‘I just want to live my life,’ says emotional caller trying to get home repairs sorted for over eight years
11 November 2022, 18:56
This caller explains her exhausting experience with social housing.
This caller was reduced to tears while explaining her "exhausting" experience of trying to get repairs sorted for her "uninhabitable" social home.
A tearful caller told LBC's Tom Swarbrick she just wanted to “live her life” amid a long drawn-out battle over repairs of her home.
Anna in Hackney said: “My disrepair I’ve been dealing with has been going on for eight years - it's nearly a quarter of my life now.”
She explained that the “whole roof is covered in mould”, which has reached the timber structure itself.
An independent surveyor that she found through a solicitor visited the property and the Hackney resident said he was “absolutely shocked” by how “shoddy” the workmanship was.
“I’ve been to court twice…I’m exhausted by it,” she said.
Anna said she felt her housing association was “not fit for purpose”.
This conversation comes during an ongoing social housing problem in the UK, with tenants complaining to landlords of mould continually growing on walls.
She continued: “No one knows how to run anything, no one talks to each other. They are on incredible salaries - the CEO is on £450,000 a year.”
“What?!” Tom asked in shock.
“Yeah…it’s just ridiculous,” she replied.
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'I have been into so many houses not fit for animals let alone humans!
Anna continued: “I have ADHD and autism, and I have to work at home, and my home is covered in damp, mould, it’s been labelled unfit for human habitation for three years.
“I care for my elderly dad, but it’s been such a toll on my health that I can’t look after him properly”, she said through her tears.
Anna added that she has had scaffolding outside her home since September 2020.
“Oh Anna”, came Tom’s response, clearly moved. “I honestly don’t know where you get your strength from.”
Tom concluded: “That is absolutely outrageous, we can all hear the toll that it's taken on you…That is absolutely outrageous!”
