Sheffield mum wins four-year repairs battle after leaking bathroom left her at 'breaking point'

Rebecca Wallis spent years complaining about a leaking bathroom which forced her to use buckets and towels to catch drips every time she or daughter Minnie, aged eight, had a shower.

Eventually a saturated ceiling collapsed at 3am ruining paintwork, rugs and wallpaper. In desperation she contacted The Star. Now, after five weeks of work, she has a gleaming new bathroom.

Rebecca, of Buchanan Road, Parson Cross said: “I am deeply grateful to you guys from The Star. This has been a very long and distressing experience for me, four years of complaining and three years of solicitors. I'm still in disbelief we were left in a house that was unfit to live in.

“Even though the repairs to the bathroom are now complete my daughter still asks me every time we have a wash if I need extra towels or the bucket to catch the leak. It breaks my heart every time. The first time she asked me I just sat there and cried trying to explain that it will no longer leak and we don't have to worry anymore.”

In summer, Rebecca’s dad engaged solicitors who lodged an official complaint. The city council admitted responsibility, paid £1,000 compensation and promised to do the work by mid-August but missed the deadline.

The latest council figures show there are 14,038 logged repairs, of which 6,193 are overdue.