A PENZANCE pensioner says she is living in a deathtrap after the failure of a housing association to fix a leaking roof.

Jennifer Cole said her elderly neighbours have slipped at the Park Court housing complex when rainwater has flooded down the stairs. And she said emergency lighting is running throughout after the sodden conditions caused the original set-up to rust and fail.

The 63-year-old has slammed Penwith Housing Association (PHA), saying she has repeatedly asked them to do something about the dangerous conditions at the accommodation for elderly people.

Lethal

"The rain makes all the steps soaking, it is lethal," said Miss Cole, who added that she already struggles with a fear of stairs after falling while pregnant.

"My neighbours have slipped over and we are all terrified of it because the steps are so slippery. It is miserable living here."

Every time it rains, the pensioner said water gushes through a crack in the roof of the Parade Street property, leaving her enclosed balcony swimming in inches of water. Her bedroom windowsill is armed with sponges ready to soak up water as it runs down her walls and constant dampness has resulted in moss growing on the brickwork outside her top-floor flat.

"The roof is completely leaking, we need a new one because the rain absolutely pours in," she said.

"The water has got into our lights so we had temporary ones put in a month ago. And it goes down the walls to the bottom floor and gets in the alarm box, which has also needed to be fixed."

Along with the leaking roof, residents are also having to battle against blocked guttering, which Miss Cole said has plant life growing in the piping.

"The water coming from the guttering is not a drip, it's a waterfall," she said.

The frustrated resident has alerted PHA to the problem on a number of occasions since first moving in two and a half years ago and despite visits from Mears maintenance company, nothing has been done.

"I first contacted PHA because the lady next door had been complaining for years," she said.

"But they never get back to you."

Around a year ago Miss Cole said Mears came round and took pictures of her gripes but nothing came as a result of it.

Reaching the end of her patience with PHA, Miss Cole demanded that response maintenance manager Harry Fitzgerald visited her so he could see for himself the conditions the elderly residents were living in.

"I asked him if he would let his mother live here and told him it was disgusting," she said.

Nothing

"He said, 'we will get this done and get that done' but nothing has happened."

After being contacted by The Cornishman, a spokesman for PHA said the organisation had undertaken significant reinvestment work to Park Court including Decent Homes improvements and the recent installation of new double-glazed windows.

"However, repairs carried out to the roof to remedy water ingress have been less successful and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused residents," he added.

He added that having obtained tenders for work to completely renew the flat roof covering and undertake work to guttering and flashings, scaffolding was due to be put up yesterday "so a more permanent and reliable remedy can be completed without delay".