A tenant in the Brooke House block in Basildon town centre has been experiencing problems with water leaking down from the flat above into her bathroom ceiling for over eighteen weeks now. The leaking water has put the light in the bathroom beyond use. At the time of writing, the leak has yet to be repaired. Eighteen weeks is way too long to wait for what in all honesty is probably not much more than a routine repair. The temporary fix, as you can see from the graphic above, was a sheet of plastic that was supposed to catch the water and divert it into the bath. That didn’t exactly work and the water went everywhere else instead.

The option of withholding the rent in a separate account to be paid when the repairs had been finally undertaken was considered but unsurprisingly, the rent account people at Basildon Council got arsey about it. What the rent account people at the council can’t seem to grasp is that the tenant has been paying for what has for the last eighteen weeks been substandard accommodation. If Basildon Council expect a tenant to cough up for a flat with a leaking ceiling that has more or less put the bathroom beyond use, what does that make them? The answer is it makes them a slum landlord!

The tenant has now been told she will have to be temporarily moved out. She is being given the runaround by the council regarding suitable temporary accommodation. She works in a kitchen so needs a clean uniform – being offered accommodation without a washing machine is a no no. She was also offered a room at the Hotel Campanile upon the A127. Without going into the grisly details, let’s just say the place has a bit of a reputation! Also, as the tenant owns a dog, a hotel room was patently unsuitable. At the time of writing, the temporary accommodation situation has yet to be resolved.

This grim reality is a million miles away from the sleek high rise apartment blocks that the leader of Basildon Council, Cllr. Gavin Callaghan (Lab), is salivating over. Existing residents in Brooke House get treated in a contemptuous manner because they don’t fit in with the ‘vision’ Callaghan and his mates have for a yuppie populated town centre. We’ve got a message for Basildon Council…we’re going to hold you to account for this…