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A heartbroken mum has told how her daughter asked for a warm bath as a Christmas present this year.

The family has been without heating and hot water for three months after their landlord failed to fix the boiler.

The mum and her 13-year-old child were also prescribed antibiotics after falling ill during the freezing temperatures.

Nina, 36, who lives in Bigler Court on Atlip Road, north London, with her husband and two daughters, feels “let down” by her landlord, housing association L&Q.

She told MyLondon: “One of my daughters was ill for such a long time, it was going on and on and on.

“It was really cold here, minus something outside.

“They gave us three small heaters but they don’t really work. You have to stand right next to them to get any kind of warmth, it wasn’t enough to make the room warm and it was costing £10 a day [to use them]”.

Nina first reported a small fault with her boiler to L&Q on September 5, before the heating stopped working entirely.

She explains how she wasn’t really using it at that point but called the landlord because she “knows how long it takes” and “wanted to make sure it was sorted by the winter.”

Initially, it was thought that the boiler needed a new part, however, after lots of visits and many weeks going by, an engineer concluded that a completely new unit was required on October 7.

Nina states that even more time passed whilst L&Q signed off on the new system, which was finally ordered on November 16.

L&Q offered to put the family up in a hotel in Camden for three months until the new boiler was working, which they refused.

Nina explains: “How are they seeing that’s possible for three months in one room. I have two kids, three cats, and two rabbits. What are we going to eat? How would we manage to take the kids to school? When I checked from Camden, it was over 40 minutes by train.”

The family had been boiling a kettle which they were adding to cold water and using in the bath.

However, when the engineers turned off the old boiler it also turned off the cold water in the bathtub.

Nina said: “I now need to bring all of this water from the kitchen to the bathroom in a really big pot, it’s very heavy. This is our daily wash.”

She added: “Me and my two daughters have long hair, we are struggling to wash [it] and after doing so we are freezing. Imagine having periods and trying to stay a bit clean for months.”

Alperton Councillor, Anton Georgiou said he was “shocked” to hear about the family’s situation and the fact that they had been left without heating and hot water for so long “alarming”.

He added: “Nina’s attempts to have this situation resolved by L&Q have fallen on deaf ears, now her daughter’s Christmas wish is to simply have a hot bath. Do L&Q really think that this is acceptable?

“I really do hope a new boiler will be installed quickly for the family, however it should not take my intervention as councillor or a press story for residents’ concerns to be listened to!”

A spokesperson for L&Q said they are “so sorry for the distress caused” by the delay in fixing the boiler, calling the four visits by contractors to fix the issue “unsuccessful”.

They said the repairs are expected to be completed “within the next few days”.

The spokesperson added: “No one should be cold during the autumn and winter period, and we are distressed to hear that the family has been ill.

“We offered alternative accommodation when it became clear repairs would take longer, but this was turned down.

“We supplied electric heaters in October and have arranged for more to be delivered yesterday (December 21) upon hearing that these weren’t sufficient.”

An appointment to fit the new boiler has now been scheduled for today, December 23.

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