TENANTS claim that botched council attempts to refurbish their homes have left them in an even worse state than before.

In June and July of last year services company Mitie, who were contracted by Redbridge Homes, carried out renovation work to at least 12 council properties in Purleigh Avenue, Woodford Green, and surrounding streets.

The work was carried out to bring the homes up to the Decent Homes Standard set by the last government to ensure that council properties have reasonably modern facilities by 2012.

However, immediately after the work was completed problems sprang up, with residents claiming that their bathrooms and kitchens were left flooded, appliances wrongly fitted and furniture wrecked as part of the botched refurbishments.

They say that for over seven months they have repeatedly asked Redbridge Homes to repair the damage but nothing has been done and are they are now preparing to petition the council to take action.

Anthia Weekes, 32, lives in a three bedroom council flat in Purleigh Avenue with her three children, aged 15, 12 and 10.

She said: “When the workmen finished they damaged a pipe and the kitchen flooded with water.

“The woodchip in the cupboard in my kid’s bedroom was damaged by the water and the shelves fell off. It could have fallen off and hurt my daughter.

“They fixed the pipe but the new washing machine they fitted floods the kitchen with water every time I try to turn it on.

“It is a total mess. It has been months now and nothing has been done to sort this out.”

Her friend, Michelle Waldron, 41, lives in a council house in nearby Moreton Gardens with her four children, aged 18, 13, 11 and 7.

She said: “They came last June and did up the kitchen and bathroom but damaged a pipe. It went one day and the water came pouring down through the ceiling.

“When I said the pipe was damaged they first said it was not them.

“The ceiling is just brown plaster now. It has to be painted over again but I have not heard anything back from Mitie.

“In the bathroom they put a new heater on the wall but put in on upside down so it is impossible to switch it on. With kids in the house you need a heater in the bathroom.

“I prefer how it was before.”

A Redbridge Homes spokeswoman said: "Mitie have carried out almost 200 improvements to homes and the satisfaction from residents following surveys on completion of the work is 97%. We do not comment on individual cases however, we know there are some jobs where errors can be made.

"We take all complaints seriously and work with our residents to resolve them as quickly possible. Mitie, like all of our contractors, work with residents to ensure any complaints are investigated and where upheld, repairs are made. Mitie is one of three contractors in our Decent Homes framework."

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