Nurse can’t take a shower in city home
HIDDEN DAMAGE AT NOTTINGHAM CITY HOMES PROPERTY
A NOTTINGHAM nurse couldn’t use her shower for a week after she noticed a “suspicious stain” on her kitchen ceiling.
Dalene Grimes has told of her frustration with a house she almost bought in Top Valley.
The 44-year-old said she feels like she is “trapped in her own home” after the incident.
It all started when Ms Grimes called Nottingham City Homes, the owner of the two-storey house, for assistance after spotting a leak on the kitchen ceiling.
An engineer visited the property last week to investigate.
The leak was coming from under the bath, where a rotten wooden support caused damage to a pipe.
Every time she or her 17-year-old daughter used the shower, the leak got worse.
They have not had a shower since because the support under the bath “could break at anytime and hurt someone,” she said.
Ms Grimes said: “The bath is just not safe.
“You cannot see it, but then when you are in the bath you can feel that there is a dip in the middle of the bath because of the wood underneath.
“It is split because that wood is rotten.
“It was every time we had a shower or a bath the leak would get bigger and wetter.
“It is a nightmare.”
Ms Grimes, an auxiliary nurse at City Hospital, said she has only used the water basin in her bathroom to wash herself.
She added: “I am working in a hospital, on wards with elderly people.
“I live with my daughter and neither of us have had a shower or a bath in a week.”
Ms Grimes almost bought the house over a year ago after moving into it in 2017 through a house swap.
She applied for the right to buy in January last year, and then tried to get a mortgage.
She said: “The bank sent an evaluator here to value the property.
“And there was a big gap between the evaluator’s price and the price that I was told by City Homes.
“There was a gap of £13,000.”
She claims that the price given by Nottingham City Homes was £123,000, while the house was valued at £110,000.
Ms Grimes said that it looked like she would have to pay to repair the damage because she had applied for the right to buy.
She said that she continued to pay rent since starting the application and is not the legitimate owner.
She added: “I no longer want to buy the house anyway.
“I already sent the district evaluator an email saying that I am pulling out because I have been waiting for so long. Plus, there are so many things that are just wrong with this house.
“I have sent them a letter to say that I am not going ahead, because I don’t think anyone in their right mind will buy a property where there is a leak.” A Nottingham City Homes spokesperson said: “Because she has a Right To Buy application currently in place, we have had to seek clarification into the nature of the repair required, and the status of her application. This has now been done, and we have arranged to replace her bath early next week.”
I am working in a hospital. Neither of us have had a shower or a bath in a week
Dalene Grimes