A family-of-four is "mentally broken" after being forced to live in a single hotel room for months because their flat was deemed a fire hazard.
Nick Tait, his wife Pennie Barnard and their two daughters, aged six and three, were among dozens of families moved out of housing complex Riverside Place, in Braintree, Essex, in May.
A catalogue of fire safety issues at the two blocks of flats, occupied by housing association tenants and private residents, were identified following an extensive survey resulting in a 160-page report.
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service has confirmed to the Mirror it had been called to incidents at the site 11 times since February 2020.
But while every other occupant is now understood to have been re-housed, with the help of Braintree District Council, Nick and his family are still living out of suitcases at a budget hotel off a busy A-road.
And have even had to put their puppy into foster care.
Complex owner Home Group told all tenants they had to leave Riverside with immediate effect on May 26 and began moving many into hotels.
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However, the company still has some staff based within the complex, which is patrolled by fire wardens.
Nick and his family have been living at a Premier Inn in Galleys Corner, Braintree, around three miles from their home, since July 9.
It's one of six hotels they've stayed in over the last four months - some of them for just one night - and is situated off the A120, with the dad worried they "could still be here at Christmas".
The family had been told nothing more permanent was available because their "needs are too great".
Nick's wife Pennie is disabled and neither of the couple drives so requested a ground floor property that's within a mile of their oldest child's school.
Home Group told them in June if they found private rental accommodation it would act as the guarantor and pay a year's rent up front, allowing them to keep the tenancy.
"It’s a complete mess at the moment, the way we’ve been treated is disgusting," Nick told the Mirror.
"My partner is now on anti depressants and sleeping tablets because of this."
Nick said his children are "traumatised" and since his six-year-old returned to school in September the head has sent a letter "airing their concerns" about the child's pre-occupation with fire safety.
"Wherever we go and take our children out to, the first thing they do when we enter the building is look for an alarm system and say 'are we safe, Mummy?'" he explained.
"It’s really upset the children, they’re crying to me, saying 'why do we only ever have one room to live in?' One hotel room with four beds."
Nick said he's had to reduce his hours at work down to three days instead of five to help out his wife due to the "emotional effect it’s had on the children".
"They’re very angry, very anxious. That shouldn’t be the case for a three and a six-year-old, they should be happy."
As they only have one small fridge in the room and no means of cooking the family largely lives off food from a nearby pub.
"To try and get the kids down in the evening me and my partner have to turn all the lights off and sit in the dark - otherwise the kids are just going to be sitting up until 10 o’clock," continued Nick.
"We’ve got nothing to do in this hotel room except sit and watch TV."
He added that due to them being situated on a by-pass they have to constantly listen to vehicles driving by, while trying to leave on foot is dangerous.
Nick bought a puppy for his wife earlier this year which has had to be put in foster care as none of the hotels Home Group have housed them in allow pets.
And he claims Home Group told him to send over any taxi or laundry receipts and they he would be reimbursed.
But, with money very tight, he is still allegedly waiting on around £635 to be transferred.
This has been disputed by Home Group, which claims the money has been reimbursed, with only a much smaller expense claim to be processed.
"I just want some normality back for my kids. I don’t seem to be getting anywhere," said Nick.
Matt Forrest, executive director of operations at Home Group, said: “Following a routine safety check, and an additional extensive survey, we identified that significant remedial works were needed at our Riverside Place properties.
“We had to make the extremely difficult decision to move customers out in order to carry out these works.
“We are acutely aware that this has been an extremely difficult situation and I want to offer my sincere apologies for the disruption and upset this has caused.
"We wished we had not had to move customers out but their safety was, and remains, paramount.”
He went on to say staff have worked "above and beyond" to ensure customers were found the right homes for their needs, which aside from "one or two" with "more specific needs" this was done very quickly.
Mr Forrest said the issue has been worsened by the "severe" shortage of properties in the Braintree area.
He also told the Mirror a property has been found for Nick and his family, with them set to move in later this month.
Nick said it was the first time the family was aware of such a property when we informed him.
He later said the couple had ended the tenancy with Home Group and have been found a home by the council, with a move in date of later this week.
A Braintree District Council spokesperson said: "We cannot comment on individual cases, however, we continue to support Home Group to find suitable, alternative accommodation options for their tenants."
A spokesperson for Essex County Fire & Rescue Service confirmed fire crews have attended Riverside Place 11 times since February 2020.
"Six of the incidents were false alarms or required no further action, two were small fires – in a stairwell and bin shed – which were quickly extinguished, one was internal flooding and crews isolated the supply, one was to release a person shut in a lift and one was to assist the ambulance service," they said.
The spokesperson added: "We are working with the housing association to help them to resolve issues at Riverside Place in Braintree."
