Rental nightmare as amazing photo shows the moment after a roof collapses on sleeping woman

A woman narrowly escaped serious injury after being crushed by a collapsed roof while she slept.

Melissa Ware, 49, from New Zealand, was visiting her sister on the Gold Coast last October when she was awakened at around 2 a.m. by a loud bang and the sensation of a “massive” weight pinning her against the bed. rush.

In the pitch darkness, unable to see what was happening, she began to panic.

“I couldn’t see anything until my sister and her husband opened the door to try to figure out what the noise was, and a little light came into the room… they were shocked to see me lying under everything and begging for help Mrs Ware told the Courier Mail.

A photograph taken shortly after the roof collapsed shows an anguished Mrs Ware crying out in pain as she lay on the bed covered in rubble – only her head sticking out from under the rubble.

Ms Ware suffered head, neck and back injuries that required pain medication and physical therapy.

She is now struggling to get to sleep as she struggles with anxiety, nightmares and hypervigilance in the aftermath of the incident.

But Ms Ware’s furious sister says the collapse could have been avoided if the landlord had agreed to make much-needed repairs to the Hollywell house.

She said she contacted her rental manager eight months earlier about the creaky and sagging ceiling in that bedroom — but although a maintenance worker came by to provide a quote, the issue was not addressed.

“I kept contacting Ray White and asking them what was wrong with it, but they kept saying they were waiting for a response from the landlord,” said Ms Ware’s sister, who declined to be named.

‘I called and emailed them for months, including just before my sister came to stay with us, but no one resolved anything. And this was after we raised the issue with them at every inspection we had during the three or four years we lived there.”

After Mrs. Ware’s roof collapsed, the property was deemed unsafe and they left shortly after.

The family says the damaged roof was reported to the estate agent eight months earlier

The family said it wasn’t the only time the roof had collapsed either, with falling debris narrowly missing an elderly relative last February when they first reported the problem.

Around that time, Queensland was ravaged by heavy rainfall and flooding, with numerous reports of ceilings collapsing at homes and businesses in the south-east of the state.

Ray White Runaway Bay director Ali Mian said the agency was sorry to hear of Ms Ware’s injuries.

“We discovered the ceiling problems during a routine inspection by the property manager,” he said.

“We notified the landlord of the maintenance and were waiting for instructions from the owner to call in a professional.

“We are sorry that anyone was injured in this accident. The owner is now doing a full repair and renovation of the guest bedroom of their property.”

Peter Adams, Slater and Gordon’s public liability attorney, said the incident shows what can happen when tenants’ concerns are ignored.