Episode 17 Rip Off Britain

We asked you to tell us what's left you feeling ripped off,

and you contacted us in your thousands.

You've told us about the companies you think get it wrong and

the customer service that simply is not up to scratch.

I've complained and complained and nobody takes any notice of me.

In all honesty, I think it's just a way for the shops to make more money.

You've asked us to track down the scammers who stole your money and

investigate the extra charges you say are unfair.

You don't want to spend any more, but yet they're always trying to offer you little things extra.

And when you've lost out but no-one else is to blame,

you've come to us to stop others falling into the same trap.

I rang up the company and they went, "Oh, it isn't our fault." So whose fault is it?

So, whether it's a blatant rip-off or a genuine mistake...

We're here to find out why you're out of pocket and what you can do about it.

Your stories, your money - this is Rip-Off Britain.

Hello and welcome once again to Rip-Off Britain,

the programme that goes in to bat for you when everyone else seems

to be saying their hands are tied.

At times like that it can be hard to know where to turn for help.

And of course, that's even worse if you're in a situation that's especially difficult,

as is the case with many of the people that we're going to be meeting today.

Some are out of pocket, but others, even worse,

are at risk of losing their home or their livelihood,

thanks to circumstances they did nothing to cause, but are powerless to stop.

But I'm afraid however desperate their position is,

they say that no-one is really paying much attention

and as a result, they're facing a difficult and very uncertain future.

So of course, that's why they've come to us, to Rip-Off Britain,

to see if there's anything that can be done to help move things along

a little bit, or at the very least, get some answers.

Coming up... The locals devastated by flooding twice in four years and

priced out of any insurance to foot the repairs.

We've lost thousands. We're not the only one.

Our only option's here.

We're to carry on without the protection of insurance

and just stand the loss ourselves.

And why this ex-squaddie's terminal illness isn't quite terminal enough

for this insurance policy to pay out.

Not only have I been shocked by the awful disease I have,

I've now been shocked again, saying it's not covering me.

And I just think that is totally wrong.

These days, floods that were apparently deemed once in a lifetime

seem to crop up with alarming regularity,

devastating homes and businesses and costing insurers

millions of pounds to put right.

And that has left the small shopkeepers of one West Yorkshire

town facing repair bills that could sink their businesses

once and for all.

Christmas night, 2015.

While much of the country was slumped in front of the television after the day's celebration,

others were nervously watching the rain come down.

There are severe flood warnings in force.

Heavy and persistent rain.

In Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire,

the storm continued throughout the night.

Well, the rain is still falling here

and behind me is the raging River Calder,

and after 24 hours of incessant rain over the hills of Lancashire

and Yorkshire, this is all coming through the Calder Valley now.

By the morning, the riverside town was underwater,

and for some small-business owners in Hebden Bridge,

nothing would ever be the same again.

I've never seen anything like this before in my life.

It was devastating.

When I actually came in, the destruction was unbelievable.

I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't take it in.

It was horrific.

As was the case in many towns across the north-west of England,

the Boxing Day floods hit Hebden Bridge exceptionally hard.

Nestled on the banks of the River Calder,

the town's flood defences gave way

and water spilled over into the streets.

Knowing rain was on the way,

antiques dealer Trish Banyard had moved as much of her stock

as she could from the floor, just in case.

But against such a deluge, that wasn't enough.

CCTV from the shop shows the flood's devastating progress

and Trish was horrified by the extent of the damage.

The water was so high it filled the whole of one floor

up to ten feet and the next floor up to three feet

and I knew then that we'd lost everything.

Trish had run this thriving small business for over ten years.

But in just a matter of hours, the building,

along with many of the antiques inside,

was submerged under 13 feet of polluted water.

These are some of the bits that we've managed to save

from the flood. This one I call the last refugee.

I found him in a pile of mud downstairs

and I've washed him a little bit,

and as you can see, this is what happens to items

that have been submerged, not even for 24 hours.

Trish lost half of her stock, worth £50,000.

What she didn't lose had to be cleaned by hand.

You've got to pick up every piece of glass,

every damaged item,

clean up all the muck yourself, and it's taken us a month.

