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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Alison Rennie

Scots tenant 'doesn't feel safe' and is stuck living in one room after leaking roof caved in

Renfrewshire Council has blamed a high number of jobs over Christmas for not fixing a tenant’s leaking roof.

The ceiling in Yvonne Cochrane’s bedroom caved in at the end of October after water leaked through the roof.

An temporary repair was carried out and a housing inspector told her the work would be finished in early December.

But almost two months later, it’s still not been done and Yvonne said living out of one room and the stress of the damp has affected her mental health.

She said: “The housing inspector came out and told me scaffolding would be put up on December 6 to clean all the mess of the guttering. I’ve lived here 17 years and the guttering has never been done.

“The sixth came and went and no one came at all. The other date I was told was December 21 to repair the ceiling.

“I got a phone call to check I would be in but I told them not to bother. They’ve not fixed the roof yet so there’s no point fixing the ceiling. The walls are wet, if you put any pressure on them they cave.”

Yvonne has lived in the two-bedroom upper-floor flat on Glenburn Crescent, Paisley, for the last 17 years. She is a Renfrewshire Council tenant along with one other resident of the four-in-a-block.

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She said roof tiles blew off seven years ago and claims a repair done by Renfrewshire Council hasn’t fixed the problem.

The exterior of Yvonne's property in Glenburn (Andrew Neil)

Yvonne, 50, has epilepsy and lung condition COPD and said the conditions she’s living in are making her physical and mental health worse.

She said: I don’t feel safe. All my stuff smells of damp.

“I am a vulnerable person and this has really been getting me down.

“My back bedroom furniture is in my living room so I’m stuck in my bedroom. I’m living out of one room at the moment.

“They need to get it fixed or get me a new house.”

A Renfrewshire Council spokesman apologised for the delay in the work being done.

He said: “The roof was repaired in 2013 and leaking gutters repaired in 2019.

“As soon as this recent incident was reported to us, our housing repairs team responded immediately, carrying out an emergency repair on November 3.

“A housing repairs officer then visited the tenant to consider the further repairs required and these are scheduled to take place as soon as possible, with scaffolding being put in place next week.

“Unfortunately this was initially delayed due to the volume of work over the festive period and we are sorry to the tenant for the delay and the impact she has felt from this.”

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