Residents have complained about ongoing issues with the lifts at an estate in Homerton.
People living at Latimer House on Morning Lane were stuck without working lifts for two weeks.
A woman in her 80s, was reported housebound on the top floor unable to manage the 14 flights of stairs. As a result, she missed her son’s 60th birthday.
Latimer House resident Rachael, who preferred to not use her last name, told the Gazette: “Hackney Homes are taking their sweet time to do anything.”
She said she couldn’t sense any urgency from the council after contacting them repeatedly to sort the matter out and, on August 3, she reported one lift being “fixed” only to break down again three days later.
“It’s okay for me, fortunately I am fit and healthy and can manage 14 flights of stairs. Others can’t,” Rachael said.
She was concerned for elderly and pregnant people who struggled the most with the lifts being out of service.
On August 10, the council stated that one of the lifts was “in full working order” and available to use but the other was “currently out of use”.
A council spokesperson said: “We are working to get the broken lift repaired as a matter of urgency, and are checking the block regularly to confirm that the other lift remains in service.
“Ensuring the wellbeing of our residents is of the utmost importance, and we would like to apologise to the residents of Latimer House for this ongoing issue. We will continue to update residents as we get both lifts back into full working order.”
The council says one of the lifts has suffered a leak and must remain out of use to ensure safety for residents. It says water has been pumped out of the lift’s pit which has remained dry since the work was carried out.
Hackney council says it will be carrying out regular twice-daily checks on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to ensure there is no further water penetration.
Any issues occurring between the checks are supposed to be picked up by a 24 hour monitoring system which should notify lift contractors of a breakdown. They are then expected to attend the site to rectify the fault “as quickly as possible”.
The council estimates the lift will be back in service by about August 14.
The second lift, which is in operation now, experienced issues due to vandalism.
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