THE owner of a Knightswood Road flat – which has been flooded multiple times since he moved in 11 years ago – is refusing to pay his council tax until repairs are carried out.

Tom Gunion moved into a Barratt Homes property at 187 Knightswood Road in 2009.

Since then, he has been flooded three times, most recently in February, and needed repairs carried out on several occasions.

He said his home first flooded near the end of 2010 when he was “standing in the close watching water pour in through the cladding”.

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Barratt Homes has needed to replace three carpets, re-paint areas of his flat and pay for his curtains to be cleaned, Mr Gunion added.

He believes Glasgow City Council should not have signed off the development back in 2009.

The 59-year-old said two different types of cladding appear to have been used on the building. He feels this might be related to the water ingress through his living room window.

“I’ve told the council I’m not paying until the issue is resolved,” he said. “This is 11 years of frustration.”

But a council spokesman said the issue was a “civil matter” between Mr Gunion and the developer.

When he complained about the most recent flood, Barratt Homes said he would need to take up the issue with his factor, Speirs Gumley.

Speirs Gumley say the company has asked Barratt for a further investigation and is working with other owners in the block to resolve any issues.

Mr Gunion had wanted to call an owners’ meeting, with other residents on Knightswood Road, but has not been able to due to lockdown restrictions.

He said repairs carried out by Barratt in 2017 had “obviously failed”. "They obviously haven't got a clue what they are doing,” he added.

“They don’t know what it is I don’t think, or maybe they do but it is too expensive to fix properly.”

He has asked the developer to provide a list of repair work carried out since 2010.

In March, he demanded Barratt buy the flat back off him, claiming it was “not fit for purpose” and that he’d “reached the end of my tether”.

But he was told: “There is no provision under the terms of your warranty to buy back the property.”

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The company has said it will undertake a further investigation. A spokeswoman said: “We are sorry to hear that previous extensive remedial works have not resulted in a long-term solution.

“Our team will look into this again and consider appropriate actions.”

In an email, Barratt said the 2017 repairs to window seals had been carried out as a “gesture of goodwill” despite “being outwith the builder’s warranty period”.

The Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “Council Tax is a tax, not a charge for services. The obligation to pay doesn’t depend on you agreeing with your local authority or it doing whatever you want it to do.

"It is important people understand that failing to pay, when you can afford to, can lead to an order from the Sheriff Court and serious consequences for someone’s personal finances."

He added: "This is a civil matter between the complainant and the developer, and in the past, we have advised the complainant that is the appropriate action to take. Beyond that, we have no comment to make."