A DISABLED mother-of-four says her New Year's was ruined after her ceiling fell in, causing a leak that wrecked her carpet and sofas.

To add insult to injury Tina Harman's housing association, Affinity Sutton, has refused to help her replace the damaged items.

Miss Harman lives in Quilter Road, Orpington, with her children Chloe, 13, Connor, seven, Callum, six and four-year-old Codi.

The 37-year-old suffered a mini stoke four years ago, and as a result doesn't have full use of her left leg.

She moved into the property on December 16, before taking her children to stay with her parents over Christmas.

The family returned to find the ceiling in the front room had fallen in, while water was leaking into the flat.

News Shopper:

She told News Shopper: "I came back on the December 28 to find the ceiling of my front room on the floor.

"There was water leaking into the flat. The carpet and my sofas were absolutely soaked.

"I'd been told the house was safe to live in but it doesn't bear thinking about if we had been there."

Miss Harman immediately contacted Affinity Sutton, who sent someone around later that day.

They took the rest of the ceiling down to secure the room and left, without fixing the leak.

Miss Harman added: "I rang them every day after that to ask someone to come and sort it out but no one came.

"They kept saying put buckets down but it wasn't that kind of leak.

"Water was leaking the whole length of my front room.

"My furniture has been ruined and Affinity Sutton have told me they won't even help me replace it."

Water continued to leak into Ms Harman's front room until January 7, nearly two weeks later.

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An Affinity Sutton spokeswoman said: "We sympathise with Ms Harman, whose ceiling was damaged as a result of theft of lead flashing across the lower roof of her property, and appreciate the inconvenience this will have caused.

"The Christmas period was our busiest on record in terms of out of hours call outs because of the severe weather conditions and we attended many similar water leak emergencies.

"We have rectified the missing flashing to prevent further damage and have placed a dehumidifier in Ms Harman’s property to assist with the drying out process.

"We will now work swiftly to ensure the ceiling is reinstated as soon as possible.

"The theft has been reported to the police and we hope that they are able to arrest the perpetrator to prevent this from happening to other residents in the area."