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Grandmother's life is hell after a four-year water leak

BBC Wendy Hinton, a woman in her early 70s, looks into the camera. She has short white-grey hair, wears a striped top and thin metal-rimmed glasses. Behind her chair you can see a water-damaged wall, an orchid and an interior door that leads to another room.BBC

Wendy Hinton's apartment is plagued by mold and sagging ceilings

A grandmother who has had water flowing through her ceiling for four years says the leak has made her life “hell.”

Wendy Hinton, 72, said she loved her flat in Churchdown, Gloucester, but the leak coming from the flat above had caused mold and sagging ceilings and meant her grandchildren could no longer visit.

Ms Hinton has resorted to wearing bin bags to bed after the water “came straight down on her” and said: “Life is very hard because I never know what I'm going to wake up to.”

Bromford Housing, which owns the building, said independent investigations were pending after an issue in the above-mentioned apartment was “resolved”.

Water drips from the white ceiling of an apartment. The wall in the room has seen better days after the leak and looks half plastered. The inner door to the room is open.

After electricians checked the damp wiring, they found 22 faults that were linked to the water damage in Ms Hinton's home

Ms Hinton is the tenant of her property and said the other apartments in the building were rented by the housing association.

“I had a problem with water coming in through walls, windows, ceilings etc,” Ms Hinton said.

“My grandchildren can’t come up because it’s not a safe place.

“One night I was lying in bed and the water just came down. I ended up wearing black bags over me to stay dry.”

“It was a family home and everything was taken away from me.”

A young woman, possibly in her late teens, with long black hair, and a middle-aged woman with blonde hair tied in a bun, sit side by side on a sofa covered with a black plastic trash bag. The couple, mother and daughter, look worried as they look off camera.

Ms Hinton's daughter Laura (right) and granddaughter Chloe (left) said it broke their hearts to see her like this

A plumber told the family the problem came from the apartment above, and after electricians came to check the damp wiring, they found 22 faults due to the water damage, Ms. Hinton said.

She now lives in a trailer as her family fears for her safety.

Her daughter Laura said her mother was unable to cook or shower in her apartment.

“I have six children and there is no room for them,” she said.

“It should be something we can dream up and enjoy, but we can’t. Christmas wasn’t that great either.”

“It’s not nice to see my mother being treated like that, it’s really unfair.”

Bromford Housing said it had met Ms Hinton on a number of occasions and resolved an issue in the flat above which affected her bathroom last September.

The housing association said it had found no evidence of leaks or structural problems but would resolve any issues identified through the forthcoming independent investigations.

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