Apartment Leaking Again

Hi

I don't know whether this is the relevant section to post this please move it if necessary.

Can someone please please help me out or give me advice.

Myself and my girlfriend bought an apartment just over 2 years ago but it wasn't finished until May 08. Its a one bed apartment developed by Lyndonbarry developments. They were most unhelpful throughout the processs but thats beside the point.

Last year this new one bedroom apartment with the heavy rains flooded, basically water was coming through the ceilings and walls, through smoke alarms and beside the electricity box. We were obviously disgusted and upset with this, the builders said they'd fix the whole thing at no cost obviously. There is a flat roof above the apartment that was leaking and is the cause of the issue. So we had to move out for a week while they fixed everything.

So we thought that would be it, but last night with the heavy rain the kitchen and hall are flooded with rain again, bits of ceiling in the kitchen have fallen off. We called a contact with the builders and he came up, and first thing he said was "I was waiting for the call, knew this would happen" , to which I obviously replied why did you think this would happen if you had fixed everything last year!

This is so distressing as we bought a couple of years ago at the height and its probably only worth half what we paid for it.

My question is what can we do here, is there no recourse or action we can take, feel completely helpless, would love just our money back not even compensation but I know thats wishful thinking.

Please tell me what action we can take or what can we do to get this fixed/compensated or anything to stop this once and for all, please?????

Please can anybody give me advice on what to do??

I feel a solicitor may be required to fully deal with this issue, who may in turn have to seek advice of a Building Surveyor to write a report to fully invertigate the leak. Sounds like the developer is only paying you lip service each time it happens to rain. You will not get peace of mind by just dealing with the developer yourself. Are there any other areas of the development with the same issue's

Hi Eng Car 1

Thank you for your reply.

The development has mixed units of 1 bed apt up to 3 bed townhouses etc,

the one bed we have is at the side of each block, and as far as i know they were all leaking, as they have a flat roof above each of them.
There have been other houses which are leaking also. Its just an absolute disgrace and so frustrating. They've left the development as they didn't sell a lot of the newer built as the market collapsed, so the place looks like a building site in parts.

Do you happen to know what the flat roof is constructed out of by any chance? The contact you have in the builders (the guy who said "I was waiting for the call, knew this would happen") was he able to tell you anything relevant to the actual leak

I don’t actually know but im guessing not the best of materials.
There’s a large two bedroom apartment above ours that nobody lives in, and there closed balcony is the flat roof that’s above our apartment. There is decking down on the roof/balcony. When the houses/apart were being built they were only timber frame and didn't look very sturdy.

Do you think we should contact a solicitor, and then get an independent building surveyor so we have back up?

This is so frustrating, I know we're not the only ones affected, but to charge such high prices for such shoddy developments, and then for them to fall apart in front of you structurally and financially, and you then have no comeback it’s just debilitating

Out of interest, how much will the building surveyor and solicitor cost?

Is there a Management Company in place for the development yet?

Failing that see if you and a few other owners who seem to affected by same problem and maybe club together to share costs.

No harm to give Homebond a call on the matter, but I cant see effective they may be

There is a management company in place but again not very helpful and they haven't even kept the place tidy theres doors missing from the public bins for the past nine months etc.

Maybe might try and contact other owners with same issue.

Homebond just said go through the builder if you dont get anything satisfactory, they'd deal with it.

Thanks again for your advice.

I would have thought that the management company would be responsible for all maintenance and repairs on the building. Even if the problem is caused by the builders workmanship, then the management company should fix it and chase the builder for the costs.

One thing to watch out for with leaking flat roofs on large buildings is that, even if the building is new, the problem may not be due to the builder. A lot of leaking roofs are due to punctures in the waterproof layer. Sometimes even a stray nail can be the cause and once water starts to seep in, you get problems. You often get cases where the roof is built perfectly, but shortly afterwards, someone installing a satellite dish, aerial etc. puts a nail or screw through the roof ruining the waterproofing.

scaryeire1 said:

... Out of interest, how much will the building surveyor and solicitor cost?

Click to expand...

Did you have a surveyor do your snag list / valuation / structural survey before purchasing?

Did you use your own solicitor for closing?

scaryeire1 said:

There is a management company in place but again not very helpful ...

Click to expand...

If there is a management company, presumably as a property owner in the development you are a member of the management company. Does the management company employ a managing agent?

My apologies for the delay in getting back, I was in meetings all day.

My girlfriend spoke to one of the guys working for lydonbarry and he said on the quiet, that there are more than four properties affected in the same way if not worse. He said to get everyone together and shout as load as possible or else they wont do anything.

It seems like this will never get sorted, I hope it does, but its very frustrating dealing with them. I think were going to have to get a independent surveyor and solicitor to and go from there.

Thanks again for all the replies.