Strood pensioner says water leak ruined her home

71-year-old Jeane Armour worries it could happen again.   Oliver Leader de Saxe reports.

Transcript

00:00Just thinking about it, it's just, oh I don't know. I thought I was alright. But yeah, everything's

00:10just, my home's just ruined I think.

00:14How can you make a house a home when it keeps on flooding?

00:18That is the question that 71-year-old Gina Moore has been forced to confront after continued

00:25water leaks in her strewed apartment at Evelyn House.

00:30It's been two weeks since the worst one so far left the pensioner wading an ankle deep

00:36in water before housing provider Orbit put her up in a hotel.

00:41Well I think they just think we're nothing, and that's how I feel, and nothing. Like get

00:47on with it, pay out, you know, it's your responsibility, you've got home insurance, it's nothing to

00:55do with us. But it's their workman that's done it. It's their workman that hasn't done

01:01their job properly.

01:02The first thing you notice when you walk into Gina's flat is the smell of damp coming from

01:08the carpets, followed by the din of the dehumidifier, and the clothes piled up on every surface

01:15imaginable. Just over my shoulder on her bed you can still see damp clothes from two weeks

01:21ago, some of them still needing to be thrown out. Having lived here for 13 years and seeing

01:26this happen several times this year, this might be the last straw.

01:33Orbit say they did offer Jean temporary accommodation while they undertook repairs, but that she

01:39initially declined their offer.

01:42The housing group have apologised for any inconvenience caused, saying that the safety

01:47and wellbeing of their customers is a priority. Highlighting they helped to move her belongings

01:55and arranged to have her carpet professionally cleaned.

01:59But having happened three times already, Jean worries this won't be the last time a water

02:05leak will uproot her life.

02:07Oliver Leader, The Sacks, for KMTV in Strood.