A mother-of-four has been left "emotionally destroyed" because a housing company has not carried out urgent work requested on her home. Ellesse Walters says wind-damaged fence panels have been left with exposed nails despite efforts to get the issue fixed for months, among other problems.
Ellesse, 31, has been living in her two-bedroom property on Park Lane in Old Basford for 11-and-a-half years which has been supplied by PA Housing. Earlier this year, when storms caused heavy winds, this damaged fence panels at her property which left nails sticking out and the panels became unsecure, with Ellesse saying there was one time when her kids got out on to the road through the garden.
She says the garden is not safe for her children to play in, and has noticed members of the public come into the garden too. Ellesse, who's currently unemployed, says she has been trying to get the problems fixed by PA Housing since the fences were damaged, but despite asking on several different occasions, the repairs have not been carried out.
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Ellesse said: "It's just emotionally destroying when you're trying to sort it out, and it is for the kids too. You have to be so careful when they go out in the garden, and if they escape, the front of the house is like a car park.
"I'm upset for the kids, they should be allowed to be kids and go out and play safely in the garden. I've been getting on at PA Housing to come and fix it, but I've just been ignored."
Ellesse has one of the bedrooms, and her four kids, a son aged 11, twin boys aged six and a daughter aged four, have to share the other. Her other main concern is of overcrowding, and she wants to move to a bigger and more suitable property.
Ellesse said: "It's a massive situation, my eldest son is about to go into secondary school. He can't go to bed until his younger siblings are asleep.
"I've tried to explain that to PA Housing as well, but they don't seem bothered. I've had enough, I'm so fed up in my house and there is no room with my kids.
"I've been told I can't be moved because of my tenancy. I just want to be able to move for my family."
There are also lots of overgrowing trees, says Ellesse, that cover the back of her garden and drop branches, which was reported around a year ago but has not been cut back, which has happened in the past. She also says while the problem was eventually fixed, it took a while for a toilet that leaked into the kitchen to be repaired too, and flooring had to be ripped up in the process.
A spokesperson for PA Housing said: “We apologise for the ongoing problem with the fencing in our resident’s garden – she shouldn’t have needed to wait for this long for it to be fixed. We are taking this matter very seriously, and we will be in touch shortly with a date and time from our local contractor to get this problem sorted.
“Since moving into her home, our resident’s family has grown; so while she wasn’t originally living in overcrowded conditions, she is now. We know that she has been actively looking to move, and we’re doing everything we can to support her with this.”
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