A DISTRESSED father says his young family has been living in ‘terrible’ conditions for months.

Harry Prosser, 26, lives with his partner and three young children in St George's Avenue, Dovercourt, and moved into his new home on December 29.

However, in the past few months, the family claims it has gone through a plethora of issues including carbon monoxide hazards, rat infestation and swarms of flies.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard: Dangerous - The meter shows the dire condition the home has been left inDangerous - The meter shows the dire condition the home has been left in (Image: Harry Prosser)

His landlord Steven Davies said the issues have been resolved but Harry does not agree.

Harry said: “By the beginning of January our carbon monoxide alarm went off so we contacted our landlord.

“He wasn’t interested in helping so I contacted the emergency gas service who came out and informed us of a gas leak and switched off our meter.

“Then our landlord sent out his plumber who couldn’t see the issue and switched the gas back on.

“The alarm went off again, I contacted our landlord who advised us to move the alarm away from the boiler.”

At this point, Harry claims he contacted the emergency gas line again and an emergency engineer said if the alarm was moved away from the boiler the family ‘would have been dead’.

The family had only been living in the home for two weeks at that point and reached out to Tendring Council who issued a formal improvement notice.

Harry attests his home was assessed to have three category one hazards which are those involving the risk of severe injury or death, and seven category two hazards which are slightly less severe.

He added: “After a botched pest control job to treat an infestation of rats, I returned home from work on April 13 and to find more than two hundred blowflies in my house.”

A spokesman for Tendring Council said the authority was aware of the case.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing case of this type, but we are aware of the matter and keeping the complainant informed of the process,” he added.

“It is standard for us to offer B&B accommodation on a temporary basis to households who are facing homelessness in this manner; we, like authorities up and down the country, do not hold housing stock just to place people in immediately, but continue to work to find people a suitable home as quickly as possible.”

Landlord Steven Davies said: “The incidents regarding pest control and carbon monoxide hazards were resolved a long time ago.

“I can back that up with receipts and recorded sign-offs from professional companies to prove what I’m saying, I have statements.

“There are on-going court proceedings and I would not like to comment further.”