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Water leak floods family's £1million home forcing them to live in a portacabin

2023-04-27 13 Dailymotion

A family has been forced out of their £1million home and into a portacabin - after flooding caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage, they say.<br /><br />Huge amounts of water has been spilled under the Catlings' four-bedroom property near Aylesbury, Bucks.<br /><br />This has caused significant damage - which means they have had to temporarily move out while the problem is being fixed.<br /><br />Julia Catling, 54, software engineer husband Karl Catling, 55, and their two children Hollie Catling, 24, and Gracie Catling, 19, are now living in "basically a caravan".<br /><br />And they say their insurers will be looking to reclaim the money they have lost back from Thames Water.<br /><br />Thames Water said the matter is currently with its insurers and solicitors and that it was in touch with the family.<br /><br />Julia said: "They go on about hosepipe bans and saving water, but they’ve put millions of gallons under us.<br /><br />“It’s made me feel terrified, we have no confidence in them fixing anything. It makes you scared of it happening again.<br /><br />“We have horses on the property and can’t leave them without anyone here. We’re having to live in basically a caravan.<br /><br />"It’s temporary accommodation which is costing my insurers £100k a year.” <br /><br />Julia, who works in the equestrian industry, said she was first alerted to the issue in March 2020.<br /><br />She says she saw Thames Water engineers appear outside the house, who apparently mentioned there was low water pressure in the area. <br /><br />They then returned to the property in June of that year and excavated a stretch of road 20 feet from the home, it is claimed.<br /><br />That summer, Julia says she began to notice water pooling on the land as well as damp patches and cracks in the walls of the house.<br /><br />And in August 2020 the property flooded through the foundations. <br /><br />Julia decided to investigate the area where Thames Water had been working and to her horror, discovered running water. <br /><br />It transpired millions of gallons water had been flooding under the property, it is claimed, meaning the family was eventually forced to move out of the house while works were underway. <br /><br />The riding area where Julia’s equestrian centre is based was also heavily affected by the flooding.<br /><br />And the water has even meant Julia's daughter has been forced to change her wedding plans - as she was due to marry at the home on Saturday, April 8 this year.<br /><br />A Thames Water spokesperson said: “The customer’s claim is currently with our insurers and solicitors, and we’ve contacted the customer directly to update them on our progress with this matter.”

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