A mum from Slough has voiced her distress at waiting over a month for repairs to her toilet and bathroom.
Marie Ramsay, 43, lives in the Britwell estate with her two sons. She has long had issues with a leaking toilet at her two-bed council home in Brighton Spur.
Ms Ramsay said: “They cut out the toilet and flooring and left me without the flooring.
“They ripped up the lino, then said I’d have to wait until April to get it all fixed.
“There’s mould coming through to my kitchen ceiling continuously, it looks completely rotten. It comes into my living room as well, I’ve had to throw out two sofas because of it.
“There have been problems for years. It took the council three years to take my old toilet out.”
It is understood that the mould subsided after the old toilet was removed, but problems recurred.
Photos shared by Ms Ramsay on Facebook show the leaking toilet and exposed flooring.
At one stage, she claims she was left without the use of a toilet, which was eventually restored after Ms Ramsay called the council’s repair team.
She said: “They left me with a bodged repair. I’ve had enough, I’m fed up with it.”
After the issue was raised by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, action was taken to fix the bathroom.
The leak was stopped on Tuesday, March 12, with contractors refitting the flooring for the bathroom on Wednesday, March 20, according to a Slough Borough Council spokesperson.
Housing repairs in Slough are undertaken by the borough council’s partner Osborne.
Osborne was appointed to conduct the council’s housing repairs in a £100 million contract over seven years in 2017.
READ MORE: Council apologises for 'failing' to manage "unreliable" housing repair contractor
Last December, the council’s cabinet extended the contract from its previous expiry date in December this year by four months to March 31, 2025.
The decision was approved as the council is due to put its housing repairs and maintenance contract out for procurement this year.
The decision to extend the current contract with Osborne was justified as it allows for an effective transition, with any new contracts starting in the 2025/26 financial year.
Prior to the decision to extend, councillor Paul Kelly (Conservative, Haymill) lead member for housing, said that ‘customer satisfaction needed to improve’.
Welcoming a procurement process, cllr Kelly said: “By going out to procurement, we can look to get the best service for our residents, speed up some processes and give them more satisfaction with the service they receive.”
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