A young family were left shaken when the ceiling of their kitchen collapsed dramatically this morning.
The Vieira family live in a house in the Walton area of Liverpool managed by social landlord Onward Homes.
The family said they have been complaining to the company for six months about issues in the house include damp and leaks.
They said that while people have been out to see the issues, they have never been resolved - and today things came to ahead in dramatic fashion.
Ishmael Vieira, who lives there with his sister Helena and her two young children described the scene.
He said: "I woke up this morning and was preparing to leave the house when I walked in the kitchen and saw it all.
"The cat we have was right next to where the whole ceiling collapsed, it could have been killed.
"My sister has two children aged six and two - what if one of them had been there when it collapsed?
"My sister is crying, she is so upset."
Mr Vieira said the dramatic damage comes after months of trying to deal with problems in the house.
He said: "We have been complaining about problems with damp and leaks to the housing company for six months now.
"Water has been leaking through the windows and into plug sockets and the bathroom has been leaking into the kitchen.
"We told them so many times that it hadn't been sorted out - we were worried something like this might happen."
A spokesman for Onward Homes said: "We are very sorry for any distress caused to Mrs Vieira and her family following the ongoing repair works at her house.
"The repairs originally scheduled were non-urgent, however they took longer than originally planned due to unexpected electrical work needed.
"This has now been resolved and the work was completed yesterday, at which point the ceiling was still intact.
"Following the ceiling collapse we arranged for a contractor operative and supervisor to go to the house today, along with an Onward specialist, to investigate. As the two jobs appear unrelated, we have arranged for additional specialists to attend today to resolve the situation.
"We will do our best to have the works completed as quickly as possible and take forward any learnings for future cases."
