Actual Charges Enquiries on Repair Breakdowns Part 1

I wrote to Sandra Canham on 19th February to make various enquiries on the Repair Breakdowns we were in receipt of. (These had to be specially requested since they are not provided with the statements). Repairs Breakdowns are copied verbatim from the Repairs Team's entries, which are naturally written in short form, which are often unintelligible to the leaseholder. I have requested that in future a Glossary of Terms be provided.

Ms Canham fielded these queries to the appropriate departments and replied with partial answers on March 5th.

1. What location exactly is the wall that was rebuilt ? Eg:

Finch: 3653801 REBUILD WALL BY NATURE PARK FRONT OF CONGERS £282.14  17/06/08

Farrer: 3653801 REBUILD WALL BY NATURE PARK FRONT OF CONGERS £451.20  17/06/08

Congers: 3653801 REBUILD WALL BY NATURE PARK FRONT OF CONGERS  £451.20  17/06/08

We suspect this wall was never rebuilt.

Still no answer to this.

2. What is the exact location of this fence? Eg:

Farrer: 3653779 REAR/SIDE OF BLOCK REPLACE MISSING SECTION OF FENCING  £375.00  17/06/08

Still no answer to this.

3. What are 'gully covers' and where are they situated?
4. Are 'gully plates' the same thing?
5. What is a 'gully grid'?
(NB Holden & Congers House' renewal of gully covers cost twice as much) Eg:

Castell: 3608233 SUPPLY & FIT 2 5" GULLY PLATES £28.82  26/12/08 (£14.41 per cover)
Finch: 3608249 RENEW 6NO 6" GULLY COVERS £86.53 26/02/09 (£14.42 per cover)
Wilshaw: 3612918 RENEW 10NO GULLY COVERS £162.88 10/03/08 (£16.28 per cover)
Holden: 3615103 RENEW 11NO GULLY COVERS   £346.50  14/03/08  (£31.50 per cover)
Farrer: 3608244 RENEW 6NO 6" GULLY COVERS & FRAMES £86.47 26/02/08 (£14.36 per cover)
Farrer: 3655351 RENEW 2NO GULLY COVERS  £29.73   20/06/08  (£14.86 per cover)
Farrer: 3662811  RENEW GULLY GRID  £29.72  07/07/08 (£29.72 per cover)
Congers: 3608240  RENEW 3 NO 6" GULLY COVERS £86.53 26/02/08 (£28.84 per cover)

Gully covers, grids and plates all refer to the grating used to keep undesirables, such as litter, leaves and people out of the gully, whilst allowing surface water easy passage to the drainage system.

Still no answer as to why they are costed differently.

7. What are 'programmed works' and how are they different? Eg:

Farrer: 3697211 PROGRAMMED WORKS CLEAR 10 GULLIES £218.50  30/10/08

We often refer to 'programmed works to clear gullies' as 'planned jetting maintenance'. This is where instead of trying to clear individual blocked drains we will carry out scheduled works to the block and/or the estate. We will often carry this out on occasions where our attempts to clear individual drains have been unsuccessful and plumbing surveys suggest that there is a wider drainage problem.

8. What is a bulkhead and luminaire?

A 'luminaire' is a general term for a complete light fitting. A 'bulkhead luminaire' usually refers to an external or communal light fitting (but not exclusively). It is usually ceiling mounted with the bulb encased by a heavy duty glass bowl, which is sometimes enclosed by a protective wire mesh.

9. Where did Pest Control take place?
- What was the date? Eg:

Holden: no repair number, no date PEST CONTROL BLOCK WORK  £360.00
Wilshaw: no repair number, no date PEST CONTROL BLOCK WORK  £360.00

The following pest control works were carried at Crossfield Estate in 2008/2009:

Holden House (Pram sheds) - Rats (Baiting) 24/01/2009 £360.00

Browne House Tank Room - Squirrels 31/12/2008 £150.00

Wilshaw House - Baiting 09/09/2008 £75.00

Wilshaw House - Baiting 08/10/2008 £360.00

10. Why is there no repair number for Pest Control items?

We include pest control works in your schedule of building repairs, but the works are not carried out by the repairs team. As such pest control works are not given an individual repair reference number in the same manner as building and estate repairs. The Council carry out pest control treatments to blocks and recharge the cost to us directly. We then recharge a portion of these costs to leaseholders. From 09/10 pest control charges will be shown separately and not included with the repair charges.

11. What is MST? Is it Main Storage Tank?

You are correct, MST is an abbreviation of Main Storage Tank.

12. What is this 'planned jetting maintenance' of? Is it to do with drains? Eg:

Farrer: 3652517 CONFIRMATION OF PLANNED JETTING MAINTENANCE £265.39  13/06/08
Farrer: 36808661 PLANNED JETTING MAINTENANCE £249.52 12/06/08

Please see my answer to Question 7.

13. Why are Repair Breakdowns not listed in any proper order? (Repair Order numbers are not always in order, and dates of repairs certainly are not).

When preparing a breakdown of repair costs, officers should present the repairs in either the order they were logged, or in the order that they were completed on our system.

Officers will be asked to present repair breakdowns in a clear, logical order.