Roof leak in Dagenham mother's roof 'like an open tap'

Sinead Hedley lives at Raven Court in Dowletts Road, Dagenham, and her sister, Carlene Hedley, said the roof has been damaged since storms on Boxing Day, 2021.

Carlene says a temporary repair was made on Sinead's bedroom ceiling that month by her housing association, Home Group.

Sinead's ceiling leaking due to the weather and despite the temporary wood fix on October 20 (Image: Sinead Hedley)

But she claims that despite five workmen coming out on separate occasions since, the cause of the problem is still not fixed.

Carlene said Sinead is a vulnerable tenant who has two children, including a two-year-old.

Carlene added: "With the terrible rain that we're having, it's like an open tap in her bedroom. I rent properties myself and I would never leave someone like that in that situation.

"I just want them to fix the roof. I'd rather not get to this point but I feel like unless you make some noise, nothing's going to happen."

Home Group said its first record of attending and putting in a temporary fix is from March 2022, which it said was installed correctly as per guidelines.

Louise Barkes, head of responsive maintenance at Home Group, said: "We are aware of issues with a customer's roof at Raven Court and since March 2022 we have carried out two temporary repairs, with further work needing to be done.

"That work is both costly and complex, requiring it to go through an internal review. While this took time, authorisation was gained just last week and we hope to be on site to help our customer very soon."

Home Group said it was notified of a further leak on August 26 and attended to carry out another temporary fix on September 4. When there, it said the contractor identified the larger issue related to some slipped roof slates that require a cherry picker to fix and is complex maintenance work.

Louise added: "Ensuring our customers have a safe, comfortable home is very important to us and we hope to have these repairs completed as soon as possible."