A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JUDE REDMOND AND COASTAL

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JUDE REDMOND AND COASTAL A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JUDE REDMOND AND COASTAL MANAGEMENT LTD; 23.8.07 – 24.01.09My name is Julian (1.7.69/NS 084575A/A Rh Positive). I am a failed suicide and, as a result, slightly disabled. As part of my re-habilitation I decided I had to find a place of my own. In August 2007 I went through the rental agencies in the ‘phone book, asking each if they rented to people on benefits. Through Coastal I arranged a viewing of Flat 5, 22 Dorset Gardens, Brighton on 23rd August and immediately put down a holding deposit of Ł200*. I was introduced to Jo Jarrold at the agency who was to handle my rental. Five days later I paid the agency administration fee of Ł120* and a date was set for me to move in on 25th September. I set about sorting out the many things that needed doing, such as Housing Benefit with the Council. I was extremely excited about starting afresh in a new home. On the 21st September I was texted by Jo to say that I couldn’t move in on the day agreed. I rang the agency to be fobbed off by Jo with vague and feeble excuses. For the next fortnight I struggled with sanity as I tried, in vain, to find out what was happening. These efforts included using a solicitor I found through a ‘phone help-line. The solicitor rang Coastal who lied to him to the extent that he thought any problems were my fault. He also officially requested the identity of my prospective landlord. Apparently, Coastal had three weeks to inform me who he might be. I still don’t know, despite being occasionally threatened with his wrath.I became desperate and rang Coastal to tell them that I wanted my administration fee returned as they had done nothing to earn it. Within half an hour a man called Marcus rang to tell me I had to pay the fee and, finally, what the delay was. Above the third floor flat, in the attic, are fourteen immersion heaters that serve both 22 and the house next door. One of these had blown its thermostat and had leaked rather badly, flooding the flat and bringing down the ceiling. A new date of 18th October was set and I was happy again.On the morning of 18th I went to Coastal to collect the keys and pay the remainder of the deposit and the first month’s rent*. Before I was allowed the keys I was made to sign a piece of paper that said the flat had been decorated and cleaned throughout, with new carpets. On arriving I found that this was not the case. The main room (the flat is a bed-sit), had a lick of paint but the rest of the flat was in an appalling condition* and it took quite some time to clean the place properly. The toilet was so bad that it was many months before I shifted the limescale. One of the main problems was that the TV Ariel didn’t work, a fault I reported, along with the fact that the door buzzer didn’t work properly. This is still the case.It took a month of asking before my deposit protection plan was sorted out.In the next month there were three leaks. The first occurred at 6.30 on a Monday evening. I rang Coastal’s number which simply rang into the ether with no answer message of useful numbers in emergencies. Adam, on the ground floor, provided me with a bucket but told me there were no emergency numbers supplied by Coastal. The emergency plumbers I tried simply laughed at me when I told them who the rental agency was. I had to wait until the morning before the leak was sorted out. Another occurred a week or so later, flooding the hall outside my door, which was repaired, but then a wet patch appeared on the ceiling in the main room. The plumber announced that it was due to a hole in the roof and had nothing to do with him. This was around the second week of November 2007.At the beginning of November a man arrived to fix the TV Ariel. He grunted at me for a minute or so and then left without dealing with the problem. I received an invoice from Coastal for Ł64.63*. I told them that the TV Ariel did not work but they took no interest and hassled me for the next month or so. At one point I decided to go to their offices and talk the thing through. It was a filthy day, pouring with rain, as I crutched the way from St. James’ St. to their office in Hove. On arriving I was told that Michelle, who deals with these things, was too busy upstairs to see me. A while later the electrician used by Coastal, Colin, came round to refix the kitchen light unit that had come down with one of the floods. I asked him to check the TV Ariel. He did so, confirming that it did not work, and I asked him to inform the good people at Coastal of this. I never heard another thing.For the next few months I rang Coastal every month to remind them about the hole in the roof and the resulting damage to my ceiling. On rainy nights I could see the damp spreading along the edges of the plasterboard. It was like rectangular crazy paving. I was always fobbed off, normally quite rudely.In February I received a notification from the Council that, because I am disabled, I was eligible to have insulation fitted for free; a grant of up to Ł5,000. I informed Coastal of this, mentioning that the hole in the roof would need to be repaired before insulation could be fitted. This was met with unalloyed indifference and the roof remained unrepaired. A representative did call to see if the roof was suitable for insulation, but declared it unfit due to the fourteen immersion heaters.On 19th January 2008 my father died. A month or so later, on the advice of a good friend, I informed Coastal of his death because my father had been my guarantor when I moved in. I spoke to Jo who made suitable noises. Within half an hour a Shelly rang from Coastal full of felicitations. ‘Hello Julian. Sorry about your father. Who’s your guarantor now?’ On 23rd April 2008, Michelle came to inspect the flat with a Caroline Boles from the Council. Michelle was abnormally polite and deferential to Caroline and promised us both that the hole in the roof would be repaired imminently, and that scaffolding would soon be erected outside the property. Two weeks later, scaffolding did go up. It is still there. No work has been done and all the scaffolding has achieved has been to make burglary a possibility.As the months wore on, every time it rained the ceiling became a little more stained and the atmosphere in the flat increasingly damp. This was not a problem in summer but, as the weather grows colder, it is now quite unpleasant in here. I do suffer with joint problems and these are not helped by being constantly cold and damp. I regularly asked Michelle what was being done about the hole in the roof and was generally given a brusque and dishonest answer.On Sunday 19th October I noticed that the ceiling seemed even more damp that normal but thought little of it as it was raining. On Monday this was still true so I rang Coastal and asked to speak to Michelle. I was told that she would call me back. She did not. The Tuesday I was very busy and so had little time to think of calling again, the thought of the resulting rudeness put me off when I did consider it. At about 8pm water started to dribble down the light fitting in the main room. At 4am I realized that the saucepans were not up to the job and dug out the bucket I had bought for just this eventuality. I would estimate that a gallon of water flowed down my light flex that night. I rang Coastal in the morning and a plumber called round at 10.30 to fix the problem. He informed me that another of the immersion heaters had blown a thermostat and had, probably, been boiling away since the Sunday. Damage has been done to my mattress and some books, and the ceiling is now rotten. Michelle arrived on Thursday 30th October, an hour later than fixed, and lied to me for five minutes or so. On the Saturday I received a letter* saying that the roof had stopped leaking and that some lettering I had drawn on my door had to be removed. I call my flat Lemming’s Rest as a small joke. The door itself had not been painted in years and, when it had, the painter had not opened the door to do so. Thus there is an inch of the previous paint bordering the top and opening side. On Monday 3rd November I rang Michelle to ask how the roof had repaired itself and what was the objection to my little joke on the door? She and a lady called Kirsty were extremely rude and I was threatened with eviction.I love living in this little flat and all I would like to do is live quietly, paying my rent and not annoying anyone, as I rebuild my life. Unfortunately Coastal seem unwilling to treat me with anything other than contempt and I have now had enough. As one of the workman sent to repair whatever it was said, ‘Mate; you do have rights. There are laws in this country.’Unfortunately, this idea proved to be naďve in the extreme. I enjoyed an appointment with a Terry Haughty of the Brighton Housing Trust on 4th November*. He informed me that the first thing to do was report Coastal to the Health and Safety Executive, a course of action which might prompt Coastal to serve me notice. As I knew that I was insured for up to Ł50,000 in legal fees I refused to kowtow to Coastal. English history is full of individuals who have stood up to bullies in all sorts of scenarios. The fact that most of them were murdered did nothing to deter me. As it transpired, I was not insured to any reasonable level and there are no laws protecting private tenants in England. They had merely been taking my money. Coastal sent me a letter giving me notice, dated on 3rd November*, but not arriving until 18th for some reason, giving me until 17th January to leave here. There is nothing I can do.Moving was costly and unpleasant, as for anyone, but the new bed-sit (named Pitstop), is not only less expensive but much better appointed with the windows, shower-room and kitchen a good two decades younger than those at Lemming’s Rest and not installed on the cheap by cowboys. I was then faced with the prospect of trying to recover my deposit from Coastal with little in the way of optimism. My deposit had been lodged with the Deposit Protection Service which I was naďve enough to think would protect my deposit. How foolish of me. I also contacted a telephone help-line set up for the Citizens’ Advice Bureaux. After many ‘phone calls it became very clear that I still had no rights, the DPS, woman from the Council, the Brighton Housing Trust and the CAB are completely toothless and Coastal could do exactly as they wanted. Thus I was repaid Ł165 of my Ł488 with the only option of being happy with that. I asked Coastal for a breakdown of the charges leveled against me even though I left the place in a far better state than that in which I found it. When I blitzed the place, my last action before returning the keys, I left a quarter of a loo roll in the shower-room knowing that painters would be coming in and toilets only have one use. I was charged for removing the toilet roll, leaving the whole situation in the realm of farce.It has been hard not to want to exact some sort of revenge on Coastal and I even had an idea of chaining myself to the door of Coastal in homage to Rosa Parkes, but the thought passed and I am now simply glad that I will never have to deal with those beings at Coastal who, if they have a fault, are far too altruistic.*Please see relevant document.