Administration of Disrepair Claims
1. Receipt of claim
Claims are usually received via post. On receipt, the documents are scanned (by Reception staff) and emailed to Asset Management.
The Asset Surveyor tasked with the administration of disrepair claims will forward the claim to the following at Blake Morgan (Solicitors) who manage the claims on our behalf.
Blake Morgan will send a fee estimate, typically £1000 for initial advice and claim management and ask for confirmation of instruction to set up a file and act on Bron Afon’s behalf.
They will also ask if we wish to instruct an external surveyor (usually G Squared Surveying) to undertake an inspection and provide a report and whether we accept the signature on the claim form as being that of the relevant Contract Holder (to be checked against the signature on the occupation contract). Confirm instructions to BM to proceed.
2. Bron Afon’s Disrepair folder
As soon as possible following receipt of a claim, set up a folder in Assets/Disrepair/2.Open Cases.
Copy folders 1 to 11 from folder 0. Disrepair Folder Structure and copy them into a new case folder titled with the address of the property.
3. Background information for Blake Morgan
Once instructed, Blake Morgan will require the following documents from Bron Afon:
- Tenancy agreement and/or occupation contract (from Documotive).
- Rent statement (from Yoda).
- IBS records from Subject Access Request Report (from SQL Server 2019 Reporting Services)
- YODA records from Data Access Request V1.0 – SQL Server 2019 Reporting Services
- Gas safety certificate (from Documotive).
- Electrical certificate from Ramis – compliance.ramis.com
4. Disrepair Tracker
It is vital that we have a clear record of progress for each claim from receipt to conclusion. Disrepair claims generate considerable flows of information between Bron Afon and our legal representatives. These must be recorded in the Disrepair Tracker.
The Disrepair Tracker is held in its own folder (Disrepair / 1. TRACKER).
On receipt, add the claim number, address, Contract Holder name, date claim received and the nature of the claim (basic details of the defects etc) and the date the claim was forwarded to Blake Morgan into columns A to E.
Update the Tracker with all other information as the claim progresses (refer to the Tracker for examples).
5. Progressing the Claim
Once the claim is live and Solicitors and Expert Witnesses are instructed the property is inspected by BA’s expert either on a single or joint basis (with Claimants expert) to determine the validity of each point of the claim – i.e. is BA liable for the matters of disrepair brought under the claim.
The experts’ reports are exchanged, and the individual issues are collated in a Scott schedule which describes the nature of the defect, whether the experts agree on causation / liability or otherwise and each expert’s assessment of extent and cost of remedial works required.
Wherever possible, BA will seek to obtain agreement on all matters to avoid the claim being referred to and settled in the Courts. However, it is recognised that the claimant’s solicitors maximise their income through the matter proceeding to trial and will seek to frustrate settlement. We will be guided by Blake Morgan on all aspects relating to the settlement of the claim, however, it is for BA to confirm instructions on the main points that arise.
Where a claim cannot be settled by negotiation, the issues will be put before the Courts. A Witness Statement will be prepared by Blake Morgan and a Representative of Bron Afon – usually the Asset Surveyor – will attend the trial to provide clarification of any issues as required.
The Expert representing Bron Afon will answer queries relating to their technical report.
At conclusion of the trial, the Judge will issue an order covering all points of the claim including remedial works required and timescale to complete them, compensation to be paid including any set-off against any rent arrears and an award of the claimant’s legal fees.
It is the responsibility of the Asset Surveyor to arrange for the payments to be made and remedial works to be completed .
6. Ordering remedial works
Remedial works are carried out by Framework contractors rather than the DLO due the need to meet the statutory timescales.
Works should be scheduled up in the normal manner and emailed to the Technical Administration Team to issue to the nominated contractor via the IBS system. The word ‘DISREPAIR’ must be entered in the short description cell to ensure that the works are issued correctly as below.
The work order will be issued through the ‘Planned’ contract under the overall response maintenance budget (managed by Neil Jones) with the priority set to Disrepair. This enables costs for these works to be captured and reported on as a discrete data set.
The timescale for works ordered via this route is 30 days.
Record the date the works were issued and the job number(s) on the Tracker. Add appointment date and dates when access denied, where applicable.
Once the remedial works have been completed, post inspect to ensure quality / effectiveness and inform Blake Morgan that works completed satisfactorily.
Reports on job status / costs etc can be obtained from IBS using the Master Query function in Open Contractor.
7. Payment of Compensation and Legal Fees
Email Jack Bishop (Executive Personal Assistant) with request to authorise payments – a formality given that by this point Bron Afon have a Court judgement against us.
The following format is suggested:
Title: Payment of (compensation / legal fees) – Disrepair claim (Address and Blake Morgan reference – BMG-Legal.FID00000000)
Good afternoon, Jack
We have recently received judgement against us in this matter and are now required to pay compensation and legal costs as follows:
Compensation: £X (in words)
Legal costs: £X (in words)
Please come back to me should require any clarification.
Regards
Once authorised, complete a sundry payment request form and send to Finance along with a copy of the Chief Executives authorisation. The payment request for will include the payee details (Customer and/or Solicitor) as directed by Blake Morgan.
8. Closing the Claim
Once the remedial works have been completed, compensation and all other costs have been paid, the file can be closed. It is important that this is done with Blake Morgans approval as there may be a reason to keep the file open.
Once Blake Morgan have confirmed that the file can be closed, cut the folder from the ‘Open Claims’ folder and paste it into the ‘Closed Claims’ folder.
Do the same with the details as entered in the Tracker – cut from the ‘Open Claims’ spreadsheet and copy into the ‘Closed Claims’ spreadsheet.