'˜Fed up' Chichester pensioner's Hyde home floods again

June Rafferty, 75, pointing to some of the damage to her Hyde home in Chichester. Photo by Derek Martin Photography. DM17102446a.jpg

A leak saw June Rafferty’s bathroom flood for a second time last week and water pour through the floor into her kitchen below.

It has caused substantial damage, leaving her with two large holes in her ceiling.

Her Phoenix Close home is managed by Hyde, who she said had so far failed to property fix the issue.

“It’s disgusting, I’m not at all happy with how I’ve been treated by Hyde,” she said.

“I’m 75 and I’ve lived here for 23 years and spent a lot of money on my home.

“If they had fixed it properly two weeks ago there wouldn’t be all this damage to the ceiling, walls and kitchen.

She said Hyde refused to send out an emergency plumber when the first flood occurred.

“I was told ‘you’re lucky, it normally takes ten days but we’ll come out in five’,” she said.

When a workman visited several days later and stopped the leak said she was told the floor was ruined and ‘absolute mush’.

She said workmen then turned up unannounced last week without any ID, so she didn’t feel safe to let them in.

She was horrified when, on the morning of Thursday, October 19, she awoke to again find her bathroom and kitchen filled with water.

“I’m so fed up now. They say they will fix everything this week but who knows if they will,” June said.

Vicki Sanderson, head of responsive repairs at Hyde said the housing association always aim to provide the best possible customer service and have been trying to identify the issue.

“Our operative attended and stopped the leak at the first appointment and arranged a follow on appointment to repair the flooring and the boxing around the bath on October 18. Mrs Rafferty refused the operatives access to her home on that date,” she said.

“Unfortunately the leak returned on October 19. Two of our operatives were sent to the property on the same day and a member of our staff also phoned Mrs Rafferty to keep her informed of the situation and advised her to use the shower whilst the leak was fixed.”

“An operative will be attending tomorrow (October 25), with the aim of completing any outstanding works that are required.”