A FAMILY say they have been left without a working toilet for more than four days despite repeatedly asking their housing association to fix it.

However, the housing association say it is the family's own responsibility to repair it.

The row broke out after Gabrielle Taylor, who lives in Drakes Broughton, says she reported the broken toilet in her family’s house to Rooftop Housing on July 9.

A large hole was left in the porcelain after a soap dispenser fell through the toilet pan.

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Since then, Mrs Taylor says plumbers from Rooftop have visited twice without making the repairs.

Mrs Taylor said: “This incident with the toilet happened on Thursday and was reported to Rooftop emergency repairs. A plumber came out to look at it and he said another plumber would call by at 9am on Saturday to fit me a new toilet, he turned up at 12pm, no tools or equipment in sight to fix the problem. I asked what was going to happen and the reply I got was I would have to wait till Monday.

"I said 'surely you can’t be serious?' Under government guidelines you cannot leave people with no toilet facility, so what do they expect us to do? I have to self-isolate too so I can’t use the neighbour's toilet, and we can’t be waking the neighbours up at night asking to use the toilet either.”

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However, a Rooftop Housing spokesman said it was the tenant's responsibility to repair it. He said: “Our tenant called our out of hours line at 10pm on Friday, July 11 to report a damaged toilet. Our tenant had dropped a soap dispenser through the toilet pan, leaving a large hole in the porcelain.

"Our contractor went out to make a temporary repair to the toilet pan, pending replacement. As this damage was caused by the tenant, it is the responsibility of the tenant to replace and make good.

"We always urge our tenants to have appropriate household insurance, so they don’t have an unexpected bill when accidental damage occurs.

"Rooftop Housing Group is a not-for-profit housing provider. We clearly state what repairs we are responsible for, and what repairs the tenants are responsible for.”

The spokesman added a workman would go to visit the family on July 14 to make the repair but the family would be charged for the work.