Family’s home left in ruins after Connaught go into administration
BOTH the kitchen and bathroom of a family’s house in Flore have been left in a dilapidated state following the collapse of a national house maintenance firm.
Exeter-based firm Connaught plc called in administrators on Tuesday night.
The move has left many people in council homes and rented properties across Britain worried when improvement projects at their homes will be completed. Among them is Flore resident Martin Weekly, who this week had builders in to rip out the bathroom and kitchen of the home he rents from Daventry & District Housing (DDH).
Because DDH used Connaught to maintain its homes, the builders at his home left when they were told about the firm’s collapse.
He said: “They’d taken out the kitchen, the bathroom, the ceiling and the floor but then one of them said ‘we’ve got some bad news for you’. They said their company had heard about the problems at Connaught and told them they’d got to get out.
“So now we’ve got a house we can’t really use and DDH say they don’t know when anyone will come out to finish the work. They just keep saying ‘bear with us’, but we’ve got no choice really.”
DDH was launched in 2007 after tenants of Daventry District Council’s homes voted to transfer to a new, not-for-profit housing association.
After the move, the body launched plans to invest £43 million in improving Daventry’s former council houses.
Yesterday, they said the Connaught situation would not stop work to improve homes, but it could cause some delays.
DDH spokesman Steve Croft said: “We’re ready to mobilise to deal with our immediate priorities, homes where work is ongoing and those where tenants are waiting for works to begin.
“We have contingency plans in place to ensure minimum disruption to work that is either ongoing or planned.”
The organisation’s contingency plans include working with other contractors to complete work and so far both Mr Weekly’s washing machine and cooker have now been hooked up.
Northampton Borough Council has confirmed it had no contracts with Connaught.
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