A council tenant who was left "terrified" with a broken front door for four years has agreed an out-of-court settlement with Hackney borough.

In the four years that Troy Goldie fought to get Hackney Council to repair his door, he said there were four stabbings near his home on the Regent Estate.

Scared about security while his front door could be "easily" forced open, the 27-year-old became suicidal and was "terrified for his life".

Troy already suffers from a personality disorder, paranoid schizophrenia and depression.

Ham & High: Troy Goldie reached an out-of-court settlement with Hackney Council.Troy Goldie reached an out-of-court settlement with Hackney Council. (Image: Troy Goldie)

The work, which included repairing a collapsed ceiling, was completed in November last year, eight months after Troy's lawyers started legal proceedings.

Compensation and an out-of-court settlement - exact figures of which have not been disclosed - were finalised this month.

He said: "Living like this for four years has been hellish. There have been stabbings within 50 metres of my front door, I’ve been threatened with violence and spat at. All the time my front door has been broken and could easily have been forced open, yet the council wouldn’t repair it.

"They replaced other front doors on the estate but not mine, despite them knowing of my mental health problems and me calling them regularly."

Troy said the ordeal saw him develop insomnia and worried about burglaries.

“I feel that I have been ignored by the council and fear other people with mental health problems will have suffered the same fate," he said. "I don’t want anybody else to go through what I have when it could so easily have been rectified a long time ago."

Edward Taylor, a specialist housing litigation lawyer at Osbornes Law, said it was "frankly outrageous": “My client has needlessly suffered serious mental torment for four years, all because the local authority did not take his claims seriously."

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, cabinet member for housing services at Hackney Council, apologised to Troy for any "distress and inconvenience caused".

He added: "We always strive to ensure that our tenants have a safe and comfortable place to call home, and to support our vulnerable residents. Eight out of ten residents are happy with our repair work, and we are concerned as to why these repairs were not completed in a more timely manner.

"We will be looking into this case as a priority to investigate the full cause of the delays and how we can prevent this from happening again."