A Wiltshire mother’s Christmas was “ruined” after her housing association left her without heating or hot water.

Sarah Hodby, who lives in a GreenSquareAccord property on Anchor Road in Calne, spent Christmas in the cold with her 17-year-old son and three dogs.

The family has been without heating or hot water since Friday, December 22, when the house’s “20-year-old” boiler broke.

While GreenSquareAccord arranged to fix the boiler by January 4, Ms Hodby says this lengthy wait has had a major impact on her family.

The 50-year-old said: “We’ve already had one emergency repair on it this month and we’ve had loads of problems, but they didn’t replace it.

“They didn’t even let me know when it would be fixed, it’s disgusting to leave us over Christmas and it’s made it pretty rubbish.

“I suffer from asthma, and this has really impacted us because not having the heat can affect my chest.

“It’s been really cold and I’ve had to stay in bed because I can’t afford the portable heaters… a dog in a shelter would get better heating.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: Sarah Hodby

GreenSquareAccord says the lengthy wait for repairs is due to a missing part which will not arrive until 2024.

A spokesperson said: “We are sorry about the issues Ms Hodby is experiencing.

“The wellbeing of our customers is our top priority, and we are committed to resolving this issue.

“On Saturday, December 23, we attended Ms Hodby’s home to diagnose the problem with the boiler, having been notified about the issue earlier that day, but we were unable to resolve the issue because we did not have the required part.”

GreenSquareAccord expects this part to arrive on January 3 and has made an appointment to fix the boiler the following day.

The housing association offered Ms Hodby temporary accommodation and compensation for the cost of portable heaters.

They added: “We apologise for the delay in resolving this issue and for the longer than usual wait for parts over the festive period.

“We have made a payment to Ms Hodby to reimburse her for the use of portable heaters and other costs associated with the loss of use of her boiler. 

“We have reached out to offer her temporary accommodation and have asked if there is anything we can do to support her in the meantime.”

But Ms Hodby says she is unable to use temporary accommodation because of her pets and insists that the compensation cannot remedy the “distress” she has been caused over the holidays.