Woman slams Hackney Council after ongoing leak flooded flat

Oretia Dovies, a Hackney Council tenant living at the Provost Estate, said there has been a persistent leak into her living toom from her upstairs neighbour’s balcony since the start of this year.

The mum-of-two first reported the problem on January 5, before calling the council multiple times over the next two months every time the leak returned.

The council blamed a blocked balcony drain for the leak, and on February 22, a plumber was sent to clear the gully.

The leak started after water on her upstairs neighbour's balcony failed to drain (Image: Oretia Dovies)

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But Oretia says that when she returned home two hours after the “repair” had taken place, she found her living room “covered in water”.

Unsure what to do, she called out the London Fire Brigade, with firefighters succeeding in stemming the flow of water.

Hackney Council now claims it has finally resolved the leak for good, but Oretia says she is still stressed it could return due to the numerous failed repairs, and has even had nightmares about it.

She told Hackney Gazette: “It’s been an ongoing issue. I can see that they’ve mended the pipe, but I will just have to see how it goes.

“Hopefully it won’t happen again, but I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through the stress that I did.

“I’ve even had a panic attack about it. It’s just so stressful when you don’t really know what to do and then you call for help and no one really helps.

“I even asked them for temporary accommodation but they said I wasn’t entitled to it.”Oretia lives in her flat with her two children (Image: Oretia Dovies)

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Oretia says she is worried for the health and safety of her two children, aged 10 and 18, and has now submitted a formal complaint to the council.

Hackney Council has confirmed that between January 5 and February 22, it received at least four calls from Oretia about the issue – although she says she contacted them many more times than this - and sent out workers on eight occasions.

Oretia said that between two of these repairs, it “rained” in her home for a whole week in February.

On one occasion, Oretia came home to find her flat completely flooded (Image: Oretia Dovies)

Despite the leak returning multiple times, the council continued to action the same repairs in response – disconnecting Oretia’s living room lighting for safety and temporarily unblocking the balcony drain.

A spokesperson for Hackney Council said it was “highly unusual” for cleared drains to become blocked again in such a quick succession of time, and that they had kept Oretia “fully informed” throughout the process.

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They added that a new section of rainwater pipework was installed on February 26, and that they have received no further reports of leaks or blockages.

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, Hackney’s cabinet member for housing services, said: “We apologise to Ms Dovies for the delay in repairing the leak at her home."

He added: “A plasterer is due to go to Ms Dovies’ home on April 11 to repair the damage to the living room ceiling and we will arrange to redecorate the affected area if Ms Dovies wishes us to.”

Hackney Council has offered to re-plaster and re-paint the affected areas (Image: Oretia Dovies)

London Fire Brigade confirmed that it sent a fire engine to Oretia’s home on February 22 after receiving reports of flooding at a flat.