Electricity issues, a broken cooker, draughts and leaks from the bathroom and other issues rumble on at a woman’s council flat in Reading.
Elaine Parry lives in Corwen Road, Tilehurst, in a one-bed flat provided by Reading Borough Council.
She first raised issues with her living conditions in her first-floor flat to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in 2021.
Back then, the walls of her bedroom, living area and bathroom were badly affected by black mould.
While the mould has been resolved, a series of problems are still outstanding.
Recently, she claimed her cooker isn’t working due to an electrical fault that is causing the power supply to trip out.
This means she has to resort to using a smaller cooker for her meals.
In the bathroom, she has complained about a draught coming from the window, and more importantly, a hole where the vent should be.
She has also claimed that she is unable to have enough hot water for a bath, meaning she can only take showers.
And on top of that, while she is thankful to the council staff for fitting a new toilet lid, there is a minor leak coming from the toilet.
Finally, one of the kitchen cabinet doors is not fitting properly, which means that it cannot be fully opened and gets in the way of the broken cooker.
Ms Parry said: “Sometimes I’m sitting in candlelight for hours, just waiting for the electricity to decide to come back on again.
“And they still say it was the cooker tripping the electrics, even when the cooker isn’t even on.
“I’ve been fed up with eating stuff on the little machine because I can’t use my cooker. It looks like a lovely cooker – it just doesn’t work.
“Last year, they didn’t give me anything else to use over Christmas. I had no cooking facilities, no heating – just hot water bottles and these big snuggly clothing to wear.
“When are they going to get their finger out and do something nice for me for a change?
“It’s not on, they are abusing me.
“They keep saying I’m a priority. Well, if they’ve made me a priority, then I’m the Queen of England. They’ve never made me a priority.”
The problems Ms Parry has raised will be resolved by the council’s housing department.
A council spokesperson said: “We are sorry Ms Parry is experiencing these issues.
“We can confirm that any issues reported to the council by the tenant up until January this year, including the toilet cistern referenced, have all been completed.
“We will be returning to assess the new issues raised this week and have sent the tenant details to this effect.”
