Olympic medallist Liz McColgan has been censured by the housing watchdog after she left an Arbroath woman living in accommodation that was not “reasonably fit for human habitation”.
A specially convened tribunal found that McColgan had left her tenant living in a two-storey terraced house in Arbroath beset by draughts and leaks.
The Private Rented Housing Committee has now ordered the athlete to carry out repairs to the three-bedroom property or face a criminal conviction.
One of Scotland’s most successful athletes, Dundee-born McColgan took silver in the 10,000 metres event at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and won gold at the World Championships in Tokyo in 1991.
The housing panel found that the runner had failed to keep the property “wind and watertight” and that its structure was not in a “reasonable state of repair and in proper working order”.
The house was said to be affected by uneven floors and stairs, leaky windows, severe cracks in the bedroom walls and subsidence.
The report read: “The committee was therefore satisfied that the landlord had failed to comply with the repairing standard in that the house was not wind and watertight and in all other respects reasonably fit for human habitation, and the structure of the house was not in a reasonable state of repair.”
McColgan, 52, a former BBC Sports Personality of the Year who was appointed an MBE in 1992, has built up an extensive property empire, which played a key role in a bitter divorce battle with her ex-husband, Peter.
McColgan’s tenant complained that there had been problems since the start of her tenancy in May 2014, claiming that the property had been particularly bad during the winter months and when cold winds blew, as it had been hard to keep the house warm.
The committee said there had been “no explanation” for a delay in repairs to correct subsidence and that the tenant had “felt unsafe” as a result of the problems, which included “cracks throughout the property”, movement in flooring and ill-fitting windows.
In a unanimous decision, the panel was particularly critical of McColgan’s response to the problems.
They said claims by the tenant that she had been suffering from draughts for more than two years were “credible” and “there was no persuasive evidence” from the landlord or her agent to counter this.
A national newspaper reported McColgan said the dispute was “all sorted” and it was “just nonsense” to suggest the house was not suitable for habitation, claiming she had followed the proper procedures.
She said that she had carried out thousands of pounds’ worth of repairs on the property and had reported the problem of subsidence to the insurance company as soon as she was made aware of it and “could do nothing to hurry the investigation along”.
