Chesterfield family left living in ‘appalling’ conditions after house fire as council takes over a year to finish repairs

On Friday, October 22, 2021 Jemma Dean and her two children, aged 15 and 16, were soundly sleeping at their home on Baden Powell Avenue, Chesterfield. At around 12.16am that morning, however, their tumble drier burst into flames, and although they got out safely, the property suffered significant damage.

Jemma’s partner Sophie Swinson said: “There was a lot of damage. Pretty much the whole of the upstairs was destroyed, a window was completely smashed out and all of the walls were corroded from the fire.

“All of the kids and Jemma’s furniture was burnt to smithereens. The hallway and guttering was damaged, and the firefighters obviously sprayed everywhere down, and now the house is damp and mouldy.”

Since then, Sophie and Jemma said they have been embroiled in a constant battle with Chesterfield Borough Council, which own the property, to make it liveable. Sophie added that their main concern was a broken window, which has left the property insecure and caused Jemma’s bills to skyrocket as she tries to keep her home warm.

“Chesterfield Borough Council asked her to move out for a week, and when they came back the house was exactly the same – they had done nothing at all.

“She then got in touch with the council after that, and four weeks later, they came out to do the upstairs hallway – all they did was paint it. They replastered the ceiling in Jemma’s room but refused to do the kids’ bedroom, and that’s all that’s been done.

“She’s been in touch with the council several times since and people have come out. They would take a look at the window and say ‘I can’t do that today’ because another job hadn’t been done – it was stupid excuses that had no relevance to the window.

“She’s been paying full rent and council tax the whole time. The gas bill is out of this world because there’s no window upstairs, and she’s trying to keep two children warm.”

“Sophie said that Jemma had been encouraged to fund the repairs herself.

“They wanted her to do it all herself, and tried to offer her painting vouchers – paint is not going to fix a wall that’s completely smoke damaged. They asked if we can fund sorting it ourselves, but it’s not our responsibility – they own that property.

“There’s live electrics hanging from the ceiling directly outside the bathroom – you’ve never seen anything like it.”

Sophie also stressed the impact of the last 12 months on the family’s mental health – and added that they had begged to be moved to another property

“It’s made their mental health spiral, and they’re still living in that house. They’ve got nowhere to go, and the council won’t rehouse them anywhere else.

“They’ve begged and pleaded to be moved and it’s appalling. I’ve got a one bedroom house so I can’t take them in either.

“It’s just a nightmare. I don’t understand how a single mum with kids can be expected to live in a property which is in a state of disrepair.”

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A spokesperson for Chesterfield Borough Council said: “The safety of our tenants is always our top priority and we immediately carried out significant repairs to the property to make sure it was safe for the family to continue living in their home. Our team returned to complete the plastering and associated work in March 2022, and we expect the final outstanding repairs to be completed within the next week.

“We sympathise with the family’s situation and understand that it is frustrating that we were not able to carry out all of the repairs at the same time. However, with almost 9,000 council homes across the borough we must prioritise emergency repairs to ensure all of our tenants are living in safe homes, and will continue to complete other less urgent repairs as soon as we can.”