SAC0019

Written evidence submitted by Mrs Julie Clouth

I am writing to describe my most recent dreadful experience with MOD military housing at RAF Brize Norton (BZ), where I lived with my husband, a serving member of the RAF.

Myself and my husband arrived at our Quarter at BZ in February 2022 by road from Naples Italy as he had just finished a posting at NATO Naples. A proxy march-in had been done a few days earlier as the Amey/MOD would not provide a member of staff to do the march –in on the day we arrived. The march-in was done by proxy using an RAF officer from High Wycombe who kindly agreed to do it on our behalf. He did not sign the documentation to accept the property due to its unacceptable condition.

We arrived at the property to find an absolutely filthy exterior of the house itself, as well as a garden scattered with rubbish from domestic bins and debris due to a number of very large dead trees. Water was also leaking onto the flat roof which was very obvious. The property had been unoccupied since the previous July. I have photos of the property .

The major issues were:

1.       The kitchen and bathroom were archaic, both confirmed by Amey/Pinnacle as being over 30 years old. We were told that once 30 years was reached they would be replaced. This DID NOT happen, and neither was there a plan to replace them as they were declared “serviceable” by someone at MOD/Amey during a previous survey of the property. Even the mould on the bathroom tiles was considered acceptable.

2.       On moving in during February 2022 there were a significant number of outstanding jobs which weren’t addressed. We were told this was due to Amey being about to lose their contract on March 31st so we were advised to wait until April 1st and then all work would be carried out by Pinnacle. NOT TRUE.

3.       The garage door mechanism broke as soon as we moved in having filled the garage with our belongings, as the 2 doors into the house were too small to get the furniture into the house. An Amey employee came and condemned the garage door as unrepairable. He cut the cable so that the only way to open the door was to physically lift the door above your head, which was heavy and dangerous. MOD continued to make a monthly charge for the garage although it was unusable. Following about 50 phone calls and emails to Amey/Pinnacle, and a 5 month wait the door was eventually replaced. Throughout we were continually fobbed off with false promises.

4.       We arrived at the property with a car that needed a charging point. We were told that a charger would be fitted to the outside of the garage. NOT TRUE. A charging point was never fitted. If we could access the garage we could charge on the domestic electric socket at the back of the garage but the garage was so small that an average size car would not fit in, assuming we could open the garage door and keep it open, which we couldn’t.

5.       The garden was littered with rubbish and tree branches. The lawn was extremely large and overgrown such that it wasn’t possible to mow with a domestic lawn mower. After 30+ phone calls and emails to Amey/Pinnacle and about a 5 month wait, 2 contractors came. They worked for 1.5 days clearing the garden. Another 2 contractors came on another occasion to clear the gutters, clean the windows and plastic fascia boards.

6.       The garden was filled with dead trees, one of which was close to the house (the lounge window) and was in danger of falling onto the house. Once again, endless calls and emails to Amey/Pinnacle. An employee did visit and noted the trees were dead, dangerous and needed removing. NOTHING WAS DONE.

7.       At one point the lock to one of the exterior doors broke so that we couldn’t lock the door. Following several calls having initially been told the it constituted an emergency repair so would be repaired within 48 hours, we waited about 3 weeks for the repair meaning our belongings couldn’t be secured during this time which is totally unacceptable.

We have lived in Service accommodation at various times during my husbands 36 year career. In the past work services were always very poor but the situation now is absolutely abysmal in terms of an absence of any service. The work carried out is often of a poor standard due to cost cutting and money is wasted on endlessly making repairs instead of replacing something when it is quite clearly no longer fit for purpose. This property was by far the worst in terms of age, cleanliness and condition. It is an absolute insult to be allocated this standard of property having served a full career and reached Group Captain, and reflects badly on how the MOD value their service personnel. In the civilian world, a professional person would NOT agree to live in such dirty, old and substandard accommodation which is most definitely not reflected in the accommodation charges. Needless to say we moved out as soon as we were able as it was a depressing environment to live in. it was also such a pointless and miserable experience trying to communicate with Pinnacle and initiate action to rectify our issues.

It is clear that MOD accommodation is now severely substandard and unacceptable. Neither is anyone actually managing the properties to ensure work is carried out and completed before a tenant moves in, or checking the property inside and out is clean and tidy. Our property was unacceptable at march-in and was not signed for as being acceptable but Amey did nothing. After moving in we were fobbed off with promises of Pinnacle being able to provide a substantially better service than Amey. This was not our experience and totally UNTRUE especially as they were the same employees but with a different badge. Those working locally were of zero practical use and were uncontactable so I have no idea what role they actually fulfilled? On the only occasion I actually made contact by phone with our supposed accommodation officer, she was rude, unhelpful and disconnected the call.

I have described some of the issues we experienced. We were not alone at BZ experiencing the dreadful and non existent service provided by Amey/Pinnacle as well as having endless problems with the substandard properties.

 

17 October 2023

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