A PENSIONER was forced to pay £6,000 to fix his "hill" garden after the council refused to help him.
Keith Watson, 65, said the garden in his new council house was so steep he couldn't stand on it and was left feeling "trapped".
Keith who has terminal liver disease, spent all of his "rainy day" fund transforming what he described as "a hill", after landlord Trent & Dove wouldn't help with the cost to make the outdoor space at his home in Burton more accessible to him.
He lives in a bungalow because he has mobility issues and was forced to pay the whopping amount to add in steps which split the garden into two levels.
He told StaffordshireLive: "I have had it fixed back at the end of September. It cost me a lot of money.
"Now I look out onto the garden and it is fixed, but that was my rainy day fund. If anything goes wrong that will be a real issue with me.
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"We put a string from top to bottom and the decline was about five foot three. It was a one-in-four gradient."
Keith said with the cost of living crisis and everything increasing in price, he has concerns over how he'll survive without his savings to dip into if needed.
He said Trent & Dove should have been the ones paying to fix the problem after he claims they showed him a different home to the one he eventually moved into.
However, the housing association said Keith was happy with the property when he viewed it before moving in back in April.
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Head of customer and communities at Trent & Dove David Riley said: "As a not-for-profit-landlord and with many families needing an affordable home as the cost of living bites, we have a legal and moral duty to use rental income for the benefit of all.
"Whilst we all at Trent & Dove want Mr Watson and other customers to enjoy their homes and gardens, Mr Watson signed his tenancy agreement knowing it was his responsibility to complete any improvements he personally wishes to make."
The housing association say the garden was deemed safe when Keith moved in so the work he carried out was purely cosmetic and his responsibility as it was done through personal choice.
"Mr Watson does have the legal right to end his tenancy and return the home and garden to us to be offered to another local household if he felt it not suitable for his needs, but had asked instead for our consent to complete his own works, which we of course granted," Trent & Dove added.
"We were aware Mr Watson had decided to fund the changes he wanted himself, so assumed he had decided to remain at the home chosen.
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"We will contact him this week to confirm that and see if there are any outstanding issues we need to resolve or further learning from this situation.
"More than 83 per cent of residents are happy with us as a landlord, and we work hard to keep that high track record."
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