A mum and her three children were left shivering in sub-zero temperatures for more than a week at her rented home because of a faulty boiler.

Rebecca James from Walderslade was forced to boil water and rely on fan heaters which ran her up bills of more than £80 in 10 days.

Her youngest, Lennie, aged three who has chicken pox, was fully clothed in a sleeping bag to keep warm.

Rebecca, 31, an mhs homes tenant, had to borrow money to pay for the makeshift heating on loan.

Landlord mhs homes said there had been complications, with three new parts needed, one of which was not stocked locally. The fault was finally fixed on Friday.

Rebecca said engineers, from the contractors Liberty Gas, had been to her house in Churchill Avenue five times to repair the boiler but said on each occasion they brought the wrong part.

Rebecca, who is also mum to Grace, 11, and Alfie, nine, and partner to Jamie Smith said before it was resolved: “We are freezing.

“I have lived here for eight years. This is no way to treat a tenant...” Rebecca James

“We have been told to put the immersion on, but that’s only enough hot water for a quarter of a bath.

“I’ve been boiling up water in a big saucepan.

“I have called to complain loads of times but keep getting fobbed off.

“I have lived here for eight years. This is no way to treat a tenant.”

mhs operations director Stephanie Goad said they worked with their contractor Liberty Gas to get it fixed as soon as possible.

She said: “It needed three new parts, the first two were fitted earlier this week.

“This final part wasn’t in stock locally, so Liberty Gas arranged a courier service for it to be delivered as soon as possible.

“They’re hoping to get the part and fit it today (Friday). Providing this is the case everything should then be back to normal.

“We’ll assess Miss James’ situation alongside Liberty Gas to make sure she isn’t out of pocket for any additional costs she’s had to pay.”