A tenant living in a new build house in Livingston has suffered storm damage to his roof three times in the space of a year.
Peter Mawer lives at Eagle Brae in the town, he moved into the new build council house just over two years ago in November 2022 but a section of the roof has had tiles blown off three times, the first in January last year, which caused damaged to his Mercedes car and a caravan that had been on his drive.
The council is liable for repairs to the roof but he’s been left frustrated, having received estimates of up to £13,000 for the replacement and/or repair of damage to the car’s roof, windscreen and pillar, a headlight, and bonnet.
The caravan was damaged by falling tiles, which also led to ingress water damage and had to be scrapped.
Peter approached West Lothian Council as he thought that as he’s a council tenant they may have been liable for the cost of repairs to his vehicle but he has been left disappointed after it was confirmed he would need to make a claim via his car insurance.
He said: “I had a caravan and tiles came off and hit it, and it ended up taking in water. The council have said basically that it’s my problem and to claim off my car insurance. I have home contents insurance but not building insurance because I’m a tenant and it’s not my building.
“The tiles keep coming off every time it’s windy. There wasn’t a lot of damage the last time, despite the storm being worse than the previous two. It’s the same area of the roof each time.
Peter has questioned whether the materials or design of the roof might also be playing a part in the series of damage.
Highlighting that the roof of his house is vented at the ridge he also queried whether this is part of the problem.
He continued: “The plastic bits of the ridge have come off as well as the tiles. I think the wind goes in at the top and basically spins around and comes back up and fires the tiles off.
“Some of the tiles that have come down and not shattered into pieces haven’t been nailed down. I’m not too sure if that has something to do with it but I know the Eagle Brae houses and the ones up in Deans South have the same issues and they’re built by the same house builders.
“When you look at all the older buildings round about they all have their roofs intact, and it makes you think if it is the manufacture.
“There’s still tiles hanging off some of the buildings round here and they’ve had weeks to repair them. They are starting to slide down the roofs.”
A spokesperson for West Lothian Council said: “There have been several claims from the tenant involving damage to their vehicles and all of them following Storm Isha, Storm Kathleen and Storm Eowyn where weather warnings were issued by the Met Office.
“Around two per cent of our housing stock was damaged due to the recent red weather warning and it is normal to expect some damage during such events.
“We can confirm that the majority of storm related damage to council properties relates to ‘older’ council properties, rather than new build homes.
“All claims made against the council are considered on a legal liability basis. There is no automatic right to compensation, in order for settlement to be achieved the council must be proven to have acted negligently or breached a duty of care imposed by law. In circumstances where personal property has suffered damage, it is always advisable for a tenant to raise the matter with their own insurers in the first instance.”
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