The flooding that inundated Hebden Bridge, although a shock,

was also depressingly familiar.

The town had suffered similar devastating floods in 2012,

after which defences were built that were meant to prevent anything

like that happening again.

Tricia's business had been flooded that time, too.

As a result, ever since, she's been unable to get any flood insurance,

which meant when the worst storm on record hit Hebden Bridge

last Christmas, Trish and her premises were left to brace

the downpour without any policy to protect her.

We've lost thousands. We're not the only one.

Our only option's here.

We're to carry on without the protection of insurance

and just take the risk ourselves and just stand the loss ourselves.

And that's what's happened to us.

Virtually all the estimated £70,000 cost of cleaning up the shop and

getting the business back on track will have to be paid from Trisha's own savings,

a burden that could leave her facing financial ruin.

My kids are really upset.

They've hardly seen me for a month

and I think everybody in the family's been ill.

The knock-on effect of having to deal with all this dirt,

silt-ridden, damp conditions

has taken a toll on everybody.

Trish was eligible to apply for financial assistance from

the local council, but without flood insurance,

this still left her almost £68,000 out of pocket.

And there are plenty of other flooded-out businesses in the area

in the same position.

Lily Briggs found the food shop she co-owned submerged under

1.5 metres of water.

As we came in the next day, the door was blocked and our huge,

brand-new fridge was floating in front of the door, full of stock.

We never thought that would tumble over.

So throwing away £15,000 worth of our beautiful organic food

was absolutely devastating.

The chaos in the streets for those three days of skips everywhere,

furniture all covered in sludge, everything disgusting.

Like Trish, and so many of the area's other small traders,

Lily, too, had no flood insurance, because having been flooded once,

even if an insurer would offer her cover,

the costs would be impossible for her to afford from what the business earns.

There is a possibility to get insurance, but the monthly costs

would be so high, we'd put ourselves out of business.

We knew the risks of running the business without flood insurance.

We could lose everything.

But that's just the risks that we know we have to take.

Just up the street,

Valeen and Sid Jones lost an estimated £40,000 worth of stock at their record shop.

The shop has actually had a flood now three times

over the last ten years, and three-and-a-half years ago,

when we had the flood, we couldn't get insurance.

We were offered either a price of £35,000,

which is totally out of the question,

or a premium with an excess of £50,000,

which for a business this size, it's just totally unacceptable.

But while none of the people we spoke to can get affordable

flood insurance for their businesses,

they can now get it on their homes,

which are also in the town.

But that wasn't always the case.

In fact, several times over the years we've met homeowners who faced

exactly the same sort of difficulties -

finding affordable insurance in areas considered most at risk of flooding.

That's why in April of 2016,

a new scheme came into force

to ensure that flood protection was available

to every home in Britain.

It's called Flood Re and it works by adding the equivalent of around

£10.50 to every home insurance bill in the country

with the money used to spread the cost and the risk

of insuring those homes that might flood.

And it's something that we've been following

since the idea was very first suggested.

Flood Re is there to solve the issue of affordable flood cover

for those 2% of people who live near areas at risk of flooding

and who would be unable to find affordable cover in the future.

But Flood Re doesn't apply to businesses,

so for many of them, realistically priced flood insurance remains out of reach.

And in places like, for instance, Hebden Bridge,

once-thriving small businesses would say that that leaves them

at real risk of bankruptcy.

The Association Of British Insurers worked with the Government

to implement Flood Re for homes,

but it doesn't believe the scheme's suitable for businesses.

Flood Re's designed specifically

for a problem in the household sector.

It's not designed with businesses in mind.

We completely understand that there are problems with businesses in some parts of the country

with unaffordable premiums, with high excesses,

but that's nowhere near the same extent

as the problem that existed in the household sector.

And while some small-business owners think the principles of Flood Re

could easily be extended more widely,

the industry doesn't believe it's that simple.

Flood Re's based on a principle of pay a little bit more if you're not at flood risk

for those that are at flood risk, and they subsidise those that

are at flood risk, should they then flood and have to claim.

