A father is accusing a housing association of neglect after he was left for three months with a collapsed kitchen ceiling.

Ercan Yunis, who lives in Allerton Road in Borehamwood, woke up on December 4 to find plaster from his kitchen ceiling covering the floor, and water pouring from the bathroom above.

He reported the damage to his landlord Affinity Sutton and asked the housing association to fix the ceiling, but so far without result.

The association said Mr Yunis had caused the damage himself by fitting a bidet in the bathroom, and that its contractors CBS had had to wait until the ceiling had dried out before they could repair it.

However Mr Yunis, who lives with his wife and two children in the flat, denies fitting the bidet had anything to do with the burst water main, which he says was under the toilet cistern.

He also questioned why Affinity Sutton thought the ceiling would need so long to dry out when a private contractor he consulted said a new ceiling could be fixed straight away. 

The taxi-driver said: “I woke up to find the house flooded and part of the ceiling down. There was mess everywhere.

“I called up repeatedly to have someone to fix it and they kept promising to come round but not turning up.

“They promise to fix problems like this in 28 days but it’s been more than 70. Affinity Sutton said it was waiting to repair the ceiling until it was dry, but it shouldn’t take 70 days to do that.

“If I were a single man I would not mind so much but it’s not nice for my family and I’m embarrassed to have visitors round.”

Mr Yunis said he felt he had been “very badly treated” by the housing association.

He added: “Affinity Sutton should treat its tenants with respect. I have been asking so long for a new bathroom but with no result, meaning I had no choice but to have one fitted. The association tries to blame tenants all the time. It never accepts liability.”

A spokeswoman for Affinity Sutton said the association would send a contractor round next week to assess the problem.

She added that if the contractor was satisfied the ceiling was dry enough, he would then repair it and charge Mr Yunis for the work.

She said: “We are in communication with Mr Yunis regarding the ceiling of his kitchen, which has fallen into disrepair due to the fitting of a bidet in the upstairs bathroom by the resident himself.

"Whilst as a landlord we are not responsible for repairs to damage caused by resident-fitted fixtures, a repair has been raised for our contractor to reinstate the ceiling, which it can only do once the area has dried out completely. We do understand the inconvenience this delay will be causing Mr Yunis.”