Barking salon manager at wit’s end from ‘dangerous’ flooding

The team at Trilogy Hair Group in Faircross Parade, Barking are finally at the end of their tether after a leak from upstairs has affected business over three years. (Image: Archant)

Stylist Linda Timcke says the near-weekly water leaks from the first floor flat into Trilogy Hair Salon in Barking have been “terrible”.

“Sometimes it’s a drip, sometimes it’s like a torrent,” said Linda, who called the London Fire Brigade earlier this month after the ceiling partially collapsed by the kitchen and bathroom.

“I’ve lost about £8,000 to £10,000 over the past three years,” admitted the Romford resident. “We rely on walk-in business, if you can’t put the lights on they are going to go elsewhere.

“We are definitely losing business, we are asking people to bear with us but obviously they won’t stay forever.”

Linda, who spends hours clearing up the watery mess in the staff room that appears nearly every weekend - including this weekend – has repeatedly contacted the leaseholder of the upstairs flat but the leaks have persisted.

Freeholder Freshwater Property Management owns the block of flats which includes Trilogy and other shops in Faircross Parade, and say they have carried out multiple repairs on the upstairs flat to fix some of the recurring leaks.

Leaseholder Wasim Malik blames the situation on the pipes, which are Freshwater’s responsibility. “It’s the pipes that run between both floors, they need to be replaced,” he said. “They are old and corroded.”

A spokesman for Mr Malik said he had attended to all repairs reported in the past 36 months, and had installed new bathroom floors, kitchen tiles and pipe replacements. He added that they had asked the freeholders to arrange a meeting to resolve the issues, but they had refused to attend.

But Freshwater area manager Terry Dimmer said: “We understand that the most recent leak last week was due to a washing machine, which we’ve fixed.

“If it did leak again we’d have to ask him to pull up the floorboards to look at the pipes, but we don’t believe that’s the problem.

“We have pushed him [Wasim Malik] to get work done, but it’s not our fault.”

Linda, who is in her sixties, feels trapped in an issue that no one is taking responsibility for.

“I don’t know where to turn, I can’t run a shop,” she said. “It’s getting to the stage when I’m clearing up water nearly every morning.

“I’m getting so stressed about it. We’re just waiting something to happen, it’s dangerous. I’m nearly ready to give up.”