A mum is at the end “of her tether” after living in a flat plagued with problems for half a decade.
Kirsty Downing has lived in a maisonette on Sedgley Walk in Huyton for five years. Since moving to the two-floor property she has been plagued with problems that have started to take its toll on Kirsty and her four-year-old daughter.
The mum said that she has contacted her landlord Livv Housing on several occasions asking them to rectify the situation. The drainage in the flat overflows regularly and Kirsty said that faeces come up through the pipes into her toilet, bath, and, kitchen sink.
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Kirsty told the ECHO: “Because I live in a maisonette it means that when anyone upstairs gets a blockage so do the people downstairs. Last year faeces overflowed onto my bathroom floor… It was dripping down my walls.
“It is causing damp and I still have mould on the walls so my wallpaper is falling off, my cupboards are falling apart, and when you open the doors in the kitchen you can smell the damp.”
Kirsty said that every time the drains overflow she has to get rid of bathroom mats, toothbrushes, and even curtains, otherwise the smell lingers. The worst incident happened in October last year when her kitchen sink coughed up human waste. The mum also said her daughter has started to get sick.
Kirsty, 38, said: “When my daughter was born she did not have anything wrong with her but now she has asthma. I think it is down to the mould and human faeces that is still in the walls.
“Livv Housing has not replaced the lino flooring in the bathroom so it is still underneath. If you shut the bathroom door overnight and open it in the morning it smells awful.”
Kirsty has tried to move house but so far has been unable to be placed in accommodation by Livv Housing. The mum-of-one said that she is now at the end “of her tether” and does not know where to turn.
She said: “My very last option is walking out of this house and giving my daughter to her dad because she can’t live here. But I don’t want to do that because I have got responsibilities and I don’t want to take that way out.”
Tony Cahill, Executive Director of Property at Livv Housing Group, said: “We last completed repairs to the drains at this customer’s home in February 2023. Since this date, we haven’t received any further reports of drainage issues.
“We’re aware that further internal repairs need to be carried out to the home and have attempted to undertake these on three occasions since April this year. Unfortunately, we’ve not been granted access. We’ve arranged a fourth appointment for Monday, October 16, and hope that any issues can be resolved then.
“An independent survey of the property was carried out in November 2022 and did not identify any damp. However, our customers are our priority and we will arrange a further visit to the home to investigate if issues remain.”
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