Complaints have been made about the safety and cleanliness of new flats in Maidenhead let by a housing association.
Trinity Place, off Park Street, contains shared-ownership properties run by Housing Solutions. The developer of the flats is Countryside.
Tenants have been moving in since July – but have been experiencing a series of problems since then.
Last week, tenant Chloe Gilmore was trapped in the lift with her baby and was unable to get hold of Housing Solutions’ emergency contact.
The fire brigade was called out instead, though the crew struggled to free her as they did not have the right lift key.
Chloe’s mother, Laura McCulley, said that Trinity Place has been ‘nothing but trouble’ over the past few months.
“Complaints are not followed up and the lift is out of use more often than not,” she said.
“Having a baby in a pushchair, [my daughter] expects to be able to use the lift.”
Laura also has concerns about the cleanliness of Trinity Place.
“It is absolutely filthy. I have never seen a cleaner in there and I visit my daughter almost daily. Rubbish along the hallways is blocking the fire exits – it’s a hazard,” she said.
She added that signs are broken, there is graffiti and the front door does not close properly.
“Trinity Place is an absolute shambles and a total disgrace for the amount of rent they are charging residents,” said Laura.
“ [My daughter ] is paying £225 a month on top of her normal rent for service charges. I for one would like to know what these charges are for.”
Many of these issues are currently Countryside’s responsibility – but Laura has still been angered by a lack of engagement from Housing Solutions.
“I have made many unsuccessful attempts to contact them,” she said.
“There hasn’t been so much as an apology.
“If Trinity Place is not ready, it shouldn’t have been put up for tenancy. You would also expect the out-of-hours emergency number to work,” she said.
Housing Solutions said that Countryside has appointed a management company and cleaning service – but the contract is not due to start until Monday, November 1.
It added that the vandalised door was repaired on the same day that it was reported.
“Having checked the automated lift reports, the issues with the lifts were caused by misuse during early occupation, including over-loading, and holding doors open,” Housing Solutions said.
These reports are being followed up by the directors of the lift manufacturers. Staff were set to be on site on Tuesday. In addition, an independent lift inspection was commissioned for Wednesday (yesterday).
An electrical test of the links between the smoke detection system and the lift was also set to be checked in the inspection.
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