A CLACKMANNANSHIRE Council tenant has had enough of the repairs team as his leaking roof has still not been fixed after two years.

Alloa man Stuart Brand, 44, who lives on the top floor of a council tenement with his two daughters, says water has been coming through the roof for years, completely ruining one of his walls.

Many came and many tried; the issue is still present despite the fact that numerous contractors have already signed the job off as complete.

The coach driver has lived in the council flat for more than a decade and damp patches with mould have started growing on one of his walls more than two years ago.

Mr Brand said: “I decorated it and noticed the paint started peeling. They did fix some of it, it used to be right the way along the top of the wall and there's three patches that have been fixed… but it's just persisting with this one patch.”

He explained that cracks started appearing on one side of the block around eight years ago and he had insisted the council sends a surveyor to check. He said the surveyor found that the building had moved and tilted towards one side, but stopped.

He added: “The problem probably is – this is just another crack up there and it's too small for them to detect, but it's enough for the water to get through. That's my opinion.”

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser:

Clackmannanshire Council says it completes around 20,000 repairs a year and most jobs at its around 5000 properties are completed on time with no problems. It also said that emergency repairs are usually attended in under two hours and non-emergency jobs are usually done in six and a half days.

According to the council, The Scottish Housing Regulator's Landlord Report on the Social Housing Charter shows that its repairs performance compares well with similar landlords, with the latest independent survey showing that 91 per cent of tenants are “satisfied” with the overall service.

But, a spokesperson added: “However, a small number of jobs do not go as planned for one reason or another.

“We can only apologise to Mr Brand for the inconvenience he has experienced and have arranged to visit him next week, when a full assessment will be made and appropriate remedial action will be carried out.”

Mr Brand continued: “It's the way they handle it that's annoying me. They say 'it's been done, it's getting done, we'll get this done, we'll get that done'. And then we phoned up a couple of times to ask what the progress is about the job, they told me that it's been signed off.

“So somebody has got back there saying 'aye, don't worry about it, it's done'. I tried and I tried and I tried, but in the meantime, that damage up there is getting worse and worse and worse.

“They keep sending the wrong people, guys will turn up and say 'I'm here to repair your roof, I'll have a look at your roof', then they'll just go 'that's not for me, I'm a slater, we need to get somebody in that's specialist in felt flat roofing'.”

He said the last time someone came to fix the roof was in March, but the wet patch is not drying at all, in fact, it has been growing bigger. He added that he would love to decorate the flat, bring it up to date, but there is no point in bringing a plasterer in if the wall is getting damp.

As a coach driver, Mr Brand is often away for longer periods on tour. He said: “I've maybe not paid my rent for a couple of weeks until I got home. They are not slow in chapping the door or phoning you – 'You are behind a week's rent'.” But he says the repairs team is not so fast when it comes to responding to his issues.

He added: “I'm paying full rent on a property that's not being kept up.

“I could pick up the phone and contact them any time, but there is no guarantee they will send out the right person. The chances are, probably, they would send out the wrong person as they have done 99 per cent of the time before.”