Colchester housing association slammed after single mum moved into damaged home
Sanctuary Housing has apologised for delays in making repairs
A local councillor has slammed a housing association after a single mother with three young children moved into a damaged property where no repairs were finished for months.
Councillor Lee Scordis told the LDRS the resident, whose identity is anonymous, found the property in a state of disrepair when she moved into the house owned by Sanctuary housing association earlier this year.
According to Cllr Scordis (Labour, Old Heath and The Hythe), the resident discovered broken glass, missing bannisters and damage to the bathroom, kitchen, radiators and flooring.
She was then put in temporary accommodation by Sanctuary Housing – but after three months she went back to the home and found no repairs had been done.
Sanctuary Housing has apologised for the delay and said work had now been completed and the tenant has moved back into the property.
The housing association also said the tenant had agreed to move into the property privately with the previous tenant and had inspected it herself.
A spokesperson for Sanctuary said in a statement: “After viewing this property privately, the current tenant agreed a mutual exchange with the previous resident and then moved in in March.
“We recently identified the additional work required in the kitchen when the floor covering was pulled up and immediately moved the family into temporary alternative accommodation so the work could be done.
“The work was completed on Friday (10 June) and the family moved back home on Saturday morning. We have also completed various other repairs and have already agreed to undertake further work later this month. We are sorry this has taken longer than expected to arrange.”
Cllr Scordis told the LDRS the damage had been covered up when the woman inspected the property.
He said: “When she moved in, the house was an absolute state. Bannisters were missing when she had small children, carpet was ripped up, there were holes behind the radiator, the bathroom was a mess, the shower was broken, the kitchen was outdated, the windows don’t open.
“When you move into a house, you want it to be nice and stress free and she had to move into a dump.
“There’s questions of firstly why were Sanctuary not inspecting this property regularly and disciplining the tenant who ruined their property and why did they allow someone to move into a s***”.
Sanctuary said that because the woman moved into the property by mutual exchange with the previous tenant, it was not involved in the initial process.
Cllr Scordis continued to say in his experience this was not an isolated issue, and claimed this is partly due to many large housing associations being based far away from the communities they serve.
He said: “They’re completely disconnected from the areas they cover. There’s a lot in Colchester that are based in London, it’s very rare for any to have offices in Colchester and understand the problems and regularly do a walk of their estates, understand the antisocial behaviour going on and so forth.
“They’re so disconnected and it’s an issue that’s been going on for far too long.”