Mum with ‘no hot water for four months’ forced to use kettle for daughter’s baths
A single mum-of-three claims that her housing association has left her without hot water for four months, forcing her to use a kettle to warm her daughter’s baths.
Maxine Samuels, 37, of Barrington Road, Brixton, lives with her three children, Elijah, nine, Olivia, seven, and Leah, two.
The property is run by housing association Loughborough Estate Management (LEMB).
Ms Samuels said her boiler broke in March, leaving the house without a hot water supply.
She said: “When I first reported it they sent engineers but it felt like they didn’t believe me.
“Then they checked it and told me it was broken and missing a part.
“It took a month for them to get that part – I had to go into the office with my two-year-old and wait for them to go into the warehouse to see if it was there.
“A man came the same day and fitted it.”
But a spokesman from LEMB denies the delay. He said that Ms Samuels reported the incident on April 16, and the association’s gas safe engineer “fixed the problem within 24 hours”.
Despite the new part being fitted, Ms Samuels said the warm water only runs for about 30 seconds downstairs and there is still no hot water supply upstairs – where the shower is.
She said: “I boil my kettle more than 20 times and heat up my two largest pots every night just so that the girls can have warm baths.
“Me and my son have cold showers.
“I’m drained and too tired to keep fighting these people. Now I’m worried about how high my electricity bill is going to be.”
Ms Samuels – who has lived in the property since 2017 – said the issue is affecting her children’s health.
She said: “Olivia is in remission from Leukemia and her immune system is really weak, I’m worried she is going to get sick.
“My other two have asthma and eczma and its been getting worse since this started.”
Ms Samuels said she has complained to LEMB several times.
She said: “Another engineer visited in June and said the boiler needed further parts. Three weeks passed and I heard nothing so I went back to the office but they had no clue – it hadn’t been recorded that someone had visited my house.”
Ms Samuels said she last visited the office on July 29, and requested to see the order form for the boiler parts needed.
She said: “It showed they had only been ordered on July 19. I’m still waiting.
“Every time I call they don’t pick up the phone.”
A spokesman from LEMB said: “We did not know that she has no hot water in the upstairs sink and shower. This problem was not reported to the office.
“We will send one of our gas safe engineers to fix the problem.”
Pictured top: Maxine Samuels and her three children (Picture: Maxine Samuels)