A COUNCIL tenant has been forced to wait nearly four months for essential repairs. Vi Minns, of Defoe Crescent, Mile End, Colchester, reported her badly-damaged living room wall to landlord, Colchester Borough Housing, in January.

But nearly four months on, she is still waiting.

Mrs Minns, 54, said: “I’ve been told it isn’t their responsibility and that it is up to me to sort it out with the private landlord of the property next door.

“But surely it is up to Colchester Borough Homes to do the work and ask for payment from next door’s landlord or take the lead in getting payment first.”

She added: “I have been waiting seven weeks now since the plaster fully fell off and I can’t do anything about it.” The damage has been blamed on a leak from the neighbour’s shower.

A Colchester Borough Homes spokesman said: “We have already completed some repairs. “However, before the final plastering and completion could be arranged, the leak next door needed to be fixed and time taken for the walls to dry out.”

He said a housing officer was due to visit Mrs Minns yesterday to make final arrangements for the repair work.

The spokesman also said Colchester Council would support Mrs Minns if she wished to make an insurance claim against the neighbouring landlord.