Family wait in vain for roof repairs

Kristian and Leanna Robertson took the drastic step to move Adam, ten, and Alisha, five, out of their bedrooms and join them in the emergency night-time arrangement.

Alisha is sharing a mattress with her pregnant mum and dad or sleeps on a sofa in their lounge.

Adam kips down in the family dining room.

Mr and Mrs Robertson, 27, have been snatching a few hours sleep when they can in the lounge since January.

"We are very fed up with the situation," said Mr Robertson.

"We are not getting anywhere in getting the repairs done.

"My wife, who is six months pregnant, has suffered a couple of bleeds already and I'm worried she is becoming really stressed because of the situation.

"She suffered a miscarriage last year but no one seems to want to know about us."

The couple moved into their Arun District Council two-bedroom terraced maisonette in Tamarisk Close about eight years ago.

But their problems started last September.

The ceiling in the couple's bedroom began to leak because water was pouring in through the tiled roof above.

A repair was made to the ceiling but Mr Robertson claimed the leak soon re-started. At one stage, the gathering water caused the ceiling to bulge like a fruit bowl.

Mr Robertson, 28, punched a hole to release the water rather than wait for the ceiling to be pulled down by the excess weight.

Another visit from a maintenance contractor left a gap in the ceiling about the size of a dining table.

A new piece of board was fitted to fill it. But Mr Robertson said recent heavy rainfalls, such as that of last Wednesday and Thursday morning, had seen 5cms of water gathering around the edges of the board.

He has moved much of the furniture out of the room to stop it becoming damaged after the dripping rain stained some items when it took off some of the replacement Artex material.

Equally alarmingly, the ceiling in his daughter's bedroom has also started to become stained in recent weeks to indicate the roof above had begun to leak.

"I'm not letting my daughter sleep in a room like that," he said.

"Each time, the person who came out to repair the ceiling said they were sure the problem had been solved but they could not be 100 per cent sure.

"The district council came round last Thursday and said it would be another six to eight weeks before they could get the problem solved.

"And even that might not be the answer because they think it's an ongoing situation.

"I've made hundreds of phone calls and spoken to at least 50 people about it.

"We are stuck between the repair people telling us to contact the council and the council telling us to speak to the repair people."

Mr and Mrs Robertson want to move to a bigger property. Arun has acknowledged their current home is inadequate.

But they were told last September they were among more than 1,000 others bidding for each three-bedroom property which became available.

An Arun spokeswoman said: "Mr and Mrs Robertson have lodged a complaint with the council, which is currently being investigated.

"As part of this investigation, a senior council officer will meet with the family on Friday to discuss their issues.

"The couple have reported a leak in their roof which is being addressed and will be repaired.

"While this complaint is ongoing the council cannot comment further on the case."

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