Young family of three forced to sleep in car due to 'absolutely atrocious' conditions at Northampton council flat

Stef Winyard, a mother of two girls, aged 11 and 16, spent the night in her Vauxhall Corsa on Tuesday (October 15) because of the severe issues they are facing in their Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) property in Thorplands. The flat suffers from severe mould, damp, a rat infestation, and poor living conditions, which have led to health problems for the mother and her children.

The 38-year-old initially reached out to this newspaper, saying: “The living conditions are absolutely atrocious. Both my girls have had so much time off school because it's making us all extremely poorly. It's made me so ill. My children and I are seriously suffering in this flat; we are constantly ill, and it's having a huge impact on my girls' and my mental health. Please, we are desperate for someone to listen and get us out of there.”

Last week, she says she was even bitten by a rat, which led her to seek hospital treatment.

After Chronicle and Echo alerted Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH) about the issues the woman is facing, representatives visited the property. An NPH spokeswoman said: “We were recently alerted to a number of issues in the property by the concerned tenant. We have been actively working to resolve these issues, and officers are in regular contact with them. The safety and wellbeing of our residents is extremely important to us, and another contractor has been scheduled to visit the property today.”

However, after spending the weekend in temporary accommodation at Westone Manor Hotel, the woman returned to find around 20 rats in her sofabed mattress in the living room.

She said: “There were 20 or so rats in the mattress of my sofabed. We all slept in my car last night; we had no choice, we had nowhere to go. I rolled the two front seats back for the kids and I slept in the backseat. It was freezing. I just had to take them to school, they were in tears.

"I’ve been very sad and emotional, but now I’m starting to get very angry. You can’t make a home in a place like that.”

She has expressed frustration over her communication with Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH), noting difficulties with the council housing arm of West Northants Council since she moved in last year.

She said: “I’ve never once met my housing officer, but she’s now coming round today after I contacted Chronicle and Echo. Nothing has been done here in a year to fix the issues, apart from the skirting boards. An investigator came round before and put a damp probe on the floor, and it read 99.9% damp.

“They just never call back. You don’t get anywhere with them. I feel like they look at people like me and think I’m just a council tenant scumbag. I’ve never been in a council property before this in my life.”

NPH was contacted for an updated comment and referred us to their initial response.