Brent Council Complaints

Concern voiced by other people

2005-11-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

In the last few days we have heard from a number of people living in our area of concerns they are having. They are noticing suspicious activity next door and outside that property. A few nights ago, one person noticed a gang of lads hanging around outside with torches looking for something within next door's property.

Un-Neighbourly dustbin use

2005-10-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

We heard a noise last night. It sounded like our dustbins being used in the middle of the night. Later on we heard the noise again and my wife saw one of the squatters exiting the area where our dustbins are kept. This morning we checked our dustbins and discovered that they were full of rubbish - a mixture of trash & builder's rubble. The rubbish wasn't even put into bin bags. The refuse collectors may not even get rid of it because it hasn't been properly disposed of.

Same building neighbour confirms loud bangs

2005-10-26T22:18:00.000-07:00

Just spoken with our same building neighbour. They were also awoken by the loud bangs. They saw flashes of light accompanying the bangs. They suspect it was firecrackers. Obviously firecrackers are better than gunshots but it still is not on to be setting them off at 4:20am. Our downstairs neighbour confirmed it was from next door because they could see them being set off.

They complained to Brent Council about it and the person they were speaking to in the housing office was also woken by the same noisy bangs! They live several streets away.

Woken up by gun shot like bangs

2005-10-26T04:20:00.000-07:00

It is 4:20am. We've been awoken by a series of gun shot like bangs from the direction of next door. We heard between 5-10 of them. We phoned the police just incase.

Gas smelt again today

2005-10-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

TransCo have had another look at next door's property today after gas was smelt again today. They couldn't detect anything from the outside because of rain and they cannot gain entry to the property. They have booked to go to see the property again when the weather is better.

Council sends someone round to check gas in next door's property

2005-10-22T11:12:00.000-07:00

The council sent someone around to check whether there is a gas problem next door. They encountered no evidence of a gas problem. But this doesn't explain why not only us but also the emergency gasman could smell gas.

Are we living next door to a potential powdercake?

Why didn't Brent Council make next door secure?

2005-10-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Why didn't Brent Council make next door secure when they had the opportunity?

They could have done so when our neighbours moved out in May. They could have done so when we reported dripping water last week. Now we've discovered that our neighbours have told the council about suspicious goings-on next door on numerous occasions in the last few weeks.

Why have Brent Council waited to act until squatters have been confirmed?

Now they will have to undergo the expense of evicting them.

And we have to wait even longer for next door to be repaired - 26 months and counting.

We smell gas from next door

2005-10-21T01:47:00.000-07:00

At 10:30pm tonight we noticed the smell of gas. We called out TransCo and they tested our gas supply and equipment. We have no faults. But the gasman noticed a smell of gas and that it could be coming from next door. He attempted to detect it from next door but the squatters wouldn't open the door to let him test inside.

Surveyors confirm repairs were going to be done

2005-10-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

The same surveyors who checked to see if there are squatters next door confirmed that Brent Council's Void property department was going to contract the repairs out in about a month's time. This cannot now be done because of squatters!

Squatters have moved in next door - Official!

2005-10-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

Brent Council surveyors have visited next door's property and it is confirmed that squatters are there.

They managed to gain entry whilst the squatters were out of the property but informed us that they cannot evict them because the squatters had already moved some of their possessions inside.

People moving in next door

2005-10-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

We've been hearing a lot of noise next door. Sounds like furniture being moved around. We walked past the property and a woman was leaning out of an open window. She volunteered that she was moving in today.

We have contacted the council to find out whether they are moving people into the property whilst it is still in its damaged condition.

Water dripping from next door's empty property

2005-10-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

We have noticed strange things going on next door. First we noticed a bath towel in the bathroom window, then the next day the bath towel had disappeared. Today we noticed that the overflow pipe from the bathroom is overflowing.

We have phoned Brent Council's Void Property department to tell them about these matters.

Insurer's Solicitors have been instructed to begin action

2005-09-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Still no news from Brent Council. Our insurers are fed up with the council's slackness in replying so they have instructed their solicitors to begin taking action, hoping to concentrate the council into a/ replying b/taking action.

Brent Council asked when repairs will be done

2005-08-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

Our insurers have written to the council again to put in writing when the repairs to the neighbouring property will begin. They should have put this in writing in their recent letter but they omitted this information.

