DELAYS in repairing a broken lift in an apartment block has forced a resident to unleash their fury at a housing association.

A tenant – who wished to remain anonymous – of Priory Heights in Buckingham Avenue, Slough, contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service saying they and other residents have lived without an elevator for about four weeks.

The seven-storey apartment block is run by Catalyst Housing Association, whose service has been described as “disgraceful”.

The company has previously come under fire from tenants after piles of rubbish and debris were left for a couple of weeks from fire risk assessment works earlier this year. This has since been cleared.

Piles of rubbish were reported at the apartment block earlier this year

Piles of rubbish were reported at the apartment block earlier this year

During the four weeks, the tenant said residents couldn’t get any grocery deliveries and young families struggled going up and down the stairs with pushchairs.

They said: “Going into the fourth week without a lift is absolutely disgusting, disappointing, and unprofessional.

“For a company like Catalyst leaving residents without help and support especially mothers with young children in prams and disabled people and charging us for this is unspeakable.”

READ MORE: Mountain of rubbish prompts anger from Slough tenant

They also said Catalyst should compensate the Priory Heights tenants for putting them through a “hard time”.

A Catalyst spokesperson said: “We are sorry the lift was out of action for so long. New parts had to be specially made for the lift, which partially accounted for the hold-up, and there were unexpected delays with the delivery of the parts and the scheduling of the repair work.

“Our contractor has now fixed the lift and we are reviewing our processes to ensure residents affected by such faults in future are fully supported.”

READ MORE: Construction of 429 Maidenhead homes finally begins

The spokesperson also said Catalyst is looking at compensation and are currently implementing a “raft” of improvements to its lift repair services, such as developing an early notification system to alert residents when a lift is broken and putting more robust measures in place to support vulnerable residents who need extra help getting up and down the stairs in such circumstances.

In “extreme circumstances,” Catalyst said they will look into placing temporary stairlifts and offering temporary accommodation if the lift is broken again.

The elevator at Priory Heights is due to be surveyed again during the next few weeks, the spokesperson added.