A FAMILY claim they’ve been forced to leave their new home after a wall COLLAPSED – leaving their son too scared to go inside.
Jade and James Partington moved into their dream home with their three kids in May this year but quickly discovered how “dangerous” it was.
6
6
6
A number of serious faults with the three-bed property – managed by housing association Aster – in Radstock, Somerset, meant it started “falling apart around them”.
Crumbling plaster, exposed wiring and loose pipes left the Partingtons living in a “nightmare” – and they’re now panicked they’ll be homeless for Christmas.
Aster arranged for the family-of-five to be relocated to a Travelodge after a surveyor deemed the home unsafe despite installing emergency beams to keep it upright.
But struggling with the lack of space in the hotel, they were then moved to an Airbnb which for Jade, who is recovering from spinal surgery, said has been “detrimental” to her health.
read more on property
The 33-year-old said: “We knew the property needed a lot of TLC, but we were talking about painting, decorating, putting carpet down – it wasn’t supposed to be anything more than that.
“Within a week of moving in, lots of stuff was already going wrong with the property.
“I got burnt on a plug socket on the landing [and] a cupboard fell off the wall in the kitchen – I don’t know how I didn’t get injured from that.
“We decided we were going to start decorating, and so we peeled off the wallpaper – and we didn’t expect to find that level of damage to the walls.
Most read in Money
“The plaster is blown in most parts of the house. We’ve had exposed electrical cables.
”We’ve got really severe cracks in the walls, and walls that are actually crumbling away.
“Our youngest son is 19 months old – what if he’d managed to get out of his room and grab an exposed cable?”
Jade said she reached her wits end when her son then tried putting rubber that had fallen from the walls, into his mouth.
She added: “No one seemed to see the urgency. We’ve had a lot of dealings with Aster, but it never seems to be urgent to them.
“After one of the surveyors called the housing association and told them that the situation was really bad, they agreed to let him try and do repairs.
“He was there for four days, and we thought everything was going well – we had no complaints.
“But then I tried to get into my bedroom, and there was a massive piece of rubble that stopped me from opening the door properly.
“I walked in, and our bed was absolutely covered in plaster. Our floor was covered, our clothes were covered – the wall had started falling through in our bedroom.
“My husband and I spoke to the builder, who said the wall would need to be rebuilt and made structurally sound.
“With that, he told his boss that he wouldn’t work anymore until we were out of the property, because it’s too dangerous, especially for our children.”
Our eight-year-old son is panicked – he’s completely frightened of the house, and even said he didn’t want to go back because of how bad it was.
Jade Partington
The couple claim they are still in the dark about the repairs and fear for Christmas as they’re due to be kicked out of the Airbnb days before the festive day.
Jade said: “We’re still in a limbo with what’s going to happen if the property isn’t actually completed by Christmas – and what state it’ll be in when we go back.
“Our eight-year-old son is panicked – he’s completely frightened of the house, and even said he didn’t want to go back because of how bad it was.
“It’s been an absolute nightmare. We didn’t have a choice to leave the property and we’ve not been kept up to date with what’s going on.
“We were told that our things would be boxed up and looked after – but that’s not what’s happened at all.
“Our boys’ belongings have been dumped in our bedrooms; their mattresses have clearly been dragged through filth and not covered.
“I want a house that is safe to live in because we can’t carry on living like this.
“This has been detrimental to our health. I’ve not recovered from my spinal surgery the way I should have, and my middle son is terrified of the house.
“There’s just been no compassion from them at all.”
A spokesperson for Aster said they have done their best to meet the family’s needs and even provided expenses for food and other essentials for them.
They said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience this situation is causing our customer and their family.
”As part of our mutual exchange process, where customers can swap their homes with other customers with our agreement, our surveyors checked the home and found it fit for purpose.
“This survey does not go into great detail such as potential plasterwork issues but does check the structure of the property.
”Following conversations with our customer, we conducted a further survey this week which again showed the home and outhouse to be structurally safe.
“Understandably, our customer has chosen not to remain in the home while improvement works are being carried out.
”While these works are ongoing, we’re providing a range of support.
“This initially included temporary hotel accommodation, while we have now found somewhere more suitable that meets the family’s needs for the short-term.
”We have also provided expenses to cover food and other essentials.
“We’re confident that the customer and their family will be able to move back into their home before Christmas.
”In the meantime, we’re in regular contact to ensure they have the support they need.”
6
6
6
