‘Just tell us what’s wrong with our home’: Couple’s despair at Thistle botched works
AHOMEOWNER has told of his “nightmare” battle to have access to a report giving details of damage caused to his property during a botched programme of works.
David Langdon’s home is one of 700 properties factored by scandal-hit Thistle Housing Association and that was part of a mismanaged energy efficiency programme paid for by millions of pounds of public money.
Thistle HA staff engaged an architect to visit David’s home in February and assess problems with dampness that occurred following the installation of EWI wall insulation.
He asked the Toryglen-based social landlord in March if he could have sight of the report – yet nearly six months later is still wrangling with staff to view a copy.
Internal emails between staff show confusion among senior bosses with one seeming to say David should be told the report “does not exist” while, in an official response to the homeowner, another manager says “as the architect was never commissioned there is no report”.
However, another staff member told David a report had been received from the architect, Grant and Murray, and was in the possession of housing association bosses.
David, who has lived with his wife in the house on Kerrylamont Avenue since 1983, said: “We are sitting with the heating on round the clock because the house is so cold.
“Our heating bills have almost doubled since the EWI works. I just want my property sorted. When the architect came out the device he was using was going off the Richter scale with dampness. I know those readings and other information about my home are in the report so, of course, I want to see it so we can start addressing the problems.”
David added: “My wife and I want to move but, even though we have spent a lot of money on the property, it is currently unsellable as you can clearly see the dampness on it.
“It’s a nightmare, an absolute nightmare.”
After delays in receiving a response from Thistle – in part due to the Covid-19 crisis compelling staff to work from home – David made a subject access request to Thistle in May asking for all personal data about him held by the landlord, including the report.
He was given a tranche of emails in which he is mentioned but not a copy of a report, prompting David to ask once again if he could see it.
An email from a member says David staff was given the option of having his home inspected on an individual basis or being part of a larger survey of properties involved in the botched energy improvement programme, which was carried out by Thistle and the energy giant E-on.
She goes on to say that David had asked for his home to be included in the larger survey and have an independent survey.
The email adds: “This would not be possible and therefore, although we asked an Architect to carry out an informal inspection of your home, we did not then pursue that any further by asking for a formal report.
“As the Architect was never commissioned there is no report, meaning the Subject Access Request was fulfilled.”
This email was sent on April 23 but other emails show that the housing association received the report on March 13.
After a litany of failings, from financial mismanagement to health and safety breaches, the Scottish Housing Regulator took statutory action against Thistle HA.
Following a failure to improve, despite a further round of interventions, moves are now being made to transfer Thistle to Sanctuary Housing.
Sanctuary employee Patricia Cahill is now interim director of Thistle and so David approached her for help in March, telling her over the phone and by email about the architect’s visit to his home.
However, an email from her to other staff members, dated April 20, asks if David has submitted a formal Freedom of Information request or made a general query.
If a general query, she added: “Presumably you can just confirm to him that the report was not progressed because of the larger survey work to be done and therefore does not exist.”
On April 23, Patricia, who was at the time new to Thistle, asks for clarity on whether an architect visited the Kerrylamont property or not.
Despite asking for this clarification, David is still sent a message on the same day saying there is no report.
After he pushes the issue, further emails between staff in May show Patricia saying the report should be released to David.
But she says: “The content of the report is quite difficult reading and assesses not only the property but the actual contract and how it was managed.”
She goes on to say it will “need significant redaction”.
David was finally given a copy of the report in June but it is almost entirely redacted.
He said: “I know there is a dampness report in the document and there are images of my property but even these have been redacted so what use is this to me?”
David’s attempt to access the report follows four years of issues with the botched Thistle programme of works, which has seen him take the landlord to court for separate damage done to the property.
David says scaffolding went up around the house ... but nothing happened for nine months. Due to the delay he decided to pull out of the scheme but the contractor was not told so work started anyway.
Cast iron pipes and guttering was removed from the building but the house was damaged during this leaving a large hole in the wall.
David said: “The hole in the wall was so big that someone small enough could have climbed in to the house.”
There were several other issues of damage to the property before the problem with dampness was caused.
Thistle settled the civil suit out of court for the first lot of damage but David is now desperate to have the dampness issue resolved too.
David raised a about the way the redacted and was last week.
A spokesman for Thistle Housing said: “We have been in ongoing dialogue with Mr Langdon for a long period, which includes responding to a Subject Access Request earlier this year.”
On Friday the housing association responded to say it was satisfied with the way the report had been redacted. complaint report was due a response