If we're wanting a system for businesses that's based on

the dry paying for the wet, should a business subsidise another business?

With riverside cafes, you know, they often choose those locations

because they attract customers in

and they may well do well out of that.

Is it appropriate for another cafe to be subsidising the insurance

premiums of those businesses just beside the rivers,

just because they're at flood risk?

The ABI believes that rival businesses not in areas at risk of

flooding would be up in arms about supporting those that are.

And while there's been no such uproar from homeowners,

it says the emphasis should be on flood prevention first.

There is a real role for government here

around what is the most suitable way

to stop that water going into people's homes

and going into people's businesses,

and that can be through flood defences,

that could be through managing the water in a way

that it's directed away from communities.

Of course, Hebden Bridge did have those flood defences fitted

after the town flooded in 2012.

But in the Christmas 2015 floods, that wasn't enough.

All of which leaves the business owners in the area with a stark choice -

continue to be either refused flood cover outright, or offered policies

with potentially crippling costs, totalling thousands of pounds.

And with the same true in other parts of the country at risk from floods,

the Federation of Small Businesses is adamant that the only feasible

solution is to extend the scope of the Flood Re schemes.

The number of small businesses affected by this, at 75,000,

which is a vast number of small businesses

who cannot at the moment get effective, affordable insurance,

needs to change and we need to be having everybody working together

so that there is something in place for those businesses to continue

to support jobs and growth in their local communities.

The Government clearly needs to be looking

at a Flood Re scheme for businesses.

They need to be looking at protecting basic infrastructure.

And therefore all of us, including government,

have different roles to play here.

Well, the government department currently responsible

for negotiating the Flood Re scheme, Defra, told us it's...

..and that it does want...

So, with that in mind, while it reiterated that...

..it is working with insurers and other parties...

Defra also said it's investing...

..for communities in the Calder Valley,

and that wherever they are in the country,

individual properties and businesses can apply for grants

of up to £5,000 to help make the property more resilient to flooding.

But back in Hebden Bridge, where the effects of the flood

are still keenly felt on the high street,

Trish is back in business, trading from new premises

which weren't affected when the river overflowed on Boxing Day.

But she still can't afford flood insurance and does feel

that the Government could be doing much more to help small-business owners.

I think towns like this all up and down the country are in

difficulties and people like me need a bit of help.

We need the same deal as everybody else.

Next, there's a whole host of insurance policies

designed to protect us and our families if the unthinkable happens.

And when it comes to cover for something like a serious illness,

many of us buy them to give ourselves peace of mind, hoping that

we never, ever need to actually make that claim.

But if it is what you end up having to do,

it's going to be completely devastating to discover that

the policy you'd long believed would help you if you needed it

isn't in fact going to cover you at all.

And while that's proved the case for one viewer who got in touch,

it really spurred him on to make sure

that nobody else ends up in exactly the same situation.

Ex-squaddie Dennis Barber has always enjoyed an active lifestyle,

from football and skiing to running half-marathons,

all to raise money for good causes.

I've generally been a fit person from being young,

and the Army's kept me very, very fit,

which for nine years was fantastic.

But in 2011, all of that changed.

Dennis was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,

a very rare condition in which the lungs are scarred,

making breathing increasingly difficult.

After working all my life and being fit, it's very, very hard

to acclimatise to doing virtually nothing.

Wearing oxygen, not running,

you can't pick your grandkids up for much.

It affects your whole life.

When he was diagnosed, Dennis found out that he shouldn't expect to live

for more than three to five years.

It's like being hit by a train.

You don't even see it coming.

It was a terrible thing for me and the family.

Dennis had to give up his job,

sometimes making it very hard for him and his wife June to get by.

My wife works 30 hours a week.

I do get disability allowance,

but it's very much tightening your belt.

It is a struggle each month.

As far as Dennis is concerned, things would be less of a struggle

if he'd been able to get hold of some money that he'd assumed

would be there to help in exactly such a situation as this.

Several years ago, Dennis and June had taken out a life insurance policy,

and shortly after his diagnosis,

June remembered that it included terminal illness cover,

which would pay out a lump sum

if one of them was diagnosed with a life-ending condition.

