“It’s just like banging your head against a brick wall…“
Some of our sessions have been very animated with lots of discussions about how life is like for people in Southwark today.
Here’s just one encounter I’ve had during the time we have been going around local Halls.
The two women were writing slogans on a large piece of paper. One was drinking tea and talking to the smaller woman with a can of coke in her hand.
The tea drinker asked me if I was able to do anything to make the council do a proper job on repairs on her estate……
I talked with both of them about the arts project and said that we were here to help them share their stories. They both said they were happy to tell their stories but decided to just keep their names private as they were still in dispute with the council. So, the Tea Drinker asked to be named Mary and the Coke Drinker laughed and said she could be called Jo.
Jo said that she had been suffering from a leak that was damaging her flat. Water was coming through the ceiling of her bedroom and she had been complaining to the council for months about it. The leak began near the corner close to the window and had woken her up on the first night because of the noise of the dripping. She put a bucket down to catch the drips and that made an even bigger noise than it hitting the floor so she put a washing cloth in the bucket and that made it quieter.
The next morning her teenage sone went up to the people above and asked if they could do something about the leak. They said they had been trying to contact their landlord and were still waiting for a reply.
A neighbour told Jo that she should contact the council as they had an emergency line for leaks coming from above. She did that, wrote the job number for the repair on a post it note and stuck it on her fridge. She waited and waited, popped up stairs and chatted with the neighbour above and was shown a leaking pipe in the bathroom and the pool of water around the basin they were using to try to catch the water. The landlord had not responded to any of their calls.
Then the job Jo was monitoring on line was marked completed and she phoned up the council.
“I’m still suffering from the leak and the small damp patch has now grown to almost a quarter of the ceiling. What do you mean the job’s been completed? My neighbours up stairs are also desperate. Just come and fix the leak!”
At first she was told to raise another job which she did. Jo decided to persist and kept phoning the council up demanding to be told when they would be getting the job done. Finally, another person from the council admitted that they were not able to contact the landlord of the tenants above her and could not get that landlord to do the repair.
“So, the council must know who that so called “private landlord” is and their address – how can they not have that sort of information? They also must know who the letting agent is. The leak is damaging both properties, which means it is damaging the Council property! It’s crazy!”
Mary adds, “You should see the mess it’s made of Jo’s bedroom. Half the ceiling is now down and she had to get her son to switch off the lights at the electricity box because it was really dangerous with all that water getting into the wiring. It’s disgusting.”
So, the two of them were working on Jo’s complaints to the council and and had been talking to their local councillors and the local MP.
“I have been told lies, I have been expected to live in a growing mess, I don’t know if they will ever repair the leak and if they do, will they repair my ceiling? Who will compensate me for the damage to my things? I’ve lost time off work, had to buy new clothes and bedding. I’ve moved into the living room and sleep on the sofa now.”
“You see,” said Mary, “it really feels like there is nowhere to turn. I was all for the lot of us, you know neighbours and friends, clubbing together to pay a plumber to get the leak repaired, but we don’t know if that will just take away the leak, give the landlord and the Council the excuse to turn their backs on the issue and leave everyone who’ve been suffering in the lurch. What do you think?”
Mary said that she had been suffering from a whole string of problems with her flat. One big problem, really, and several other problems.
“The thing is, it doesn’t have to be a big problem for the system to break down. I can’t tell you how many times the council has told me to wait in for someone to come and fix something only to be let down by them not showing up. And then, when you try to find out why the workman didn’t come you are told they either did go and did do the repair… or they tried to gain entry and got no response at my door. Try telling these people that they have been lied to by their contractors! It’s like banging your head against a brick wall!. I’ve lost pay waiting for those so and sos, wasted my time online, on the phone, waiting, waiting.” I’m lucky if it gets done after the second failure to turn up and even luckier if the repair is any good!”
Both Mary and Jo agreed it was just like banging your head against a brick wall.
“The other thing is that my flat really does suffer from mould. Well, it’s us that suffer really, isn’t it – the flat is just where the mould lives. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to clean it off and treat it with sprays and other cleaning stuff, we’ve painted the antimould paint on it and we actually have two dehumidifiers. One that the council gave us a few years ago and a better one I bought in Argos.
There are five of us in the flat, me and my husband and our three teenagers, 13, 15 and 16. Two boys and a girl.
First the council told us that we were not airing the place properly, then that we were to expect it given the amount of washing we were trying to dry in the flat, then that there were too many of us, so we should expect some condensation. Apart from the dehumidifier and the occasional council worker or contractor who comes, sniffs the smell of mould in the air and leaves as soon as they can, we have had nothing useful or positive from the council. I mean, we can only keep the windows open in specific rooms as some of them open onto the public passageway in front of the flat. And in winter it’s cold enough at times without opening the windows. There is nowhere to dry our washing. If we hang it outside we are told not to do that as it’s a fire hazard and it’s not allowed anyway. There is nowhere for the washing to go! And as for the cheek of saying there are too many people in our flat. Would they ever give us a place big enough for our family? Really?
So, we all suffer from coughs, our clothes smell of mould, we eat and sleep it, and my husband is really suffering at times with his health generally and I know it’s to do with the mould. But somehow, it is all our fault – for being alive and trying to stay that way. No responsibility can be on the Council’s side. They are pure as can be and we are the problems.”
The two women not and repeat together, “ It’s just like banging your head against a brick wall.”