Calls for action on vandalised Newark home

A house boarded up six months ago after being vandalised is still empty, despite attempts by councillors and neighbours to get it re-let.

The three-bedroom house, in Lincoln Court, Newark, has not been lived in since 2016.

Neighbours and councillors want the housing association that owns the property to repair and re-let it urgently. The association has other properties on the street.

The house was broken into and vandalised after the previous tenants left. Fixtures and fittings were smashed, and the garden filled with rubbish.

Complaints from neighbours and councillors prompted the owners, PA Housing, to clear the garden and cover the doors and windows with metal grilles in the spring.

But since then the garden has become littered with discarded clothing, an old fridge, and food and drink litter.

The back fence has been broken down, and people use the garden as a short cut to Lincoln Road.

Mrs Gill Dawn, who represents the area on Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “We are appalled at the total disregard for future tenants and existing tenants next door.

“They are a housing association landlord who are fully aware of the homelessness situation and the extent of the waiting list. They have got no respect for their tenants, neighbours, councillors or the local authority.

“They are very hard to get hold of and most uncommunicative and difficult.”

The Advertiser tried several times to speak to PA Housing, but was told there was no one available to comment.

A neighbour of the vandalised house said: “I am sick and tired of it being used as a thoroughfare.

“They just keep telling you they are dealing with it.”

Another district councillor for the area, Mrs Irene Brown, said: “It is just a cut-through and a dumping ground.

“It needs to be sorted.”

PA Housing’s local office is in Leicester.

The company says on its website: “PA Housing is an award-winning provider of affordable, quality homes, but our business is about more than property — it’s about people.

“We aim to put our residents at the centre of everything we do and offer first-class services to all.”