Grenfell resident ‘treated like a troublemaker’

A NURSE who lived at Grenfell Tower said she was treated like a “troublemaker” when she complained to officials about the state of her home, she told the inquiry today.

Betty Kasote, who had a flat on the seventh floor of the west London tower, faced a string of problems in the years before the 2017 fire, including water leaking through her ceiling.

She was left with a boiler partially blocking her hallway after the building was refurbished, and said workmen carrying out the upgrade broke her furniture while rushing to finish.

Ms Kasote said she lodged complaints with Kensington and Chelsea’s Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), but they often did not respond.

“When I first moved in, the TMO would respond much quicker and were generally nicer and more responsive. As time went on, I felt that interactions with the TMO became much worse.”

When trying to get the water leaks fixed, she spoke to a complaints officer who was “very abrupt and short”, she said. “It was like she was angry with me that I was making a complaint. I felt like they thought I was a ‘troublemaker’ because I had been making complaints about these leaks but I was incredibly stressed, had to take time off work, and the TMO did not seem to be doing anything else about it.”

The inquiry into the fire which claimed the lives of 72 Grenfell Tower residents on June 14, 2017, is now hearing from a string of homeowners who made complaints.