement that the amount claimed may vary over time until I know exactly what has been affected) and that a refund on all the cleaning materials I've had to buy.

I have also stated that I plan to continue living there and that I enjoy living there, and whilst it is "just one of these things" it's not my problem - I am being inconvenienced, my life is being disrupted, my stuff has been damaged, and someone could have been killed. It's not a trifling matter as far as I'm concerned. Whilst the landlady is being helpful, I can see her (by the use of her language) trying to abdicate a lot of responsibility and put her and I on an even keel. I'm sorry, but that's not how it works - it's too tough a world out there, and I'm not going to be taken for a ride. I don't want to be aggressive, and am not being, but I'm covering my arse (hence the recorded deliveries, records, photos, photocopies of everything I've done). I've been ****ed over in the past by landlords, not going to happen again.

She may find it OTT and decide to terminate the contract, that's fine. I'm not, however, going to be out of pocket as a result of this. Whilst I'm a big softy and a push over with my friends and in general, there are some things that I'm vehemently tough about - this is one of these things, I refuse to get screwed over, and I shan't.