A family have been sharing a bedroom since November after the heating broke at the housing association property.

Jemma Butcher, and sons Riley, five, and Teddy, three, are spending every night huddled up in the same room at Evans Court, Halstead in an effort to keep warm.

She said: “It started when my neighbour’s boiler started leaking into mine - she hasn’t had hot water since then either.

“I have been reporting it every week since it happened. Every time they say ‘we will get someone to call you back’ and they never do.”

Miss Butcher says she was given two electric heaters by Home Group and engineers have visited but they have gone almost the entire winter and the problem has not been solved.

She said: “Someone came out to assess it a while ago but said they weren’t really sure what was causing it.

“The heaters we have been given are too costly to run. I’m spending £150 a month.

“I’m a single parent working part time with two young boys and paying for all that for electricity is not easy.

“We have been sleeping in the same room just to keep warm. It’s been so cold the last few months.”

A spokesman for Home Group said: “We are aware of the situation regarding the customer who has been without heating since November and are working to resolve this as quickly as we can.

“The nature of the work that needs to be carried out is not straightforward due to the type of heating system in the property, so it has taken much longer to fix than we would have liked and this is why we arranged for alternative heating devices to be provided.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our priority and in this case we can confirm any additional costs of using the electric heaters will be met by Home Group in line with our compensation policy.

“We are in the process of contacting the customer to confirm this and to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”