A Whitechapel grandmother has claimed she waited four months for her landlord to secure her windows after her grandson leapt 20ft from the first-floor window, saying she has been ‘living in fear’ ever since
A Whitechapel grandmother says she is having to plead with her landlord to have her 20-foot-high window fixed four months after her grandson allegedly threw himself out of it.
The grandmother says she lives in constant fear that, while caring for her grandson, he will do it again, as this isn’t the first time he’s attempted to jump from the first-floor window.
The grandmother says she asked her housing association, Riverside, to install a safety lock on the day of the incident on May 25. Yet she says that she is constantly battling for the smallest of fixes to be carried out on the house, including the window, as she continues to care for her two grandchildren and severely disabled husband.
The housing association maintains that they were told that the grandson was stopped on the day, and that the resident did not report that the child had fallen from the window. The grandmother refutes this and has said that she reported that he had attempted to jump before, and that he had actually done so in this instance.
Yet after four months of contacting her landlord, the grandmother says she has not received any action despite her fears for her grandchild’s safety.
The resident said: “He just has no fear of anything; he just tries to jump out of it quite a lot. It could have been far worse than that. I’m listening out for my husband and my grandson downstairs. I now have to make him sleep in my bed so he isn’t in his room in case he jumps out.”
While the child did not suffer any injuries, his distressed carer said that it is likely that if he did do it again, he would seriously injure himself from that height. While caring for her two grandchildren, the grandmother also looks after her husband, who has severe dementia among several other disabilities.
“Thank god he didn’t injure himself, he didn’t have a scratch, but he could have really hurt himself or worse. After it was first reported, someone came out to measure the window, and the guy said the drop is around 20ft. I don’t know how he didn’t get injured. It was such a shock,” the grandmother continued.
She said: “I’m just so scared, and they said they would come and help, but I heard nothing. On top of that, my front door is deteriorating; it won’t even lock. We had a problem where we couldn’t even shut the front door. Somebody could get seriously hurt. I just need help.”
Since MyLondon contacted Riverside, the window in question was secured, and an apology was offered to the grandmother for the worry or concern caused. Riverside has also fixed the family’s front door, ensuring it can be locked.
A Riverside spokesperson said: “We take the safety of our residents very seriously and are sorry for any worry or concern caused to the resident relating to the safety of her grandchildren.
“All windows in the resident’s home are already fitted with window restrictors. One of our operatives attended the resident’s home on 23 September to put additional safety measures in place to prevent the window opening any further than 10cm without the use of a key. An additional chain was also fitted to the front door.
“We are aware of the resident’s request to move to a ground-floor flat, and her Housing Officer and Tenancy Sustainment Officer have met with her and the family’s social worker to advise on the process for a potential move.
“This is a process closely managed with the local authority, and we have no direct control over when a more suitable ground-floor property may become available; however, we will continue to support and signpost the resident throughout.”
A Tower Hamlets spokesperson said: “We are disheartened to hear about the issues in this resident’s home. We work closely with housing associations across Tower Hamlets and expect them to maintain their homes to a decent standard.
“The resident has done the right thing by raising these issues with their landlord. Their next steps would be to make a formal complaint to their landlord, to report the issues to our environmental health team, and to complain to the Housing Ombudsman.
“This information has been provided to the resident and can be found on our website by anyone else in a similar situation.”
