Mum-of-four Sahara came to us for help after being left frustrated by back and forth discussions with Birmingham City Council.
Sahara had been living with her four daughters in their home since 2006, but it wasn’t until 2016 that she discovered the serious levels of damp in her home. She first found the problem whilst attempting to redecorate her kitchen:
“I painted the living room and the paint fell off the wall. Then the paint in the kitchen fell off and then the radiator fell off because the wall was wet. Then they took off the extractor fan and there was a leak behind there. That was in 2016 but no one has fixed it since then.”
The kitchen has remained in a serious state of disrepair, with large sections of brickwork exposed as the plaster crumbles around it, since then the damp has also started to spread to the living room. When Sahara contacted Birmingham City Council a team was sent out to make repairs but their attempt did not hit the source of the problem, as a result the damp has continued to spread throughout the house, creating damp conditions that have effected Sahara’s partner’s asthma, as well as potentially exacerbating her daughter’s eczema.
Although Sahara continued to complain about her abhorrent living conditions, the council repairs team would only arrive unannounced and at inconvenient times leaving her no recourse but to get in touch with us. We estimated that the cost to repair the damage to Sahara’s home would be around £2,500 and have been working to get Birmingham City Council to cover these costs, as well as seeking further compensation for not acting faster to solve this dire situation.
One of our team, Mark Montaldo, had this to say:
“This is something we see everyday, how people in council housing and housing associations are having to live. Residents are told the problems are cosmetic or don’t fall into the tenancy agreement. Councils try to fob them off, they turn up when they’re not there. This is one case study but we could give you hundreds.”
If this scenario sounds familiar and you are struggling to have your voice heard by your local authority or housing association – then we can help you. Send us a message using the contact form below, or call us today on 0151 242 9050 so we can discuss taking your case on.
