Grandmother’s 'botched' kitchen repair leaves Coventry family distraught

A Coventry family has been left “besides themselves” over what they called a 'botched repair job' to a grandmother's kitchen. Eileen Byrne, 82, lives in sheltered accommodation in Tile Hill and had the ceiling of her kitchen removed in February in order for asbestos to be removed.

However Orbit Housing, the company in charge of the development, never finished the job Eileen's brother John Lamb said the kitchen had been left with a damaged ceiling, walls, and no light for four months.

It was only until June 23 after being contacted by CoventryLive that a new light was installed and the cracks in the ceiling were plastered over. However Mr Lamb said Eileen had been told she would have to shoulder the cost of redecorating and described the result as "completely unacceptable."

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“It’s absolutely disgusting,” he said. “Her health has deteriorated over the past few months and we just can’t believe it.

“They made a complete and utter mess of the kitchen, ripped off all the wallpaper, and left her with no lighting.

“She’s fell over twice in the darkness of the kitchen. We’ve been in touch with our MP but at the moment with an election going on, she can’t do much. Others have mentioned the ombudsman. But it’s even gotten me down the last few months."

Mr Lamb said his sister had poured thousands of pounds into the flat to make it her home, despite not being owned by her. He added moving was out of the question.

“She’s 82 and it would just make things worse to be uprooted like that. She’s got a beautiful place and I live on the same complex. There were 10 of us in our family and now there’s only three left so we don’t want to move from one another.

“It’s just dire, the way we’re being treated. I broke down a couple of times seeing the way she’s gone downhill. With the size of that kitchen, that ceiling could’ve come down and been replaced in one day. The fact that it’s taken six months is just diabolical.”

In a statement, Orbit said: “We can confirm that we have completed works to re-plaster Mrs Byrne’s kitchen ceiling and that her kitchen lights are operational. We will be returning to Mrs Byrne’s home to paint the ceiling once the plaster has dried, as well as remove any dried plaster residue.” They did not comment on why the job had taken so long.

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