AN angry tenant says she is being forced to boil pots of water so she can have baths over Christmas as part of ongoing issues in her property.

Marcella Crompton has lived at Evans Court, in Halstead, since moving into the flat about two years ago.

She and her partner are currently having problems with their heating and hot water, with neither working properly.

But Mrs Crompton, 40, claims they have suffered issues with the property since the day they moved in.

Halstead Gazette:

She said: “We waited over seven months for our smashed bedroom window to be fixed in freezing weather. The patio door and bathroom taps took a year.

“We have had boiler problems before and now it has happened again.

“With it being so cold at the moment, sometimes minus seven throughout the night, it is unbearable.

"I have been without hot water for six months.

“The housing association has given me two oil heaters and won’t give me any more.

“It's so cold I have to have these little oil heaters on all the time and last night I washed my hair by boiling up pots of water.

“We are bouncing between hotels and, when not at a hotel, home, but sometimes it's really hard to sleep, to get up and get to the hotel the next day, and it is costing so much.

“This is no way to spend Christmas, I just can’t do this at this time of the year. It is out of order.”

Halstead Gazette: Marcella outside the Bull Inn, where she has been staying some eveningsMarcella outside the Bull Inn, where she has been staying some evenings (Image: N/A)

Halstead Gazette: Evans Court, HalsteadEvans Court, Halstead (Image: Google Maps)

Mrs Crompton’s housing association Home Group apologised for the delay on fixing the problem.

Head of service delivery Jo Huxtable said: “We are extremely sympathetic to the issues our customer at Evans Court is experiencing with their property and we apologise for the time it is taking to resolve. 

“The work required is highly specialist and we are sourcing the right contractors to work on these systems safely.

“Unfortunately, this process, along with securing the necessary parts, has taken longer than we’d have liked.

“We’re working hard to complete this work as soon as possible and to ensure we can prevent delays like this in the future.

“We will be keeping our customer up to speed with developments as we have them.”