An understandably distraught local resident contacted me earlier today to ask for help after an electrical fire within her house.
Five weeks ago the fire started in her kitchen and caused a significant amount of damage which of course was in need of repair. The resident tells me that she tried contacting the Council, was promised a return call but she didn't hear back. She claimed her tenancy officer also was not proactive in dealing with her case. The kitchen was unusable, and with a young child this was clearly not a satisfactory situation for them to live in.
On hearing of this case I immediately contacted several senior officers in Croydon Council requesting an urgent review of her case and a plan of action.
Within a few hours I had the following confirmed:
- The Council's Repairs and Maintenance contractors will be in a position to commence works on the property on Monday 22 February 2021.
- It is estimated that the works will take 4 weeks to complete.
- They understandably cannot commence works with the tenant in the property so the Council is arranging for a placement into emergency accommodation for the duration of the works.
- I was assured a Council Tenancy Officer will make urgent contact with the resident to discuss the plan and make all necessary arrangements.
I'm really encouraged that the Council were able to respond so quickly and so positively after I brought the case to their attention - I am only sorry that it needed my intervention for this clearly difficult situation to start to be resolved. The resident had done everything right: contacted the Council and her Tenancy Officer, all to no avail. This is evidently not acceptable, and I can only imagine how many local people might be in a similar position but who don't think to contact their local councillors. If you or anyone you know need any support locally, please do reach out to us and we'll always do our best to help.
Photo by Aldo Prakash on Unsplash
