Video shows disabled man forced to slide down stairs at city apartments

Litmus Building, disabled, Litmus Building disabled

A disabled man is being forced to slide down four flights of stairs sitting on a carpet every time he wants to leave his home because of broken lifts in an apartment block.

Footage posted online shows Omar Hassan having to abandon his wheelchair and be helped down at the Litmus Building in Nottingham.

Another resident filmed the uncomfortable journey earlier this week as part of protests against the management firm running the building.

A group of people living there say communal areas and facilities are not being kept up to scratch and have formed a Facebook group called ‘Litmus Building – Fight Back’, which has 240 members.

The company, Living City, says it is doing all it can to get the lifts fixed at the Huntingdon Street building.

But some residents say some people are virtually housebound and are refusing to pay rent until the repairs are carried out.

Video: Friends and neighbours help Omar down the stairs

Mr Hassan, who has heart problems, said: “I’ve stayed twenty days in my flat. It’s bad, very bad.”

The premium apartments are popular with foreign students and working professionals, with some people paying around £700 a month.

Another resident, Julia McGrath, who witnessed Mr Hasssan’s plight, has joined the calls for the firm to do more.

“He was seated on the stairs and he was pulling himself down the staircase,” she said.

“He explained to us in broken English that he had problems with his heart and hadn’t been able to leave the building.”

In some cases individual landlords maintain the interiors of the flats but the communal services like lifts are the responsibility of Living City.

Litmus Building Nottingham

Picture: Facilities at The Litmus Building have been under fire before

In a statement, the company said: “The lift issues are serious and cannot be repaired by routine repair and maintenance.”

It added it had drawn up a refurbishment plan for the lifts, but the costs involved meant it had to start a legal consultation with individual apartment landlords in June when some lifts were still working.

This was still ongoing last month when the third and final lift also broke down.

According to the firm, it successfully applied for legal permission to start emergency repairs at once, but more problems were found when work started which have caused a delay.

Living City also said it has laid on extra staff to help residents carry heavy items up and down the stairs.

Notts TV News spoke to several residents last year who made similar complaints, when the building was being managed by a different firm.

Living City’s full statement can be viewed here.

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