AN Okehampton pensioner has criticised affordable housing provider West Devon Homes, claiming he felt 'forced out' of his property.

Tony Holloway, 71, has moved out of his West Devon Homes flat near Okehampton town centre after encountering noise problems from neighbouring properties.

In March he completed his move out of the property to a new home — also a West Devon Homes property — on High Street. He has been a tenant in West Devon Homes properties for 12 years.

Mr Holloway feels West Devon Homes neglected to properly sound-proof his old flat, and let him down as a paying tenant. The issue came to a head a few weeks ago, following a new neighbour moving in.

After raising the issue with West Devon Homes in February, he failed to receive a face-to-face meeting with a representative of the organisation to resolve the issue.

Mr Holloway said: 'I have been a West Devon Homes tenant now for 12 years and suffered twice with noisy neighbours.

'At my age you need to be able to go to bed at night and get some sleep.

'I have reported this to both West Devon Homes and Environmental Health. I have a letter from Environmental Health, stating the sound-proofing is a problem in the properties. No human being should be allowed to hear neighbours going to the toilet, but you can in these properties.

'I never thought in a million years I would be forced to make such a heart-rending decision to have to move yet again just to get a good night's sleep.

'West Devon Homes have a lot to answer for. Their standards of service have slipped and their failings are absolutely appalling. If they had worked hard to resolve this matter immediately, I wouldn't have to move out at 71 years old.

'West Devon Homes should hang their heads in shame, they need to start delivering a service to their tenants who pay their wages.'

In a statement, West Devon Homes said: 'The property in question was constructed to the relevant building regulations. It is the case with adjoining properties that there will be transference of noise between the properties.

'As a landlord we are not able to take action against residents where the noise is general living noise, unless it is excessive or at unsocial hours. We do offer advice to residents on how to limit noise within the property.

'In respect of this resident, he did make a complaint of noise nuisance to our office on February 14 2013 which was under investigation by our neighbourhood team. We made several contacts with both this gentleman and his neighbour regarding the alleged noise.

'We had asked the complainant to keep a noise diary and had offered to install noise monitoring equipment so that we could monitor noise levels. He did not wish to do this.

'The resident chose to voluntarily swap to another property on March 11 before this matter could be resolved.'

West Devon Homes provides over 1,500 affordable homes in the West Devon area, and has a range of housing and support services to its tenants. Though an independent organisation, it works closely with local councils and other registered providers.