A FIVE-YEAR long row is still going on between a householder and the council over £15,000-worth of building work.

Angry Olga Reid who received a grant for maintenance to her Lytham Road home in Preston in 1992, claims contractors employed by the local authority left it damp and squalid.

The 59-year-old who suffers from asthma complained: "It's a living hell. It's not good enough for me to live in. My asthma attacks are getting worse because it's damp."

But council chiefs say Mrs Reid signed to approve the work and they insist it was done to a reasonable standard by a reputable firm.

Grants Surveyor Peter Dennett said: "Mrs Reid didn't have to pay anything and she would not even let us in to the property until we agreed to do additional work." But Mrs Reid claims she paid £900 towards the refurbishment, only to be left with a home she believes is unfit to live in.

She alleges builders left huge cracks in the bedroom ceiling when they put a trap door in it; installed a leaking toilet and refused to fix it; roughly nailed wood to the bottom of windows to hide the rot; and fitted roof tiles with huge gaps in them.

Now the former Royal Ordinance Worker, who lives alone, will have to pay for the work to be put right herself.

Brian Yeulett, managing director of Yeulett Developments Limited, which carried out the work, said: "We can only do what the Town Hall pay us to do. I'm happy with the jobs we did."

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