‘We’ve had a hole in our roof for nine months’: Mother’s desperate plea to housing group

Natasha Tomlinson, 29, has been living with a gaping hole in her loft since the start of this year

(Natasha Tomlinson / SWNS)

A mother and her two sons say they have been living with a gaping hole in their roof for nine months.

Natasha Tomlinson, 29, and her boys, aged seven and nine, have been left freezing and struggling to sleep since the problem first arose in February at the flat in Ramsgate, Kent.

Natasha raised the issue immediately with housing association Orbit Housing, and has followed it up several times since.

She says the issue is affecting the health of both her and her youngest son.

It exposes her loft to the elements and leaves insulation and building materials flapping in the wind.

She said: “[My son] has a bad chest and uses an asthma pump due to allergies.

“He has had to use it a lot more since this happened.

“He also had a bug not long ago - usually his temperature would rise, but it was so cold in the flat it dropped to 34.5C.”

Natasha suffers from anxiety, which has worsened because she can’t sleep as the wind blowing through the hole is so noisy.

She also has suspected fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread pain and extreme tiredness.

She added: “There’s banging above our bedroom - it’s so loud in the wind. Me and my youngest can’t sleep.

“I get stiff muscles and it takes me a while to get out of bed, the cold makes it worse.”

Despite three visits from contractors, the issue has still not been fixed and is becoming worse as temperatures drop, with the wet and windy weather proving particularly troublesome.

The hole, which has spread into the communal hallway of the building too, has caused leaks in the corridor with the heavy rain over the last few days.

Natasha says it was quite small at first but was ripped wide open by Storm Eunice later that month. She says her neighbours have a similar problem.

She added: “It’s now gone into the hallway loft, and the neighbours’ loft too.

“They haven’t even moved in yet. They only just got the keys.”

The desperate mother explained that rising energy prices rising have made it difficult to keep her home warm.

She said she has had to “blast” the heating up and wrap both her boys up to keep the heat in.

Orbit Housing initially said the roof was repaired on May 23, and claimed Miss Tomlinson had not reported any issues after this until November 4.

But when shown screenshots of call logs and texts confirming the problems had been reported repeatedly, the firm sent a revised statement.

It said: “We sincerely apologise for the delay in completing the required works on the communal roof and the customers’ property.

“A specialist contractor has been appointed to complete the works as soon as possible.”