I’ve had a continuous leak for the past three years which has rotted my kitchen

A WOMAN has been battling a nonstop leak for almost three years – but instead of helping, her landlord has raised the rent.

Louise Phillips empties a pot of dripping water every half hour at her home in Epsom, Surrey, where the kitchen is rotting and the toilet is sinking into the floor.

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The ceiling first collapsed in August 2019 and social housing tenant Louise immediately reported it to her housing provider, L&Q.

But nothing was done for the next 31 months, forcing Louise to live in deplorable and dangerous conditions.

Then, in March 2022, she received a letter informing her that the rent for her apartment would increase by 4.1 percent — the maximum increase allowed by the government.

That means Louise will be paying an extra £20 a month from April while she waits for the problems to be fixed.

said Louise ITV News: “You don’t feel human. We live in inhumane conditions.

“I’m in a house that’s basically falling apart. I can’t do anything either.

“If you don’t pay for it, you have nowhere to live, right? So you have to do it.

“I know other things are happening at the moment, poor people, but it’s not pretty.”

A spokesman for L&Q, one of the UK’s largest housing associations, apologized to Louise for the “unacceptable” living conditions and said he was willing to re-accommodate the family while the repairs were carried out.

Gerri Scott, Executive Director of Customer Services, added: “We deeply regret the unacceptable living conditions at this home.

“We have apologized to Ms Phillips and agreed to accommodate her temporarily whilst the work takes place at her home.

“An order for a new kitchen and bathroom was placed on February 2nd and we have been tracking the contractors to find out the estimated timeframe.

“We will send someone to fix the toilet as soon as possible.

“While there was some difficulty contacting the resident to get things sorted, that doesn’t excuse how long it took to get things sorted and we will be conducting an investigation to see how we are dealing with this.” could have handled the situation better.

“We will keep Ms Phillips informed as we work to resolve the issues urgently.”

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