Southern Water failed Eastbourne tenants over sewage, landlord says
Stewart HamiltonA landlord who saw six of his rented properties flooded by sewage water has accused a utilities company of a "catastrophic failure".
Stewart Hamilton waited more than three weeks for effective repairs to be carried out on a blocked drain near the flats in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
He said the leaks began just before Christmas and were fixed on Saturday.
Southern Water (SW) apologised and said there was "no excuse" for why the repairs had taken "so long".
Mr Hamilton said toilets had overflowed and sewage and bath water had flooded the properties, some of which suffered leaks through the ceilings.
'Awful'
He said SW came to carry out repairs but the problem persisted.
"They fixed one manhole and left the rest unaligned," he said.
"As soon as they left, it started backing up again."
Zhasmin Stoyanova, who lives in one of the flats, said it had been a difficult situation to deal with.
"Some of the water was soapy [and] was like it had come from a washing machine," she said.
"The smell was awful."
A Southern Water representative said the firm was "very sorry for the delays in completing our work".
"We know how distressing internal flooding can be," they added.
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