Swinton mum-of-three driven to the brink of nervous breakdown over ‘uninhabitable and dangerous’ home

A mum-of-three claims the leaking kitchen roof of her Salford maisonette has rendered her home ‘uninhabitable and dangerous’ – driving her to the brink of a nervous breakdown.

Harwinder Kaur, 34, was unable to use the kitchen to cook for her children after water from the balcony above flooded through the ceiling of her home on Wyndham Drive in Swinton.  Workers from her landlord ForHousing have cut away the central section of the ceiling and placed plastic sheeting over the gap. But she claims water has continued to permeate through the roof and the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) saw pooled water next to electrical wiring when visiting her home.

“Since moving into this property six years ago it has been a living nightmare,” said Harwinder, who was made redundant from her job at a jewellery chain during the pandemic. “I have had mental health problems for which I have had to seek medical treatment due to the stress caused by the property and am currently still receiving it. I’ve been on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”

Harwinder claims the kitchen roof has been persistently leaking throughout the time she and her children have been living there.

“There is damp and mould throughout my kitchen and my living room due to the historic leak,” she said. “But despite the landlord sending out many different workers over the years to paint over the mould or to asphalt the balcony or put a new door on the balcony the problem has persisted and I have been living with this leak in my kitchen. I am having to constantly wake up to a flooded kitchen and having to keep buckets in two different places.

“During heavy rainfall – and we all know Manchester is notorious for rainfall – I am unable to use my kitchen facilities and with three children all under the age of 16 this is absolutely unacceptable and really difficult.”

She said that on Monday, August 14, a plasterer attended the property to hack off a three-square-metre area off the kitchen ceiling and had been told to then re-plaster and skim the ceiling.

Harwinder continued: “They turned my gas supply off and left myself and my children without any hot water and heating. Upon hacking off the ceiling the plasterer discovered rotten crumbling timber joists. He then told me he would contact his supervisor and make him aware the ceiling isn’t being properly supported and he cannot just plaster over as the rotten timber needs replacing.

“He then put a plastic sheet over the exposed part of the ceiling and an electrician taped up the light fitting and they left my property. The following day, another plasterer attended my property and said he wasn’t even willing to take down the sheeting as there is a live wire and the rainfall from Monday night had left puddled water running into live electrical wires.

“I have made numerous calls to ForHousing to make them aware of the risk to myself and my children and have asked to be rehoused temporarily whilst the ceiling is reassessed and fixed they have left myself and my children with water and live electrics in the kitchen. Should my children or I be electrocuted, I would like to make this known.” 

ForHousing’s executive director of homes Nigel Sedman told the LDRS: “There have been some historic issues with the water outlets within Miss Kaur’s balcony blocking and causing issues within her home and we would like to apologise for this. 

“We are currently carrying out work to repair the issues. Once the repairs are complete our team will return to decorate the affected area. We take the safety of our tenants extremely seriously and have visited Miss Kaur in her home to reassure her that the works involved do not pose a risk to her or her family and to ensure she has everything she needs to feel safe in her home. 

“We will visit the property each day to check on the progress of the works. We have spoken to Mrs Kaur today to update her and apologise for the issues.”