Warwick tenant just wants her house back after a series of ongoing problems

Eileen Griffin has lived in her home in Greville Road, which is a Warwick District Council property, for around 60 years.

Last September Eileen had contractors in to create a wet room after she had a double hip replacement. Since then she has had a host of problems and more have appeared after a water leak.

Her daughter Julie Brown said: “It’s so upsetting for her especially as she is going through cancer treatment for secondary breast cancer.

“Just before Christmas I came over to see mum and I went into the kitchen and saw water coming down the wall and it went into the electrical sockets too. We had to get the emergency people from the council out. They told my mum not to use the electric sockets and to let them dry out for a week and then try them. This is so dangerous and no one has come out to check them since.”

She said numerous contractors have been out to the property for issues with the wet room and the leak, which is believed to have been caused by corroded pipes.

Julie said: “The amount of workmen has been incredible but there has been a lack of communication from one to another. One came out last week to plasterboard the hole in ceiling where they did emergency repairs for the leak but it has to come back down because the pipes need replacing.

“There is damage to mum’s carpet upstairs caused by a contractor, they have just stuck peeling wallpaper back down in the kitchen with sealant – they haven’t even looked to see what damage is behind the kitchen cupboards.

“They removed the toilet because it was leaking but put a lower one in. Everything was measured for mum by the occupational therapist and now it’s too low. There’s no proper sleeve over the sewer pipe on the toilet and their answer was to stuff carrier bags down the cap and use sealant.

“There has been issues with the flooring in the bathroom as it keeps coming away and it’s not being sealed properly.

“The sink was also falling away from the wall so it had to be replaced. So much needs sorting. “Mum’s been a tenant for many years and she’s always paid her rent. This is the first time due to ill health we have ever asked the council to do something for her and it has been so bad and we have had no apology.

Eileen said: “Different people keep coming out and I just want to get it done right and done with. It has been one thing after another. It really gets you down. I just want my house back. I am just going to have to wait and see what happens.”

A spokesperson from Warwick District Council said: “We strive to get repairs and improvements right first time for all our tenants.

“Sometimes it doesn’t happen and things go wrong. While not commenting on the specifics, we apologise to the tenant if in this case things have gone wrong and caused distress and inconvenience.

“We expect to have everything resolved quickly and will also investigate what happened, so that we can learn from any mistakes to avoid such problems in future.”