Orbit apologises for Erith family's years of toilet trouble

Mary* has lived in her Birling Road property for 20 years but says she has spent eight of them suffering problems caused by a faulty soil pipe, which carries wastewater from the toilet.

One bodged repair sprayed human excrement all over her kitchen, she said, then caused leaks which permanently damaged her floor.

She also claims her kitchen window leaks so badly in rainy weather that she has to put down pans. The wall above the window has visible damp and mould.

Mary alleges her last washing machine went rusty due to the damp conditions and the replacement is now rusting too.

Mary said the constant leaks into her kitchen had damaged her floor, which she personally paid to have installed (Image: Newsquest)

She contacted the News Shopper to complain that housing association Orbit was refusing to replace the badly damaged kitchen.

But after we took up her case, it committed to replacing the whole kitchen within 18 months.

“We’re very sorry about the issues that [Mary] has experienced,” it said. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused and encourage her to speak to us with any questions.”

Mary lives on the same estate where Orbit was last year ordered to pay more than £3,000 to a family in Avenue Road, left living for years with an infestation of rats which ate their wedding album.

Mary said she and her sons were forced to use this porta-loo from summer 2020 to November 2023, as their faulty soil pipe kept blocking their toilet (Image: Newsquest)

Mary’s problems began when her toilet continually got blocked up.

“They kept coming out and plunging it,” she said.

The porta-loo arrived in Summer 2020.

“I could have had one earlier but I was embarrassed to have it out the front,” said Mary.

“But I thought if I accepted it they might rush through the repair, because they were paying out to rent a porta-loo. But they didn’t. They just seemed to rent it and then forget about me.”

She and her two sons had to use the portable toilet until November 2022, she said, when a contractor finally came to fix the soil pipe – but the repair went wrong.

Contractors cut two holes in Mary's kitchen to access the soil pipe. She said they then left the holes. The soil pipe was not properly repaired, she claimed, and began leaking into the kitchen (Image: Newsquest)

“All poo and urine sprayed all over her kitchen cupboards, the ceiling, the floor – everywhere,” said Mary’s niece Lisa*, who has been helping her file complaints.

The contractors sawed two holes in Mary’s kitchen units to access the pipe, which they left afterwards.

After they’d gone, she realised the repair hadn’t been done properly.

“Water was leaking from the soil pipe into the kitchen,” Mary alleged. “The floor was like sponge.”

“There were plants growing under the kitchen cabinets,” said Lisa.

Contractors eventually returned just before Christmas 2023 and properly fixed the pipe, Mary said.

But in doing so they further damaged her kitchen cabinets, one of which is now only held up by a loose stick of wood.

Mary said her kitchen unit was now propped up by an unsecured stick of wood and had already collapsed once (Image: Newsquest)

“It’s already collapsed once,” she said. “If they’d done the soil pipe properly in the first place then it wouldn’t have got this bad. But it became a recurring issue that’s damaged other things.”

Lisa said she was present when an inspector visited recently and told Mary the kitchen would not be fully replaced.

“I was disgusted,” Lisa said. “I said to him, ‘Would you live like this?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘So why do you think she should live like this?’ He didn’t answer me.  

“She’s being treated like she’s a bit of scum. The contractors are all disgusted when they see it.”

“I’ve never troubled them,” Mary sighed. “I’ve always paid my rent.”

“She’s not asking to be moved,” said Lisa. “She loves it here. She just wants the things that are broken to be repaired.

“It’s like Orbit don’t care. This is their property. If it was me, I’d want my property maintained properly.”

There is visible damp and mould around Mary's kitchen window (Image: Newsquest)

Orbit did not dispute Mary and Lisa’s account when the News Shopper put it to the firm.

“The whole kitchen will be replaced as part of our planning home improvement programme,” a spokesperson said.

“In the meantime, our contractors are due to repair the existing kitchen as well as replace internal doors on January 17.

“In addition, our area inspector will be visiting the property to assess for any damp and mould and for any other remedial work that may be required.”

*Names have been changed.