A South London woman who spent over £20,000 refurbishing her home claims she has been told she can’t return by her landlord because it’s at risk of falling down.
Caroline Fleming, 60, splurged thousands of pounds on fixing up the damp-riddled housing association flat in Elmers End in Bromley, over the 15 years she lived there.
Photo by Robert Firth
Ms Fleming said she put four lots of flooring down, replaced the kitchen several times and even paid for overgrown trees in her garden to be chopped down due to complaints from neighbours. But she claims that in August her landlord, Riverside Group, ordered her to urgently leave the property because of safety issues with the structure of the building.
Since then she has been living in a poky hotel room over five miles away in Purley, Croydon while she waits for the housing association to tell her whether she can ever return to the home permanently. Speaking through tears during a visit to her former home, Ms Fleming said: “I want to stay. I just want to live here. Everything in my house is brand new.
Photo by Robert Firth
“I’ve just done up the house again. All my garden furniture I just bought this year. I’ve spent 20 odd grand in here all together over the years.”
Ms Fleming claimed the reason she spent so much of her own cash on the flat was because Riverside delayed or refused to do works to the property over the years. She said that since August, her neighbours in other flats in the building on Bourdon Road have also been moved out. The two-storey property is now surrounded by scaffolding.
After a decade and a half spent making the house a home, Ms Fleming fears she will have to start from scratch in another place.
She said: “All the work to the property got done while I was in here. I skimmed the walls because all the walls were cracked from top to bottom. I put in built-in wardrobes because there were no cupboards in the flat. Imagine getting to 60 years of age and this is it. Nothing. You ain’t got nothing to show for nothing any more, back to square one.”
The Riverside Group said it was aware of Ms Fleming’s concerns and was continuing to support her. The housing association said it couldn’t comment further due to ongoing legal matters.