My wife said, "Oh, I think we've got that on the policy, Dennis."

As we checked, yes, it said terminal illness.

I thought, "Oh, crikey!" and it said

on diagnosis with a terminal illness, they will pay out.

But when Dennis tried to make a claim,

the response from the insurer, Legal & General, came as a surprise.

The terminal illness cover would only pay out if the illness turned out to be terminal

rather more quickly than obviously he and June were hoping for.

They told me that to meet their criteria,

I must be dead within 12 months, which I thought was a bit harsh.

Not only have I been shocked by the awful disease I have,

I've now been shocked again, saying it's not covering me.

And I just think that is totally wrong.

While Dennis's condition could deteriorate at any time,

his consultant had told him that he most likely had more than 12 months to live.

So however ill he was, he didn't meet the terms of his Legal & General cover.

I felt as though I'd been cheated.

I've paid all my premiums.

I've not missed one.

And when you actually need it, they haven't come up with the goods.

It was just a slap in the face.

Dennis appealed the decision, but the Financial Ombudsman Service found in the insurer's favour,

because it had acted in accordance with the industry rules for this type of policy.

But then, in March 2016,

a specialist nurse told Dennis to get his affairs in order,

because his health had deteriorated even further.

He tried claiming on the policy again, but this claim was rejected as well, due to the fact

that his consultant hadn't formally given Dennis a diagnosis of less than 12 months.

So, he's left feeling very frustrated at what he sees as the shortcomings

of a policy that could make his life easier.

I've not accepted their decision,

I think they're wrong in the conclusion they've come to,

so I've made it part of my bucket list

that I should let other people know.

Now, we've looked into this sort of policy before and the truth is,

they're rarely as straightforward as you might assume.

Not every terminal illness is covered, and as Dennis realised,

sadly too late, there may be strict limits on when they'll pay out.

So, he wants to understand better how this type of insurance works

and ask the questions that he wishes he'd asked when he took the policy out.

So, he's come to meet independent financial advisor Ray Tammam,

who specialises in these types of policy, to find out more.

I have a terminal illness,

I've been diagnosed with that, and when I came to claim on it,

the answer from the insurance company was,

to claim, you must die within 12 months for it to be effective.

Can you explain why?

I'll try my best.

It's very common with life insurance policies to have

an added bolt-on included, known as terminal illness cover,

and if you're unfortunate enough to be diagnosed

with a terminal illness,

as you have been, the idea is that you can receive a payout

earlier than having to wait until the client passes away.

Specialist policies that don't have the 12-month clause do exist,

but generally, the insurance industry works to a set of guidelines

laid out by the Association of British Insurers, or ABI,

which defines a terminal illness

as one with a prognosis of 12 months or less.

Now, it might seem like a brutal cut-off point,

but it's part of an industry-wide set of definitions that,

whether you've bought terminal or critical illness cover,

depend very much on the word of your doctor.

Insurance companies have many different definitions,

so what the ABI have done, and I'm a big fan of this,

they've worked with the medical industry and the insurers

to standardise the definition for what is a serious heart attack,

what is a critical illness,

across all the different 30 to 40 different illnesses

that are covered.

So it's actually quite clear to a medical professional -

does this meet the criteria?

It's actually yes or no.

It's not a grey area.

Only around 5,000 people a year

are diagnosed with the condition that Dennis has.

And while his doctor can't say for sure that he will die

in the next 12 months,

equally, something like a serious bout of the flu could be fatal.

I think that that is the big issue for you and other people

unfortunately in this situation, in a bit of limbo, in that the doctor,

hand on heart, can't give as near to a guarantee as possible

that someone won't be here in 12 months,

therefore by definition, it doesn't meet

the criteria set by the insurance company, unfortunately.

But Ray does think that for someone like Dennis,

who's effectively asking for an early payout of his life insurance,

that there may be one last thing worth trying

if a claim has been refused.

All you can do is ask them, as a gesture of goodwill in this case,

would they, essentially, advance the money?

Because you are still covered by your plan, I believe,

so chances are they would be paying out anyway at some point.

