“My kitchen ceiling collapsed – my family have to live on takeaways and we’re embarrassed to have people around”

A family of four was left without proper use of their kitchen for nearly a year after their landlord failed to make the necessary repairs. Cesar Medina says he and his family have not been able to celebrate Christmas properly at home and have been forced to eat takeout regularly since part of their kitchen ceiling collapsed in August 2023.

Family-owned Octavia Housing specializes in providing social housing for people working for the NHS or in social care, often providing housing at reduced rates for key workers. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cesar said trying to get Octavia to fix the problem has become “the worst part-time job.”

“It happened in August (2023), now it’s July. The ceiling is still in sight,” he said. “The longer it goes on, the more frustrating it’s become because I assume Octavia is doing her best, but maybe not because they tell you it’s a priority for them, but then they just don’t do anything.”

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He added: “Octavia doesn’t really seem to care.”

“It gets to the point where I have to send persistent emails, make persistent phone calls just to get an update. I don’t like being a difficult tenant, but I’ve never been through that.”

Octavia offered the family temporary accommodation at a hotel, but Cesar explained that it was not practical for several reasons. He said: “Because this flat is next to Hammersmith Hospital where my mum works, she is a nurse. So I stayed here.”

“They said, ‘Don’t use the kitchen.’ They put some beams and that’s how it stayed.” Cesar also pointed out that putting the family in a hotel will not solve their lack of a kitchen.

Octavia offered to give the family around £2,000 worth of food vouchers over eight months to compensate for the loss of cooking facilities, but Cesar said the lifestyle took its toll, eventually forcing the family to take risks. “We used (the kitchen) where we could, even though they told us it wasn’t safe to do so, but we can’t eat takeaway every day,” he explained.

Unremedied harm also had a negative impact on the family’s personal life. Cesar told LDRS, “My parents are kind of ashamed to bring people.

Even family Christmas celebrations were almost impossible because of the danger the kitchen posed. “We had to spend Christmas with an exposed ceiling in the kitchen,” explained Cesar.

As a result, his parents and siblings had to commute between Acton and Chiswick to where one of his siblings lives to prepare Christmas dinner.

Because of the delays, Octavia offered residents a retroactive 20 percent rent discount until the issue is resolved, but Cesar says they currently have not received a compensation payment and are still paying the full rental rate. However, Cesar says the landlord has also increased the rent by hundreds of pounds between August 2023 and July 2024.

In an email to Octavia, Cesar said: “The rent has gone up from £1,850.48 to £1,992.97. amid these unresolved issues, exacerbating our financial strain during this cost of living crisis.”