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A week ago I sent a pretty hard hitting letter to the landlord's surveyor maintaining that just because the the exhaust from the fan is cylindrical in section, it not a pipe within the usual meaning of the word but was a stack or duct. [Very shaky ground there!].
And because I was very cross about the long delay from these managers who have persistently underperformed in so many areas, copies also went to his Chief Exec and for what it was worth, to the Audit Commission who had recently undertaken an examination of their flawed organisation.
All this prompted a conciliatory call from another official.
An offer to repair the existing arrangement at their expense, effectively without admission of liability for any future problems. Initially this was refused, but I shall let them go ahead anyway.