-Correct, yeah.

-So could they, as a gesture of goodwill,

please consider making a payment?

However, when we put that to Dennis's insurer, Legal & General,

while extending its sincere sympathy,

it said it wouldn't be able to pay out on his life insurance policy early,

as although it does look to pay all claims...

It reiterated that his condition...

..because in the opinion of Dennis's consultant

and the insurer's Chief Medical Officer,

his life expectancy is more than 12 months.

However, the company stressed that it remains in close communication with Dennis

and will continue to review his claim,

which it says it will pay...

..but has said that it has to stick to the industry definitions,

in order to ensure that all customers are treated fairly,

adding that in 2015, it paid out

£94 million in terminal illness cover alone.

Even so, Dennis hasn't given up fighting,

and the army veteran is keen that anyone else taking out this kind

of cover understands exactly when it will and won't apply.

You need to read your policy,

and find out the terms and conditions of it,

because it's not all bright and rosy.

I just think it is so wrong

that when you're in a bad place to start with,

you don't want to be kicked again.

And this is what's happening.

Still to come on Rip-Off Britain,

wait till you hear how much it will cost residents here to put right

the roads that the builders didn't finish

and the council won't take on.

It makes the place look such a slum, and it's not. They're lovely houses.

People have spent a lot of money on these bungalows,

doing them up and making them nice,

but everything is dragged down by these roads.

Welcome to the Rip-Off Britain pop-up shop,

and this time we opened up our consumer advice clinic

right in the middle of a busy Manchester shopping centre.

We had a host of experts keen to solve your consumer conundrums

and pass on advice that some of you simply didn't know.

-Not a clue?

-No.

-Ask Mum and Dad!

Frank May called in needing help from solicitor Gary Rycroft.

In recent years, his flat has been affected by flooding and damp,

and Frank is sure it can't be coincidence

that the problems only began after some major changes were made

to the flat immediately above his.

Within that year, I had been flooded by the flat above.

I had to be moved out of my flat.

I was out for eight months while they tried to fix everything.

The kitchen was taken out, floors were taken out,

skirtings, the whole thing.

The repairs to Frank's flat were covered under

the building's insurance, but within a year of him moving back in,

there was a new leak, with some especially unwelcome consequences.

My bathroom ceiling came in,

and there was five months where the water was

still dripping through and it caused my whole flat to be covered

in damp and mould.

Frank was forced to move out again, this time for three months,

but his problems still weren't over.

There was another leak and a further kitchen refurbishment,

and even now, he's spotted telltale signs

that the damp still hasn't gone away.

As of this week, I've found that

my new flooring is starting to lift already.

I've had three kitchens in a matter of three years.

-Ridiculous.

-Two new bathrooms, four new bathroom ceilings,

three new floorings, skirtings all the way through my flat.

This is costing tens of thousands of pounds.

The stress it's causing me, and the amount of time

I'm out of my flat, is unacceptable, that's my home.

I'm absolutely speechless.

It's a litany of horrors.

And of course, all of this has had a huge impact

on Frank's building insurance.

His block of flats has a blanket policy,

under which residents normally pay a £100 excess,

but Frank's excess has rocketed up.

My building insurance, my excess went from £100 to £1,000 excess.

Now, I have no control over the water from above,

but I'm being penalised by that,

which has left me with a property that I cannot sell.

Frank says he's tried to speak to all parties involved

to get a resolution, but he feels

that the management company for the flats

should be taking more responsibility.

After all, it allowed the work upstairs to be done in the first place.

And he is paying the company more than £100 a month in service fees.

So what screws can he put on the management company?

So, Frank, if you are the owner of a leasehold flat and you're unhappy

with the way it's being managed,

you can get together with the other leaseholders and you can ask

for a right to manage the flat yourself,

but you do need a majority of the flats to agree to that.

In your case, you need to be in touch with the management company

and make it very clear that you're not going to go away,

and I would also strongly recommend that you speak to the Leasehold Advisory Service.

The Leasehold Advisory Service offers free, independent advice to leaseholders like Frank,

including guidance on how to deal with conflicts with the management company.

