Man pushed to his limits by 'three-year leak' in housing trust home
A man says he has been dealing with ‘months of mould’ following a three-year leak in his housing trust property.
Gareth Overton has lived in his Wrekin Housing Trust property on Ash Lea Drive in Donnington for over 30 years.
Following a particularly bad storm three years ago, the 54-year-old says he has been contending with a leak that is filling his home with mould and pushing him to his limits.
“It’s driving me crazy,” Mr Overton explained: “It’s been going on far too long and it’s really getting me down.
“I’ve had months and months of mould and damp and dripping. I’m visually impaired and I’m feeling really down and depressed, I’m stressed out by this every day of the week.”
Following the storm, Mr Overton’s bathroom ceiling developed a leak – he explained that at first it was small and almost manageable, but four months ago the problem became seriously concerning.
He said: “There was only one leak at first, and then all of a sudden there were multiple. It was the worst night of my life.
“One bucket wasn’t cutting it, it leaked everywhere, all over my floor and through to the neighbour below.
“I’ve been putting more buckets down but because of my vision, I keep tripping over them.”
Mr Overton claimed that The Wrekin Housing Trust, who look manage the property, have failed to properly repair the roof.
He said: “The roof hasn’t been right for over three years, all Wrekin Housing Trust are doing is patching it up and it’s not working.
“They’ve sent someone round to clean up the mould, and they’ve told me they’ll send someone to redecorate – but what’s the point in that?
“I’m sick of it. I don’t want to move, I’ve been here over 30 years and I’m really close to family and I like it here. But I can’t go on like this. I’m not sure what else to do.”
Emma Humphries, head of operational services at The Wrekin Housing Group said: “We are sorry about the issue that Mr Overton has experienced in his property, which has become worse following recent heavy rain. We have carried out extensive work to try and remedy the issue, however to address this fully, a full roof replacement is required.
“Our specialist contractors have been instructed to carry out this work as a matter of urgency starting next week. Our repairs team are also carrying out further temporary work to make the property watertight until the full roof replacement can take place.
“We always try and respond to all repair requests on the same day they are reported, but there are occasions when the problem needs more work, more investigation, or an external contractor to resolve it as has been the case with this matter.
“We do accept though, we have visited Mr Overton’s property more than we would normally hope to.
“We believe in providing good quality, affordable housing for all our customers and the maintenance of these homes is very important to us and to our customers. We maintain high levels of investment to fix issues, make improvements and to make them more energy efficient, all helping to tackle issues like this.”
