A BASINGSTOKE woman was left with no choice but to move out of her home after the ceiling collapsed following a water leak. 

Before Christmas, Nichola Mackay was shocked when her water tank leaked on December 17, that not only caused serious damage in her home, including her electric, but due to the unsafe and damp conditions, she was forced to temporarily move into her partner's house.

After trying to get in contact with her housing association, Stonewater, and receiving no help after calling the association every day for more than a week, she contacted the Gazette for help.

Nichola initially tried to get in contact with Stonewater as soon as she noticed the leak and explained she was waiting on the phone for two hours but gave up. She then tried again the following day where she was reassured by Stonewater that someone would come to her house within the next 24 hours. 

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She said: "They wanted me to stay at my house until someone came out, I requested someone to call me when they are on their way as I couldn't stay in my home as it was unsafe where the water got into the electric as well.

"No one called, I went back to my home on Saturday afternoon, the same day I called Stonewater, and it got worse, a part of the ceiling in my bedroom came down and my home smelt of damp."

Luckily, Nichola's friend and her partner were able to help by stopping the leak but she explained by that point the damage caused by the water had already ruined her home. 

Nichola added: "I haven't even been able to get through to the out-of-hours number and my mum has been trying every day as well. I'm lucky that I have been staying at my partner's house, but still, that's not the point.

"I bet my housing company will still want me to pay rent even though I can't stay there as it's unsafe." 

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The Gazette contacted Stonewater for a comment on the issues. 

Emma Cook, customer experience director at Stonewater, said: “We’re sorry for the delay in repairing the leak in Nichola’s home – this isn’t up to our usual good standard and we’re looking into what went wrong.

“Our contractor did attend within 24 hours when the issue was first reported, but unfortunately couldn't gain access as we didn’t have the most up-to-date contact details for Nichola on our system at the time.

“We’ve now spoken with Nichola and will be visiting tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) to assess the damage and arrange the necessary repairs, which will be completed as quickly as possible so she can return home. In the meantime, we’ve offered temporary accommodation while we fix things and a payment to cover the costs of the disruption.”