But if none of that helps resolve this case,

then Gary thinks the matter is serious enough

to go to a specialist court hearing.

And ultimately, you are entitled to go to

the Residential Property Tribunal and have all of this scrutinised.

Do you think any of that's going to be helpful to you?

Well, definitely. I'm going to look

into the people I can chase up about the lease.

Well, good luck, and keep us posted.

Tell us how you get on.

Following his chat with Gary, Frank appealed again to the management company,

which did succeed in getting the renovations to the flat above,

which caused the leaks, reversed,

and that should prevent any further damage.

And with some additional help from Martin James at the Financial Ombudsman Service,

Frank's insurers have now paid him £200 in compensation

for some of the additional furniture that was ruined by the flooding.

There are still some ongoing problems,

but Frank says that without our help,

he's sure he'd still be stuck exactly where he was in the first place.

Someone else who called in to see us was Julie Low,

who came along with her daughter, Isabel.

She met up with technology journalist David McClelland

to warn about a website that wasn't what it seemed.

Tell me about the problems you've been having.

Julie's disabled mother had needed a blue badge for her car,

so Julie offered to go online to apply on her behalf.

Went to the first website, it seemed OK.

A few short questions and then it said, "You've been successful,

"you are eligible for a blue badge,

"pay your money and we'll send you a link by e-mail,"

which is what they did.

Julie paid £49, believing that meant it was all sorted,

but a week or so later the local council sent her a different form

to complete, and she was rather surprised by what happened

once she'd filled it in.

My mum got a phone call, saying,

"You've been successful with your blue badge,

"would you like to pay your £10 over the phone?"

So then I thought, well, what was this other £50 for?

So the next morning, I phoned the local authority,

they confirmed again that, yes, they had taken the £10, it was genuine,

and that the other one was a con.

The website Julie paid her money to has since disappeared,

but David is all too familiar with others that operate

in exactly the same way, whether they claim to be helping with

blue badges, passports or just about any vital document.

There are any number of websites out there whose business, it seems, is

to try and fool people into thinking that they are an official website,

and they'll defend themselves,

saying that they're offering a genuine service,

but the service that they offer can go from

helping you to fill in a form, which you can do for free anyway,

to all-out scams, and unfortunately it seems as though you've been

a victim of an all-out scam on this occasion.

For Julie, it's a lesson learned.

The good news is that her mum, Noreen, did get her blue badge through the council.

But David's got some tips to make sure that next time Julie goes online,

she won't get caught out in the same way.

Before you click on buy or send,

do another search and see what other people are saying about this company,

because very often, if there are scam websites out there,

other people will be shouting from the treetops about that as well.

-Yeah.

-OK?

-OK.

I'm a lot more cautious now as well when I'm looking at websites.

Brilliant. Thanks a lot, Isabel. Thank you, Julie.

Now, let's face it, when most of us walk out of our front door,

we don't really give too much thought

to the state of the roads and pavements outside.

After all, it's not down to us to look after them.

But for some people, I'm afraid it is,

because the road's upkeep

is only the responsibility of the local council

if it's been formally adopted.

And in the case of some new-build developments,

that's not always happening.

As a result, some homeowners have found themselves stuck right in

the middle of an argument between the developer and the council that

can rumble on for years, and in the case of one village, for decades.

North Wales seaside resort Rhyl has been a holiday destination since

Victorian times and people have been moving here to retire by the coast

for almost as long.

Just on the edge of the town,

the 200 or so bungalows at Sandy Cove were built in 1936,

but the developers never properly completed the streets on the estate.

As a result, the process of adopting these roads,

through which the council will take responsibility for their maintenance

and upkeep, never actually happened, and it still won't until

the council's satisfied that they're up to scratch.

So the roads of Sandy Cove have been unadopted for 80 years.

And as far as Roger Norman,

who is chair of the Local Residents Association, is concerned,

the state of them is getting steadily worse.

The roads are just deteriorating.

Houses are deteriorating

because people have lost the will to repair them.

And it's just a vicious downward spiral.

For now, it's the residents of Sandy Cove who remain responsible

for the upkeep of the streets they live on,

and despite their best efforts, that is no easy task.

