Caught in nightmare
Walls covered in mould
A Spittal woman caught up in a battle with South Lanarkshire Council over a leaking neighbour’s flat has described her ordeal as a nightmare.
Andrea Cunningham lives below a council rented home on Dunure Drive where the upstairs occupant regularly floods the bathroom.
Their actions have caused the 53- year- old nothing but misery since she returned from her holiday in Turkey in July.
Andrea, who bought the flat and has stayed there for nine years, found her bathroom light and fan leaking while the water from upstairs had left her kitchen walls mouldy and smelling of damp.
She said: “It’s a total nightmare. I phone them [the council] three or four times a week.
“I was away in June in Turkey and came back and burst into tears. The lights and the fan in the bathroom were dripping with water like a tap had been left on upstairs. My mat in the bathroom was all mouldy and I’ve ripped up all the carpet in the hall.
“I phoned the out of hours council straight away and they said: ‘ It’s 4am in the morning, I’m not getting anyone out their bed, it’s not life threatening.’
“Since then they’ve been mugging me off. They keep passing it on to someone else and I don’t know where to turn. People keep saying to me, if it was a council owned flat, it would have been fixed weeks ago.”
Andrea says she has always had a constant struggle with whoever lives in the block. Antisocial behaviour is rife in the surrounding areas and within the flats on Dunure Drive.
She often stays at her son’s home close by in order to get a good night’s sleep as she is regularly woken by the rowdy upstair’s neighbour.
Andrea insists a lawyer will be her next port of call if the council fail to fix the damage and refuses to involve her own insurance company in the matter.
Daniel Lowe, the council’s executive director of housing, confirmed SLC lease the flat directly above Andrea’s at Dunure Drive.
He said: “The council’s repair service have received three previous reports of water penetration into Ms Cunningham’s property from the upstairs flat. While operatives have attended and taken action in an attempt to remedy the situation, some problems have been experienced in gaining access and finalising the work.
“Most recently Ms Cunningham reported a water leak from her neighbour’s property on November 16, 2016. The council’s repairs service carried out an inspection of the flat, on the same date and found no evidence of a leak within the property. The council’s repairs service has been unsuccessful in attempts to contact Ms Cunningham to request access to her property to investigate this matter further.
“Should there be required repairs to Ms Cunningham’s property as a result of a water leak from a South Lanarkshire Council leased property, then these repairs would be carried out by the council. However, unfortunately, the council is unable to carry out decorative works as a result of any water damage.”