Brent Council reply to Insurers

2005-08-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Brent Council have confirmed to our insurers that they are responsible for the next door property and that it hasn't stabilised as yet.

Insurers requesting information from Brent Council

2005-07-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our insurers have written to request formal written notification from Brent Council that they are responsible for next door's property and whether it is now structurally stable. If stability has not been restored then the insurers being advised what matter are being taken to make it stable and when it is anticipated that it will become stable.

Insurance update

2005-06-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Our insurance company is going to settle our claim, but they cannot go ahead with its settlement until next door's property is stabilised.

Totally fed up

2005-05-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

After two years, we are totally fed up at the lack of developments. Our insurance company hasn't provided us with a settlement yet and Brent Council aren't replying to our enquiries.

We have decided to do something that we've put off for the last 2 years - and that is to decorate our home. Like many such projects it is becoming a bigger job than we initially expected! We've ended up plastering all of our hallway and the room where the crack beside the window is.

It seems like next door's subsidence may have settled. It is 18 months now since we have noticed anything getting any worse.

Next door neighbours are re-housed

2005-05-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

Is the council going to be doing something at last? Our next door neighbours have been re-housed in brand new housing. The next door property is now empty. Lots of rubbish is in the front garden. It looks derelict. Hopefully Brent Council will clear this up and start mending the property.

[edit - the property was not made secure when our neighbours moved out]

No news is not good news

2004-07-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Despite numerous attempts at getting Brent Council to do something with their property they are not doing anything to improve things.

There are 4 large cracks in next door's property, at least 2 run from the roof all the way to the ground.

Brent Council's attitude to this is that they have put scaffolding up in the porchway and that nothing else is structurally dangerous. They reckon they have done all they need to and don't need to do anything to fix any of the problems.

New cracks have started appearing

2003-11-28T22:04:00.000-08:00

The cracks around the window are continuing to get wider and new cracks have started to get noticed. As many areas of our home is decorated with contoured wallpaper over lath and plaster walls it is difficult to tell is going on underneath the wallpaper. We first noticed cracks along the meeting of the cornice and the ceiling in the hallway.

Brent Council shore up next door's doorway 2 days late - after the damage has been done

2003-10-31T13:18:00.000-08:00

Brent Council have come around to put up scaffolding to support the front door porch brickwork. At least they now must know next door's subsidence is dangerous.

Next door's doorway falls down

2003-10-30T18:30:00.000-08:00

After being assured earlier today that next door's doorway is safe, the opposite has just happened. Our next door neighbour has just shut their front door and a brick from the archway above the porch fell down. Luckily, it narrowly missed our neighbour's head!

Reply from Brent Council

2003-10-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

“Further to the damage to your property and you neighbour's; Mr. Bonnar has advised that a Structural Engineer will attend your neighbours property next week, he has explained that due to the extended summer, many properties like yours and your neighbours have been affected, some have required urgent repairs with cracks reaching 60mm. This does not mean that yours and your neighbours property is not urgent however, but it has meant that the Structural engineers have had to visit a lot of homes with larger cracks. Mr. Bonnar has assured me that your neighbours front porch will not fall, and that he will ascertain why works were not carried out yesterday.”

Cracks appear above next door's porch

2003-10-29T09:38:00.000-08:00

We have informed the council that cracks have appeared above next door's porch. They have told us they will send someone to see them.

In the following months

2003-10-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

We put in a claim with our insurance company and quickly got into a catch22 situation. Who was to blame? As the problem was due to subsidence of our next door property our insurers initially said that we weren't insured for it. We had to get surveyors in to prove that next door was to blame and not our property. It took many months for this to be established.

In the meantime all our complaints to the council were falling on deaf ears. Each time we contacted them we were fobbed off onto a different department.

Let's start at the beginning

2003-06-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

We live in the 2nd last house at the end of an Edwardian terrace in Brent. Back in the Hot Summer of 2003 we started to notice cracks appear in our property. This was puzzling because our home was underpinned around 15 years ago. Next door, the end of terrace house, was sinking due to the very hot weather we were having. That neighbouring property is the only council property left on our terrace. And this is where the problems began.

We first noticed cracks in our box room. One side of the window had a gap that was between 0.5mm - 10mm wide running from top to bottom. The movement in next door's property was pulling the adjoining wall away from our property causing cracks.