Two residents donated eight tonnes of stone and we levelled this road,

which has gone just as bad again.

But when favours and donations aren't enough,

the residents say they simply can't afford to keep putting their hands

in their pockets to pay for the repairs.

It's one thing that we just can't do.

The people who live around here, we haven't got, you know...

We need help on them.

Joan Chance has lived in Sandy Cove for ten years,

but fears that the roads are bringing the whole area down.

It makes the place look such a slum, and it's not.

They're lovely houses.

You know, we try to make everything look as nice as we can,

but everything is dragged down by these roads.

For disabled residents like Alan,

the state of the roads can make it really hard for him to get out,

or for the taxis and supermarket deliveries

that he relies on to get in.

-Good morning, Joan.

-Morning, Alan.

-How are you this morning?

-I'm fine, thanks. You?

-Yeah, not too bad.

-How do you get by with these roads

-when you've got to go out?

-You just have to be very careful.

We do have a taxi that will pick me up in the wheelchair,

but they are very reluctant to come down here.

It's a basic necessity, isn't it? To be able to get safely from

your house to wherever you need to go.

Because it's going to get to a point where fire engines, ambulances,

are they going to refuse to come down?

As the roads get worse, the cost

of making them fit for adoption only gets bigger.

When the work was last assessed,

the cost was put at more than £5 million.

If that was split between the estate's 253 households,

it would mean that each of them would have to pay almost £20,000.

Now, the residents just don't have that kind of money,

but as local councillor Bill Darwin explains, nor does the council.

Why can't the council just do the roads?

I don't believe the council funding it fully is the answer.

There's so many efficiency cutbacks over the last few years,

due to the lack of funding from central government,

so the council's, every council's, losing millions.

Bill is trying to work with the residents on a solution

and wonders if the only practical answer might be

to spread the huge costs.

What can we do next to get this problem sorted?

We can get all the key players around the same table,

Conwy County Council, the Welsh Government, the Town Council,

local county councillors and the AM,

with a very important player, which is yourself,

which is the Residents Association, the people.

Bill's preferred solution is a scheme under which residents would

contribute £5,000 towards the cost, but not immediately.

They'd only pay at whatever point their house is next sold.

-Everybody would have to pay it.

-They would have to pay, yeah.

But it wouldn't be paid, it would be a charge on the property.

Yes, that would be the best solution to people paying,

because it is an area of low income.

-Yeah.

-So a lot of people wouldn't have that.

It's far from a perfect solution, but Bill thinks if Sandy Cove could

finally have decent roads, eight decades after the estate was first built,

there'd be more than just the obvious benefits.

-It would also bring community spirit back on here.

-Of course.

There used to be a good, a really good community spirit,

but because of the way the roads have deteriorated,

a lot of that spirit has been knocked out of people.

You can imagine if you manage to get a safe environment around here,

and we are next to the sea and the beach, so you could see straightaway

the mood of the community lifting.

But I'm afraid it doesn't look like Bill's idea will get off the ground.

Conwy Council told us that even if the residents did contribute

to the cost of repairing the roads...

And at a time when...

..are at risk from budget cuts, it...

The council added that it urged people to...

And that's exactly what Richard and some of his neighbours

wish they'd done when they bought their homes

on Paddock Way in Doncaster.

Work on the eight houses here began in 2010, but as at Sandy Cove,

the council won't adopt the road until it's in a better condition,

which leaves Richard unhappy

every single time he steps out of his front door.

Sometimes, you can feel embarrassed to have

friends and family visit when they're parking up

next to a giant pile of mud and bricks and broken stones.

It's not what you want to be feeling about your first house.

There's no street lighting,

the pavements are unfinished

and the road surface is riddled with potholes.

But when Richard bought the house three years ago,

the sellers assured him that Paddock Way would be adopted.

They were very keen to tell us that the road would be being finished,

there would be lights put up,

you would have a finished surface,

the council would then adopt it.

We bought the house thinking once it's finished,

it'll be a very nice area.

And Richard's neighbour, Lee, had the same impression before he moved onto the street.

