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TENANTS living in one of Lochgilphead’s oldest buildings are demanding to be rehoused amid claims the walls are crumbling around them.
Twenty-two year-old Jade Cairney who lives in a downstairs flat at 27 Union Street said this week: ‘I want out of here. This building needs demolished.’
Miss Cairney’s upstairs neighbour Diane Rhodick says the squalid conditions she is living in is causing depression, and affecting the health of her three young children. She said: ‘This is one of the oldest buildings in Lochgilphead and it is rotten with dampness. There are spiders the size of a hand crawling out of the woodwork in my children’s bedrooms and they have to sleep with jumpers on.’
Mrs Rhodick said she was forced to contact the Citizen’s Advice Bureau after numerous complaints to social registered landlord Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) were ignored. ‘The wall in my living room caved in twice, and when ACHA finally did come out, workmen put a polythene sheet and fake padding on the wall and said it should be alright for another three years. We can’t live like this anymore. They have to move us somewhere safe.’
Diane Rhodick’s husband Matthew said ACHA told them the best way to deal with the dampness in their home was to keep painting the walls. ‘We’ve had a quote and it will cost £800 to paint, but we can’t afford that. ACHA won’t listen to us and we don’t know what else to do. They keep fobbing us off and won’t give us anymore points because we’ve got three bedrooms and they say we are adequately housed.’
Another tenant in the block of four, David Crawford blames the condition of his home on a bout of pneumonia he suffered last year. He said: ‘There is a hole in my living room wall and when my neighbour lights a fire, smoke billows out of it.
‘I’ve been complaining to ACHA for the whole nine years I’ve lived here.
‘The structure of this building is unsafe, the stairs are rotten and we shouldn’t have to live in conditions like this.’
However, Alistair MacGregor, Chief Executive of ACHA said the association made arrangements to carry out repairs to Mr Crawford’s property but were refused access. He added: ‘Mr Crawford continues to refuse entry stating that he wants a transfer to another house. The association may, shortly, have to legally take entry to allow the repairs to be carried out.
‘With respect to Mr and Mrs Rhodick and Ms Cairney, the association has no outstanding jobs listed against their homes but we will contact them to carry out an inspection.
‘The building at 27 Union Street was rewired three years ago and it will receive a new roof and new kitchens and bathrooms as part of ACHA’s ongoing investment programme.’
