Sanctuary Housing told Ely mum to buy candles to light home

Adelle Cunningham, from Ely, said rainwater had seeped into her bungalow's light fittings through a hole in the roof. 

She alleges that instead of carrying out urgent repairs, engineers contracted by Sanctuary Housing, left her and her children in "darkness".

Ms Cunningham, left, and her partner Kieran Drummond, right (Image: Supplied)

The 27-year-old also claims her landlord told her to buy her own candles in response to safety concerns she had raised.

Ms Cunningham said the incident is just one of many issues she has experienced since moving into the property in January last year.  

She said a combination of damp, mould and structural damage has turned her family's life "upside down".

"The mental toll has been unreal, and it was just a couple of weeks after moving in that we started to notice the issue with the roof," she told the Ely Standard.

The 27-year-old claims damp was allowed to spread in the property (Image: Supplied)

"We thought it would just be the one-off but then the issues were just one after the other and when one repair was made another issue arose.

"That's when we started to realise that actually this is becoming depressing because not once in the almost two years that we've been here have I actually enjoyed living here."

Ms Cunningham claims she began to experience issues with the property almost immediately after moving in.

She said that despite repeated requests, mould was left to spread in bungalow's adjoining outbuilding for almost a year before action was taken.

Large cracks have also appeared on walls with "light from the outside" visible in some parts of the home.

As well as structural issues, Ms Cunningham claims her wet room floods due to the absence of sloped flooring around the shower tray.

Ms Cunningham said damp, mould and structural damage has turned her family's life (Image: Supplied)

While the bathroom was recently repaired, she says the flooding is "worse" than before.

She admits she has since refused the same contractors to complete repairs to the wet room because of what she describes as "poor work". 

"It's just one thing after another, it feels like a constant stream of issues plaguing our home," she added.

"It breaks my heart to think that if someone else was living here that didn't have the energy to chase these repairs, the building would have fallen down around them."

Ms Cunningham is a mum of two small children (Image: Supplied)

A spokesperson for Sanctuary Housing said it has recently completed "significant improvements" in the wet room.

They added a full structural survey would be carried out to assess whether further work is required.

“We understand the concerns raised by Ms Cunningham and we can reassure her that we are committed to completing any further repairs that are required as soon as possible."

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