"The amount of stress this has put myself and my family through is grossly unfair" - Halifax man's ordeal after being caught up in cavity wall scandal

Nige Goodey, 65, has lived on Gibraltar Road for over 20 years, and was cold called in 2016 about cavity wall insulation under a government scheme.

The government ran a scheme which provided funding for the installation of cavity wall insulation, but in some cases, it was installed in unsuitable homes, leading to mould and damp.

"We agreed to have the work carried out," said Nige. "It was done on April 19, 2016.

"Within a few years the house was starting to show signs of damp in the walls with flaking plaster and mould spores.

"We were contacted by a legal firm, SSB Law, based in Sheffield, to handle a claim against the installation company to put right the damp problems, who arranged to have the house surveyed.

"I was advised to make no repairs myself so my property was rapidly decaying."

Nige says the installation company was wound up in 2018 and their insurance company was wound up in 2019.

"My insurance policy was for 25 years and I have been trying to claim against this policy with no results as yet," he said.

"After four and a half long years of letters backwards and forwards, SSB Law’s chances of winning the case dropped below 70 per cent and I received a letter dated August 8 saying they stopped the case, even though I had a court date of December 5, 2023.

"I had an ‘after the event’ insurance policy with SSB Law which would cover any liability from the defendants' costs of the legal action.

"The court ordered to pay £13,208 in legal fees, of which I had no knowledge of as this was sent to SSB Law, who ignored the letter and did not pay the defendants' fees.

"The first I knew of this was a notice of enforcement from High Court Enforcement Group Ltd, dated October 4 informing me of this debt as it was in my name."

Nigel contacted SSB Law, who advised him not to get in contact with the enforcement agency and said they would contact their financial department, who would settle the amount.

"On October 23, I received another letter from HCE Group to inform me that I now owed £15,955 as the debt had not been paid by SSB Law, which was an immense shock to me," Nige said.

"I contacted HCE Group and spoke to one of their agents who visited me, and the debt was finally settled on October 31."

Nige says his credit scores were badly affected as he discovered he now had a county court judgement in his name which will be against him for the next six years after a lifetime of good credit history.

"The amount of stress this has put myself and my family through is grossly unfair as we thought we were partaking in a government scheme which did not allow untrustworthy tradespeople to abuse the system," he said.

"The construction and age of my property is unsuitable for expanding foam cavity filling and should never have been used in the first place.

"I am a widowed 65-year-old due to retire this year with an 18-year-old son who will inherit the house eventually, I do not want him to inherit this problem."

Halifax MP Holly Lynch has been contacted by several people in the town who have been affected by the issue and, together with her team, is working to support them.

She said: "Just before Christmas, a number of very distressed local people started to contact me and my office having received enforcement notices out of the blue for as much as £32,000.

"I have now been contacted by more than 20 people in Halifax. Some even had bailiffs coming to their homes.

"As we started to work through the cases it exposed what can only be described as a scandal on top of a scandal. These bills have devastated people who simply have no way of paying them. It is hard to overstate the impact that this scandal has had on people’s lives.

"My office and I have been working tirelessly to support people affected. Whilst we have had some success in managing to get enforcement notices ‘paused’, they hang over people like the sword of Damocles.

"I urge the government to help move this to a more permanent and urgent resolution.

"If anyone else in Halifax is affected by this scandal, do get in touch and I’ll do everything I can to help.”

SSB Law were contacted for comment by the Halifax Courier but did not respond.