A COUNCILLOR has branded a housing association “unacceptable” after a constituent was forced to wait nearly three weeks for hot water.

Joe Weston, of Winterthur Way, Basingstoke, had not had any hot water for 17 days.

Mr Weston, 46, was forced to use his small electric kettle to have basin washes and clean dishes after Sovereign Housing Association, who manage his flat in Victory Hill, had been unable to arrange repair work in his home.

Hearing of his issues, Brookvale and Kings Furlong ward councillor Michael Westbrook wrote to Sovereign to ask why having no hot water wasn’t classed as an urgent repair.

Cllr Westbrook said: “I was very surprised about Joe’s problem and Sovereign may well be in hot water over this – unlike poor Joe who is now looking forward to a nice shower. 

“Seventeen days without hot water... I think most people would agree, is unacceptable.

“It’s my understanding as a rule that landlords need to react faster to problems with the heating or hot water supply than they do with general repairs, typically one day this time of year and three days during the warmer weather.

“Lack of hot water is an emergency regardless of the season in my opinion.”

Mr Weston, who has lived in Victory Hill since 2004, first realised he had no hot water in his flat on October 26. 

Despite numerous callouts and phone calls to Sovereign, the Friends of Loddon Vale Park volunteer only got his hot water back on Friday, November 11.

“It’s been horrible, I’ve not felt clean,” Mr Weston, who has diabetes and permanent nerve damage in his body, said.

“For nearly three weeks I’ve felt awful. Sovereign just kept passing the buck. It wasn’t their fault it wasn’t resolved, it was always someone else’s.

“I felt neglected and vulnerable and sometimes when you aren’t clean you feel unwilling to go out. It was horrible.”

A spokeswoman from Sovereign said: “We attended within 48 hours of Mr Weston’s call but we apologise that we were unable to resolve the problem as quickly as we’d like.

“Our engineers visited three times since the original issue was raised and we were disappointed that the parts we installed initially did not provide a lasting solution.

“However, we’re pleased to say we’ve been advised the issue has been fixed and the resident now has hot water.”

Have you experienced similar problems to Mr Weston? Contact newsdesk@basingstokegazette.co.uk