Mum criticises Nottingham City Homes after double flooding and ceiling collapse

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Water caused the ceiling in one of the property's bedrooms to collapse

A mum has criticised Nottingham City Homes after her home was flooded twice in two days and a bedroom ceiling collapsed.

Rosalind Buchanan rents a Nottingham City Homes house on Royston Close in The Meadows.

She says she arrived home on Tuesday (October 31) to find water pouring into her kitchen and a bedroom from a leaking pipe in the loft.

A string of problems followed which she says were dealt with too slowly and inefficiently by Nottingham City Homes (NCH), which runs property on behalf of Nottingham City Council.

A plumber was called to the address to fix the problem but Ms Buchanan says shortly afterwards the ceiling in her daughter’s bedroom collapsed because of a second leak.

Ms Buchanan says she then received a phone call from an emergency plumber who refused to come to the house because of the risk the ceiling may contain asbestos. An asbestos removal team then arrived yesterday morning (Thursday), and the pipe was repaired.

The bedroom ceiling after it collapsed

Rosalind, 53, said: “I’ve only been able to sleep properly last night (Thursday) since it happened and it’s not helped having myasthenia gravis [a condition that causes muscle weakness and muscle fatigue] and it’s also affected my breathing before.

“Anything can flare it up, especially stress, a lack of sleep or repetitive things – I’ve had to up my medication because of all this.”

Recalling the moment she got home on Tuesday (October 31) to her home being flooded, she said: “It sounded like it was raining hard but it wasn’t raining outside.

“I opened the kitchen door and I couldn’t believe it when I saw water running down from the kitchen ceiling.

“Above the kitchen is my daughter’s bedroom – I went up, I could hear it even clearer and the room was absolutely sopping wet.”

Rosalind, who works as an administrator at West Bridgford Medical Practice, says she then phoned Nottingham City Homes, who told her to leave everything and the problem would be treated as an emergency.

Ms Buchanan said: “A plumber then came to the loft. Every crack in the house was just trickling with water – the shower switch as well was pouring.

“At that stage, I thought the damage has been done now and it needs sorting and I was concerned the roof in my daughter’s bedroom was about to collapse.”

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Inside the collapsed bedroom ceiling

“The next day (Wednesday November 1), one of the council men came out and said the bed did not look that bad so he propped it up against a window to dry and said ‘you can sleep on that tonight’.

“But the bed was sopping and the water that came down was yellow and I thought – who would want to sleep on that? He also banged the ceiling with a brush and said it would not collapse.”

Later that day she was lying in bed when she heard a thud.

She said: “I couldn’t look because I knew what it was.

“I got a phone call later that night asking if my ceiling was artex or smooth so someone could fix it and because it is artex, they told me it had asbestos in.

“And then I had to try and sleep knowing that I had touched it as well. The asbestos team came in the following morning (Thursday November 2) but I was the first call out and they did a terrific job in cleaning it all up.”

How the ceiling looks now

After the asbestos team removed the ceiling, another plumber was then called to the property.

Ms Buchanan said: “I’ve had to claim through my own home insurance because I don’t feel like I have treated me well considering I pay my rent.”

Director of Construction, Repairs and Maintenance Services at Nottingham City Homes Delroy Beverley said: “I have been made aware this case and I recognise any property related problem with your home can be concerning.

“As such, I have asked my team to visit the tenant again today and we will work with her to resolve the repair as soon as possible.”