"Dog urine has been leaking into my Sheffield council flat for months and now I sleep in the living room"

Javid Akhtar, from Wincobank, claims a dog living in the flat above his urinates inside the property and the fluid comes into his apartment.

He told The Star: “For a long time I thought it was damp. There was a terrible smell in the bedroom, but I thought it was damp.

“I came back one day and the whole wall was wet through. It was only when I was cleaning I saw a yellow liquid streaming down.”

Javid quickly deduced the fluid was urine as the smell worsened. He said his attempts to sort the issue without involving the council did not solve the problem.

Soon enough, the urine was causing significant damage to the walls and carpets in the flat’s hallway and bedroom.

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“I don’t sleep in the bedroom because it absolutely stinks and there’s flies in there now,” he said. “I’m sleeping on an airbed in the living room.

“I went to Nottingham because my brothers and my parents are buried there and I came back to the sound of buzzing and I saw nothing but these flies.

“In the mornings, it absolutely stinks. It is to the point where you want to throw up.”

Javid quickly contacted Sheffield City Council, the landlord for both his and his neighbour’s properties, and has subsequently complained twice about the authority’s response.

He said: “The first thing I did was phone the council and I didn’t get anywhere and I was advised by Shelter to complain. [The council] tried to brush it off as a burst radiator pipe but I told them radiator water isn’t yellow like that.”

The complaints led to visits from council staff to both his and the neighbouring property. Despite this, Javid is still dealing with urine coming down his walls.

He said: “I wasn’t happy with the way they have done it and proceeded with complaint one. They said they went up there and told them to take the dog out, so I went onto complaint two.”

In his complaints, Javid asked for compensation compensation to pay the costs of rectifying the damage, which includes the walls and carpet in the hallway and the bedroom walls. In the response to complaint one, which was lodged in April 2024 and has been seen by The Star, he was offered £75 as a “goodwill gesture”.

Javid estimates he has already spent between £300 and £400 on cleaning products, diffusers and plug-in air fresheners as he tries to combat the damage and smell.

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He added: “I suffer from asthma and COPD and the chemicals I have to use to clean has made it worse.”

The urine on his bedroom walls meant an electrician needed to come out and make some repairs in his flat. Javid said the electrician was so appalled by the problems that he also complained on Javid’s behalf.

Following two complaints to Sheffield City Council - The Star has seen the responses to both - the authority acknowledged they could have done more for Javid and sooner.

Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the Housing Committee, said: “We understand the frustration and upset caused to tenants when they have an issue with their property.

“We can provide support to rectify that and will strive to do so when any complaint is brought to our attention. We acknowledge the complaints lodged by the tenant in this case, and have responded to these, acknowledging more should have been done by our housing teams upon the first of those complaints being received and apologising to the tenant. We continue to work with the tenant on this and will do so until we have a resolution.

“We always strive to intervene and offer support in any situation, so we encourage those who need support to get in touch with our housing teams or Environmental Health Services as early as they can.”

Javid told The Star he wants the problem to stop, but also wants his landlords (the council) to assist with the repairs as he simply cannot afford some of the costs being quoted to him.

The council stated they made an offer of compensation, which was declined. With the issue continuing, the council has issued a warning letter to a neighbouring property above the tenant and will be monitoring progress.

Council teams will also continue to liase with Javid on the issue.