Members Liz and her neighbour Hugh worked together to win repairs from Hugh’s landlord so they could both live decent lives in their stair.
In Hugh’s flat, there was a huge crack in his ceiling, which started to collapse in November 2024. The landlord put up scaffolding in his kitchen a month later, and then two months after that eventually repaired the roof. Even still, repairs to his ceiling weren’t carried out for over a year.
Even worse, the landlord didn’t carry out repairs to the pipes, so Liz’ flat was flooded from above three times. One time, raw sewage was flooding into Liz’ flat, and the emergency plumber couldn’t stop the flood because the stopcock was so rusty.
Hugh’s landlord, DJ Alexander, refused to put down carpets or insulation between their flats, and hadn’t fixed the loose floorboards. Music played quietly in Hugh’s living room, drawers opening and closing, or any footsteps could be heard clearly from Liz’ flat.
Liz and Hugh know they both deserve better. All these issues caused Liz so much stress, Liz suffered from a mini stroke in May this year. Alongside fellow Newington members, Hugh and Liz negotiated with DJ Alexander, and won carpets, repairs to the floorboard, preventative maintenance to the pipes, so everyone can rest easy that flooding won’t happen again, and both neighbours can continue living in peace.
