A WOMAN battling cancer says she has been forced out of her new-build home after the developers have failed to fix a roof that has been leaking for more than four years.

Amanda Scarth also says she has been forced to stay with family to escape the stress of battling pouring water and breast cancer at the same time.

Amanda and her husband, Ed Scarth, bought their first home together in Highweek in 2015.

The couple were drawn to housebuilders, David Wilson Homes, after a salesman assured them they were the ‘Waitrose of housebuilding firms’.

The developers have attempted to fix the leaking window bay in the bedroom around five times with repairmen even stripping the lead off the roof.

The developers have had to do the same for a number of homes in the development, claims Amanda.

Compensation has only come their way for covering ruined blinds which were saturated by the leak. The ongoing leak has been a constant for the last 18 months of ‘harrowing breast cancer treatment’ that Amanda has been receiving.

Amanda says she cannot afford to front the money to fix the problem herself, especially since husband Ed had to take a year off work to care for her during her illness.

‘No-one cares, I can’t sleep and recover in a damp house’

Amanda claims that attempts to raise the issue have since been ignored, only to be taken notice of once.

Amanda raised the issue on various social media channels firmly in the public gaze.

‘No-one replies,’ said Amanda. ‘No-one cares and I can’t sleep and recover in a damp house with water pouring in and the house-builders are aware of my illness.’

Around one month ago, scaffolding was put up but maintenance workers have only been on site twice. According to neighbours, a number of homes in the new development are suffering from the same problem.

‘We don’t know what the plan is for the repairs or when they will return but we have water pouring in through the open ceiling down the inside of the windows onto our bedroom carpet which is ruined and onto towels which I cannot keep up with changing and tumble drying.

‘It is soaking and stinks of damp,’ she added.

‘We believe cavity wall trays are missing.

‘My neighbour has written to them about fire regulations and how their “dot and dab” method with adhesive to stick plasterboard to the bricks is against fire regulations as it allows fire and smoke to spread rapidly through the gaps in adhesive.’

In response to Amanda’s claims, Ian Menham, director for David Wilson South West, said: ‘We have been in continued communication with Mr and Mrs Scarth and apologise for the issues they continue to face.

‘The recent heavy rain has caused previous leaks to resurface.

‘We are working as a priority to install a new roof for the window as a long term sustainable solution.

‘We are committed to providing high quality homes and customer service for our buyers and we will do everything possible to reach a resolution as quickly as possible.’ORDER YOUR DIGITAL EDITION HERE