Southampton pensioner plagued by leaky ceiling in flat

Margaret Baxendale, 75, has lived at assisted living block Potters Court, on Wimpson Lane, for 16 months and just after three months of moving into her flat she had a leak.

Vistry took five months to repair a previous leak in the pensioner's living room ceiling and the works were finally completed in November last year.

Workmen had to rip out much of the pensioner's ceiling (Image: NQ) Reflecting on the fiasco, Margaret said: “It was awful – just awful. I had to put up with months of different engineers turning up all with different ideas about what it was.

“They pulled down the ceiling and my flat was in disarray for months. I was just so glad when it was over.”

This should have been the end of the 75-year-old's torment, until six weeks ago she noticed a small water mark on her kitchen ceiling – in the exact place it was before.

The watermark on the living room ceiling (Image: NQ) She added: “I could not believe my eyes – I had to look back at it about 50 times just to prove to myself I was not seeing things.

“It feels like pensioners like me just aren’t important to these big companies – they would rather leave me in disarray for months on end.

“The stress of getting the leak fixed has just taken such a toll – its not something that I want to go through again.”

READ MORE: Men charged after broad daylight jewellery burglary

The pensioner said that after speaking with the most recent engineer, she wanted to give Vistry the benefit of the doubt and was hopefully the latest issue would be sorted quicker.

A Vistry spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to hear that a leak has reoccurred in Mrs Baxendale’s home.

“After being made aware of this issue, we carried out a second investigation within a week.

“We are now carrying out further analysis and, as a responsible developer, we will promptly complete any remediation work that might be required.”