A FAMILY have been tearing their hair out after a leak caused by dog faeces left them with an increasingly soggy flat.

Homes in Havering (HIH) tenants, Zara and Danny Richardson, say their landlords have left them high and less-than-dry in their ground floor residence in Thomas England House, Waterloo Gardens, Romford.

However a HIH spokesman said the leak had been sorted out twice.

The Richardsons first noticed water coming out of their gas cupboard on Wednesday (September 29)

By Friday it was seeping through the walls of their living room and cupboards in the living room were lined with mould.

Homes in Havering, which looks after Havering Council’s housing stock, sent a plumber and drainage experts, who said the water was coming from the roof and leaking down to their flat through the cavaties in the wall, before saying there was nothing they could do.

Mr Richardson, 29, an electrician, said: “I think it’s a sham to be honest, I’m paying rent and council tax for them to make it a safe and suitable place to live and I’ve got a water feature in my front room that’s not supposed to be there. It’s a disgrace.

“It’s got to the point where we are pulling our hair out.

Mrs Richardson said their landlords had offered to move them out to a hotel, but she could not leave because of her cat.

“They said I’d be getting a phone call next week,” she said on Monday this week. “I said how do you expect me to carry on like this?

“It’s just not good enough. I asked them what they would do if I was ankle deep in water and they said we’d call the fire brigade.”

A Homes in Havering spokesman said the leak was caused by a neighbour putting dog faeces in the rainwater drainage pipe and causing a blockage.

Contractors Morrison cleared it on Thursday and again on Friday.

He added: “Homes in Havering has ordered work to restore Mr and Mrs Richardson’s kitchen. We are talking to all residents of the block to see whether or not they are affected by the problem and to remind them of their responsibilities not to put solid waste in external drainwater pipes.”