A housing association in High Wycombe has been slammed after one of its tenants revealed a huge hole in their ceiling has not been fixed since August.
Bob Bailey, and his partner, Sylvia, currently live in a Red Kite-owned property within the town and have admitted they are ‘frustrated’ with the ‘lack of help’ that has come their way.
This comes after the couple were told in the summer that their boiler needed replacing in time for the winter, but after it was fitted, a leak started to appear.
After notifying the issue and getting the leak fixed, they were then made aware of an asbestos situation which has prevented them from getting a six-foot hole in their ceiling repaired.
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They were then told that if they wanted to get the issue amended, they would need to pay out of their own money for their furniture to be removed, whilst also finding temporary accommodation.
Bob, 75, who has been with Sylvia since 2008, said: “We were told that the boiler needed replacing and the hot water cylinder needed to be checked.
“They replaced the boiler, took the tank out, checked the central heating, then put the tank back in, but that’s when the leak started.
“Then the plumber, who was fantastic, came out to see us and he fixed that with ease, as but said that there could be asbestos in the hole.
“We then told Red Kite about this and they us ‘it was our problem’ and that we had to pay for all the furniture to be moved.
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“We couldn’t believe it as we didn’t even ask for the boiler to be changed – we were just told it was happening.”
“They’ll fix the hole but we’ll have to move out and pay for everything to be moved, even though it wasn’t our fault.
“I’m disabled and she has severe anxiety.
“She has been crying about this and we feel we’ve been shafted.
“They’ve admitted to their blame but we’ve been told to pay for our furniture to be moved.
We’ve got sideboards, a television, a table, a corner unit, a coffee table a couple of settees.
“It shouldn’t be our problem as we didn’t cause it.”
Red Kite has since responded by saying: “We’re sorry about the delay in the work fixing the ceiling at our tenants’ home.
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“As the ceiling contains asbestos, firstly we ensured that the area was safe and that the home remained habitable by carrying out an air test and removing any areas of the ceiling that were of concern.
“Following this, we wanted to remove the whole ceiling and replace it, which is a bigger job that requires planning with multiple contractors to complete.
“However, we have now spoken again with the tenant and agreed to patch repair the hole, which is their preference.
Where Red Kite is based
“Our asbestos-licensed contractor has confirmed that this is safe to do, and we are now looking at a mutually acceptable date to carry this out.
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“Ordinarily we would expect tenants to clear a room ahead of any works taking place, but clearly this wasn’t possible for these tenants and a different approach was needed.
"We will be looking further at this case to see what learning can be taken and to avoid similar issues in the future.”
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