A young family from Rochdale who were forced to leave their 'unsafe' home claim they were left with 'nowhere to go' after being turned away by a Holiday Inn in Manchester.
Rhea Spence, 27, fiance Callum Armstrong, 29, and their three children, Skyla, six, Mila, five, and Monaia, two, were forced out of their Middleton home for four days after a new kitchen revealed numerous problems with the electrics inside the property.
Rhea claims they were originally booked at the Holiday Inn, on Oldham Road, but were turned away at nearly 10pm at night, after the hotel said it did not take 'council emergency cases'.
The mum-of-two says the stay was booked through housing association Riverside.
After the family was turned away, Rhea's future father-in-law paid for them to stay at the Village Hotel in Bury for four nights.
Their house, on Helvellyn Drive, Middleton, is owned by Riverside Housing, and was deemed unsafe by their kitchen contractor.
Rhea, now back at home after the four nights in a hotel, said: "In the middle of September, we had a new kitchen fitter, who put all new electrics into the kitchen.
"Since having the new kitchen I have had numerous problems with the electrics in my property - numerous appliances that have now broken over the last two to two half weeks due to the problem with the electrics."
She says the problems with the electrics caused two microwaves and a kettle to break.
She added: "My whole family were left to go into emergency accommodation as my property is deemed unsafe and at risk of fire and electrocution.
"We have no heating and I have small children.
"When we got there we were turned away by the hotel and told they do not take council emergency cases.
"This was at 9.45pm when children should be warm and in bed - we now had nowhere to go with three children at nearly 10pm at night, because we had no home to go back to as it is deemed unsafe.
"We didn't have any problems before the new kitchen was fitted and we have lived there for five years.
"I have anxiety and I have recently come off my medication because I had been working on it but it's made it go through the roof.
"I just want to be out of the property - I now feel that it's dangerous."
Repairs to remedy the electrical problem with the property meant that the front garden was dug up, and has now been left a 'mess', with Rhea losing £300 worth of shopping from the fridge and freezer as the electricity was cut off.
Joanne Scarlett, Riverside’s Head of Asset Strategy and Delivery for North of England, said: “I’m extremely sorry to hear about the problems that Rhea and her family have experienced with their kitchen replacement and the subsequent handling of their complaint.
“The works were carried out by an experienced contractor on our behalf and we were assured they had been completed successfully.
“However, it is clear there have been problems and, as a result, we have suspended all work by the contractor pending a quality assurance investigation.
“This left Rhea and her family in need of temporary accommodation and, again, they experienced problems. We also responded ineffectively to her complaint about the issue.
“We will be contacting her directly to apologise because it is clear we caused further frustration in our handling of the issue. She is right to point out she should be reimbursed for any costs incurred as a result.
"We are in regular contact with her and are in the process of making arrangements for this.
“There are many lessons to be learned from this case and I will be picking these up with my team and other teams around the business as a matter of urgency.”
A spokesperson for Holiday Inn declined to comment on the incident, saying: "We are unable to comment on individual bookings due to guest confidentiality."
