THE plight of a young family living in a top-floor flat in Alton has triggered alarm bells after part of the ceiling fell in – the result, it is thought, of water ingress in the roof.

For partners Katie Bogne and Michael Mitchell, it was the final straw in a catalogue of disasters which has turned their Kingdons Mews home into a health hazard for their two young children and pushed them both to breaking point.

Now, thanks to the intervention of local councillors, the Affinity Sutton Housing Association has sprung into action to effect repairs that the couple say should have been carried out months ago.

As owner of the property, Affinity Sutton makes clear on its website that it has a responsibility to keep “the roof water and weather tight”.

But in this case, the association appears to have fallen a long way short of its commitment to its tenants.

According to the couple, the leak first manifested itself last summer when they discovered water coming in through the ceiling in the kitchen.

Contractors for Affinity came out to have a look but apparently found nothing amiss with the roof.

At Christmas, the couple discovered pools of water in the kitchen which was again coming in through the ceiling.

After Christmas they determined to sort it out and sought help, first from their housing officer and then the Environmental Health department, who flagged up several issues to do with safety, including the lack of a smoke alarm and child locks on the Georgian sash windows, as well as the damp – there was mould in flat and they had had no proper heating for months, which had led to the family suffering from chest infections, forcing Michael to take time off work and resulted in Katie contracting pneumonia.

While the safety and heating problems have since been sorted, although the three flights of access stairs and its location over a pub continue to render the property unsuitable for a young family, the crunch came last Wednesday when part of the ceiling fell in, leaving a gaping hole in the sitting room. At this point, Katie was so desperate she was threatening to “throw herself out of the window”.

Concerned mother-in-law Sharon Mitchell picked up the phone in her Devon home and began calling everyone she could think of, including the Alton Herald.

Local councillors – district ward representative Edward Brandt, and town councillors Sharon Cullen and Matthew Bayliss – came on board and started rattling bars, alerting East Hampshire District Council’s housing officers to the case, and Affinity Sutton was spurred on to attend to the roof.

An Affinity spokesman said: “We are aware of the ongoing issues with the roof leak at this property and our operatives have attended a number of times. We, of course, appreciate the inconvenience this has created and we can confirm that the identified cause is now repaired and we will be carrying out the remedial works to the ceiling as soon as possible.”

While councillors had been assured that the roof repairs had been affected last Friday, according to Mr Mitchell that was not the case. However, a member of Community Building Services (the contractors for Affinity Sutton) did turn up on Tuesday to deal with the roof and to remove all wet materials from the loft, and are due to return this Saturday to repair and decorate the ceiling.

In addition, the fans in the two-bedroom property are to be upgraded and will remain on permanently so they can detect humidity and come into operation to remove moisture, which should help alleviate the condensation problem in the flat.

Based on previous performance, after feeling “fobbed off” for so long the family are understandably sceptical but are keeping fingers crossed that these improvements will now happen.