When we first came to see the house, the builders were

still working on the opposite side of the road,

all their materials out, their working equipment,

still continuing on with the site.

But six months later, building work ground to a halt.

Things were just sort of, like, left.

There was nobody coming back to even tidy up

the mess left behind. Then after a few months,

you started realising it still hadn't changed and weeds were growing

out of places they shouldn't be and there is mess all over the road

that no-one thinks it's their job to clean up.

Residents simply don't know where to turn to.

Until the road is adopted, it's up to them to look after it

or find more than £50,000 to get it fit

for adoption by the council.

I think with the cost being that high to finish the street,

it definitely isn't something for the people that live here... can afford to pay.

It's not money people can have, and really it's something

you don't feel that you should have to be paying.

And he's right in thinking that,

because when planning permission is given for a new development,

councils and construction companies should sign an agreement,

which says the local authority will adopt the roads

if the developer finishes them to a certain standard.

And the developer's supposed to pay a bond to cover the costs

if, for any reason, it doesn't finish the job.

But at Paddock Way, the agreement has not been signed

and the bond remains unpaid, thanks to several changes in ownership

of the development along the way.

None of which is down to the homeowners, of course,

which is why Jim Codd, who heads up a national organisation called

the Residents Adoption Action Group,

believes in this case the council hasn't upheld its duty,

because it allowed the original developer to go ahead

without having everything it needed in place.

Building work has started and it is an offence,

according to the Highways Act, to start work

without the bond money being in position,

and therefore, the council should have stopped work

and taken the developer to task.

And so, Richard and the residents should really be challenging

the council, saying you've not upheld your duties,

therefore we're holding you liable

to bring our road up to adoptable standards.

But when we put Jim's opinion to Doncaster Council,

it rejected his interpretation

and said that after planning permission is granted, there is...

..without an agreement to adopt the road in place,

adding that the council can't legally enforce

the developer to enter into one.

They said it did enter into negotiations at this point

with the original developer

and is continuing to try and engage with the existing developer,

to find a way to resolve all of this.

But nonetheless, it maintained that residents should have been

made aware of the issue when buying their homes

and it's the responsibility of the current landowner to...

That owner is, of course, the current developer,

who told us that once the work to the unfinished homes is completed,

it will carry out the road works it's obliged to.

The vast majority of roads on new developments are ultimately adopted,

so if you fall in love with a house on a new development,

there's no need to discount it just because it's on an unadopted road.

But to avoid getting into the same situation

as the residents of Paddock Way,

you should check very carefully exactly when it might happen.

When you're buying on a development and you're led to believe that it's

going to be adopted, you need to get your solicitor to check out

that all conditions have been met.

And the dangers if the road stays unadopted

aren't just around the cost of maintenance.

The question of liability could be a problem as well.

If somebody trips on a manhole cover, who's responsible?

It won't be the council,

because they don't own the road, it's a private road.

So, therefore, that would fall down to the landowners,

who may well be the residents themselves.

But for Richard, however things turn out at Paddock Way,

nothing would persuade him to buy on an unadopted road ever again.

I'd find it now difficult

to purchase another house on an unfinished or unadopted road.

It's just not worth it.

If you've got a story you'd like us to investigate,

then you can get in touch with us

via our Facebook page, BBC Rip Off Britain,

our website, that's bbc.co.uk/ripoffbritain,

or e-mail:

And of course, you can send a letter to our postal address:

Well, when we spend so much time, love and money in our homes,

it can be really devastating

when something puts them under threat,

or if living there feels like it's become a daily battle

with the very people you'd hope and expect

might be putting things right.

Well, the people we've heard from today are united by their

determination not to give up and not to take no for an answer.

So we really do hope that they get some resolutions before much longer,

and we will be sure to go back and see them when they do.

But in the meantime, I'll just say that we love getting all

your letters and e-mails, so please do keep them coming in.

Let's face it, we wouldn't be here in Rip-Off Britain without all the cases you put forward.

I'm afraid, though, for the moment, that's where we have to leave it, so until the next time,

-thank you for joining us and from all of us on the team at Rip-Off Britain, bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.