CLACKS COUNCIL has apologised to a tenant who has been left “sick and tired of having to fight” over maintenance issues.

Ms Fiona Conaghan says she has been left with “no faith” in the abilities of the local authority after errors made in maintaining her property on James Pollock Court, Tillicoultry.

Issues started to arise earlier this year when she began hearing a noise coming from her attic.

It soon transpired that the noise was coming from the home's ventilation system, which according to the manual required annual maintenance.

The council had not maintained the system since it was installed in 2016 and Ms Conaghan fears the air coming through filthy filters could be causing untold damage to her and her partner's health.

The tenant claims that when she contacted the council about the issue and officers paid a visit, they stated they did not know the homes had the system installed.

This prompted Ms Conaghan and her partner to alert neighbours to the issue in a letter and the very next morning, council staff also delivered letters to residents there.

Ms Conaghan accused the council of trying to discredit her in front of neighbours in the letter by saying maintenance had not been done due to Covid, the council later disagreeing in a complaint response that this contained incorrect information.

An instruction booklet in her tenant pack made clear the system requires annual maintenance, including the replacement of the filters.

Ms Conaghan also raised a concern over air quality tests which were carried out over two visits, the council saying in a letter that one visit would have been preferable, but this did not compromise the results.

Meanwhile, according to Ms Conaghan, the servicing of the systems began for neighbours, but the filters were merely being hoovered as opposed to replaced as per the instructions.

She said she raised the issue and repairs stopped.

Concurrently, Ms Conaghan had another bout with the council over inspections of electrical equipment, arguing they required inspection in 2021 as guidance on testing changed to be required every five years, as opposed to the previous 10.

In a complaint response to Ms Conaghan, a council officer wrote: “We fully accept that the VentAxia Sentinal Kinetic [ventilation] system in your home has not been serviced in the specified timescale and we appreciate that this is a matter of concern to you.

“Whilst we do not believe that this presents a threat to your health and wellbeing, we have taken steps to bring in experts to carry out tests so we can all be sure of the facts.”

Another complaint response added: “I am sorry for the stress, frustration and anxiety felt by you and your partner as a result of this situation and can assure you that we take our failure to service the MVHR unit extremely seriously.”

The unit in question works to reduce relative humidity and reduce heating demand.

The Advertiser put all claims and letters to the council, asking if it would refute any of them.

A spokesperson said: “While we are unable to comment in detail about an individual tenant, we have apologised for errors which have been made.

“We remain in contact with the tenant and work is continuing to rectify the issues."

Ms Conaghan told the Advertiser: “We have been let down and the council obviously has given no regard to the fact that we and the other residents are breathing in air which is coming into our homes through filthy filters, this could be causing untold damage to our health yet the council have failed to get it right every time.

“I am sick and tired of having to fight with them to get things done correctly and I shouldn’t be having to be doing this.

"It’s their job to manage the properties correctly, not mine.”