A single mum claims her family is being put in danger after her two-year-old son fell through floorboards twice in two months. Donna Milne, 30, moved into a basement flat in Aberdeen in February and says she has faced nothing but issues ever since.
She alleges the kitchen has flooded four times over the period. And although the floorboards have now been fixed and her son Kolbi was unharmed on both occasions, Ms Milne says he has been left terrified of drowning in his own home.
Ms Milne believes the family of three have had their mental health negatively affected by the living conditions in the rental property. She said: "I can see that none of us are happy right now. Nothing was done after the first time Kolbi fell through the floor – it took him falling in twice before the housing association sent someone to fix it."
She said she and her upstairs neighbour have suffered from repeat flooding that she claims is yet to be resolved. Most recently, the family had their Easter break spoiled by a 15-minute downpour of water falling into their kitchen on April 17. Ms Milne alleges Grampian Housing Association are reluctant to help.
The association said the cause of the flooding is yet to be confirmed and a full repair will be carried out once the reason has been established. It added that it takes the safety of its tenants seriously and all repairs to the property have been responded to promptly.
Describing her situation, Ms Milne said: "The flooding was immense but I couldn't get into the kitchen and start mopping before it stopped because the water was causing my lights to crackle and I was worried about an electrical fire. My repair company have been around to check out the roof but haven't actually done anything to fix the problem.
"On [April 17], an electrician came round but all he did was look at the roof and blame it on my upstairs neighbour's washing machine. However, my neighbours have been experiencing flooding in their bathroom too, and think the situation is because of faulty pipes throughout the building.
"They've supposedly changed their washing machine three times and are sure it isn't the problem. My landlord hasn't helped either – he said the building is 70 years old so I should 'expect it to need some repairs'.
"Personally, I think the property is dangerous but the association keeps telling me it's safe. I thought children falling through the floorboards and crackling lights from flooding would speak for itself but apparently not."
A spokesperson for Grampian Housing Association said: "While the cause of the flooding into the ground floor flat has yet to be confirmed as either pipework or from the occupier’s washing machine in the upstairs property we can confirm that it is not being caused by any faults in the roof.
"A temporary repair to fix the crackling lights has been made following the report of flooding. A full repair to the tenant’s satisfaction will be carried out once we have established the cause of the water ingress.
"The repairs to floorboards were in the hallway of the flat when these were reported as loose and are separate to the flooding issue. All repairs have been responded to promptly.
"As a responsible landlord, Grampian Housing Association treats the safety of its tenants very seriously and we are making every effort to identify the route of the problem quickly. While this may take a few days we are working with the tenant to ensure her concerns are addressed."
