Pen­sion­ers Ber­nice James-Roach, 77, and her hus­band Hol­lis­ter Roach, 84, ex­pect­ed their Or­chid Gar­dens apart­ment in Pleas­antville to be a place where they could en­joy their re­tire­ment.

In­stead, they say their home has been over­tak­en by leak­ing ceil­ings, damp walls, wa­ter stains and the con­stant wor­ry of when the prob­lem will be fixed. The Roach­es, who have lived in the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (HDC) com­mu­ni­ty for more than a decade, oc­cu­py a ground-floor apart­ment in a three-storey build­ing. They say wa­ter has been seep­ing in­to their home from an apart­ment above for more than a year, af­fect­ing ar­eas in­clud­ing their bed­room, bath­room and hall­way.

Dur­ing a vis­it to the apart­ment last week, Guardian Me­dia ob­served wa­ter run­ning down an in­te­ri­or wall, wa­ter stains on af­fect­ed ar­eas, what ap­peared to be mould-like growth on walls and dam­aged and miss­ing ceil­ing tiles.