An Edinburgh mum and her young daughter were forced to sleep in a chilly stairwell after a pipe burst in her flat, flooding the property.
Cheryl Shields and seven-year-old Layla moved into the flat on Fisher Place last year after spending 18 months homeless.
A burst sewage pipe caused extensive damage, the Daily Record reports, and she Cheryl her housing association did not immediately provide her with alternative accommodation.
She said she had to spend two nights on the stairwell as Castle Rock Edinvar told her to wait in the flat for an emergency repairman.
Cheryl, 29, said: "I felt like I was homeless again.
"There was no way we could have slept in the house. The place was soaking and there was a horrible smell of dampness.
"I didn't want to be in there with my daughter. There was water going into the electricity cupboard and I was worried something bad was going to happen.
"We ended up having to sleep out in the stairs because my landlord told me I had to be there in case a workman showed up. He never came until the Sunday. We were both freezing."
Cheryl said she has worked really hard to rebuild her life after a very tough couple of years.
She added: "I was homeless for a year and half. I feel like I've got absolutely no luck. I've worked really hard to get us where we are the now and it's all ruined.
"The floors which I paid a fortune for will need completely ripped up. My daughter's toys are ruined. My couch and our beds are soaking. The place is a complete mess. I'm devastated.
"I feel like I'm basically back to square one again. We've got nothing. It's so unfair."
It seems there may be some dispute over whose responsibility it is to clean up the mess, as the housebuilders Barratt homes are obliged to fix any problems until this summer.
A spokesperson for Barratt Homes East Scotland commented; “Residents at the Barratt @ Heritage Grange development contacted our out of hours service to report leakages with their properties.
"We responded promptly with a contractor who identified the issue to be a blocked drain which was then unblocked as quickly as possible. It is now for the Housing Association to resolve any remaining issues with its residents directly.”
The housing association has since put Cheryl and her daughter up in a hotel while the issue is fixed.
A spokesperson for Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association said: “Mrs Shields has been given hotel accommodation and expenses while we carry out a thorough investigation into the cause of the flooding.
"We have instructed a full survey of the drainage system. We fully sympathise with Mrs Shields’s situation and are working to resolve it as quickly as we can.."
