A FAMILY is hoping its long battle to improve living conditions could soon be over, after the landlord was fined for failing to make repairs.

Maureen and Fernligh Brown and their son Simon, of Meneage Villas, St Austell, have spent the last four years dodging leaking roofs, windows and doors.

They've been told by inspectors the house is a potential firetrap because of old polystyrene ceiling tiles and no smoke alarms.

Some window frames are rotten, exposing the family to draughts and wet weather.

Alzheimer's sufferer Mrs Brown, 62, said: "When people pick me up I tell them I live down the road because it's too embarrassing to have them stop here. I'm ashamed I live here."

The family has had to change settees and carpets in the living room three times over the last few years as the problems remain unresolved.

Rotten

In Mrs Brown's bedroom, the roof leaks and the family has been forced to keep the window open for years for fear it might fall out due to the rotten frame.

Her family has lived in the house for 16 years, and Mr Brown, 77, said: "We love this house, but recently it has been a house of horrors. I feel ashamed, everything smells mouldy."

"All we want is for the house to be wind and watertight."

The landlady Ruby Arulanantham, 45, pleaded guilty at Bodmin magistrates on July 20 for failing to comply with a Housing Act 2004 Improvement Notice, requiring repairs to be made to the property.

Arulanantham of West Purley, Surrey was fined £300 and ordered to pay £500 costs to Cornwall Council, with a £15 victim surcharge.

She also entered a guilty plea for failing to comply with a notice requesting documentation by a specified date.

Following a complaint from the family, Cornwall Council inspectors visited the property and issued Arulanantham with an Improvement Notice on July 2, 2009.

Breached

The notice required works to be carried out by December 6 that year to remove the identified hazards.

Another inspection on December 11 last year showed work had not been carried out and notice breached.

Arulanantham has still not made repairs and Cornwall Council is considering its next steps.

Mrs Brown said the council had been "absolutely fantastic".

"I just want her to do the work; we've waited so long and I just want a house that I'm proud to live in."

Arulanantham declined to comment when contacted by the Cornish Guardian.