An 88-year-old Peckham woman says she’s endured a leak for roughly two years – with one council officer blaming Covid-19 for the delay.
Lillian Williams, who is totally deaf without her hearing aids, is terrified that the ceiling will fall in while she’s asleep and ruin her Clifton Estate home.
Her son, Nick Williams, has accused Southwark Council of “passing the buck” by blaming the pandemic – and says he’s considering legal action.
House-proud leaseholder Lillian, who has struggled to maintain her home since her husband died in 2021, said: “I have to keep the door shut because I don’t want to look at it.”
She says water pouring from above has ruined her bedding on countless occasions and that she has to cover the sheets with plastic.
“I can’t make it nice in case it all falls through,” she said. “I’ve already had to buy new pillows. I just want it fixed. There’s been all this mucking about, all this aggravation and sleepless nights,” she said.
Southwark Council was first made aware of water pouring from Lillian’s upstairs neighbour’s balcony back in 2021.
Although Lillian is a leaseholder, she says Southwark Council is still responsible for fixing the leak as it isn’t coming from her flat. She says her neighbour has been cooperative and also wants to see the problem fixed.
Her son Nick made complaints about the leak on four separate occasions between January and June 2022.
In an email, a council officer admitted that “regrettably, nothing further was done” despite his warnings.
Nick said he’d spent hours calling the council with no success: “Week after week we try the numbers they’ve provided and you’ll be on the phone for hours on end with no answer. And, in the end, it’ll turn off.”
A contractor reported fixing the leak in November 2022 but the Lillian’s family says it’s continued.
‘Council leaves deaf 87-year-old widow to battle flooding home on her own’
Seven months later, Lillian is still faced with a sodden patch that’s growing in size.
Explaining the delay, a council officer wrote in an email: “I can explain that the phased exit from the nationwide lockdown period (following the global Pandemic that began in March 2020), ended in July 2021.
“This left Local Authorities with a huge backlog of repair jobs that had been put on hold, as only emergency works had been allowed beforehand.”
Southwark Council has offered £275 compensation but Nick is unconvinced by the offer and the excuse: “This is going to have to go a bit further because Southwark Council are passing the buck saying it’s due to Covid.”
It’s not the first time Lillian has faced problems with her home. A separate issue last year saw her home flood six times – ruining her carpet and drenching her walls.
Southwark Council has been approached for comment.