Jane Frawley took her case to the county court

A WOMAN who got so frustrated with cracks in the walls of her home that she took her housing association to court is still waiting for repair work to be completed.

Jane Frawley, a tenant of Peabody Housing Association, has lived in the same home in Highbury Grove for eighteen years but now feels it could fall down at any time due to a subsidence problem.

“You’d paint the walls, then suddenly a crack would emerge,” she said.

Leaking pipes, meanwhile, left her possessions “ruined” and her walls damp.

“At one point I really believed my bathroom was going to fall down into [the downstairs flat],” she said.

She believes these problems are structural, adding: “We started to understand the fundamental problems with the house: subsidence.”

Despite the multiple cracks “in almost every room” of the house, Peabody has denied this but a court judgment has ruled it must send in surveyors and also pay compensation to Ms Frawley.

A study by the British Geological Survey (BGS) last year found that the climate crisis is likely to put many homes in the capital at risk of subsidence, as hotter, wetter years cause a “shrink-swell” movement in the ground that undermines building foundations and pipes.

A repair attempt at Ms Frawley’s home

Islington in particular is singled out by BGS as one of the London boroughs to have an increased risk of subsidence cases.

Ms Frawley said Peabody’s previous repairs consist of “putting wallpaper up to cover a multitude of sins,” filling in cracks as they appear without any work to shore up the structure of the building.

Her case was heard at the Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court in July, with a district judge issuing the housing association with “a consent order” and to agree schedule of works by September 8.

Ms Frawley was paid the compensation, but waited weeks for the survey.

After the Tribune contacted Peabody, a surveyor was sent to her building last week.

The works were not carried out in time to meet the terms of the court’s consent order, however.

“We’re all waiting for it to fall down on top of us to be honest. It feels scary – absolutely terrifying,” Ms Frawley said.

A Peabody spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the time it has taken for us to complete the final repairs at Ms Frawley’s home.”

They added: “We will discuss with Ms Frawley whether she would like to move into temporary accommodation while the work takes place.

“If she would like to move to alternative accommodation in the future, an application will need to be progressed which will be considered in line with our rehousing policy guidance.”