A HOUSING association that promised to clear an asbestos-ridden house in Liden has again come under fire from the angry homeowner after being told they wouldn’t be carrying out the work as planned.

Chris Kent, who lives in Boldrewood, first moved into his family home 10 years ago and since then he has been privately renting the house from Bromford Housing Association.

He only stumbled across the fact his bedroom ceiling was riddled with asbestos in December during an inspection from one of their engineers on an unrelated matter.

After lodging a formal complaint, Chris was told the removal work would be carried out at the start of June.

But Bromford has now told the 37-year-old they will be U-turning their decision, telling him they were a bit premature in promising the work in the first place.

“It seems like they’ve turned around and said our ceiling doesn’t have asbestos in anymore when it clearly has,” he said.

“All we’ve been told is that they are in a good condition despite there still being a massive chunk taken out of my ceiling and my daughter’s Artex.

"You would have thought there would have been a reason for them to suddenly not carry out the work.

“I’m quite surprised by it all because I thought it was going to get sorted but they’ve just done a massive U-turn. I am not sure they know what is in the house at all.

“It is not reassuring at all the fact they’ve said nothing will be done now. All I want is to make my house safe for my family.”

Chris, who is a soft landings manager at the University of the West of England, said he was told that the decision was made after Bromford re-evaluated a report that looked into asbestos at the house.

The dad-of-two believes under the Landlords Act, he has a right to see that report amid fears that his family’s health is being put at risk - something which he is currently being denied.

Chris said: “I want to read the report that was made about the place but I’ve been told they don’t share the information with the tenants but surely if it is about my house I should have the right to read it?

“The powder is still falling down from my bedroom and the cracks are growing. The work needs to be done properly because in my daughter’s bedroom there are chunks of artex missing.

“I feel that it is not just me and my family that have been put at risk but the people coming in to do other work in the property as well. Bromford have a duty of care to us as the tenants.”

Charlie Jackson, Bromford’s head of localities, said: “Our original decision to book in the removal of asbestos from Mr Kent’s home was premature and after reviewing this we do not need to undertake any work in the property. We understand this has caused some confusion and disruption to Mr Kent and his family and for this we apologise.

“DMW Environmental Safety carried out a fully accredited survey which confirmed that although asbestos was present under the surface of the ceilings in Mr Kent’s home, this was found to be in a fair condition and that no removal work was required.

“We have advised Mr Kent on how to ensure the asbestos remains undisturbed and we also hope to complete a further repair to one of the bedroom ceilings as part of our standard repairs process which will not disturb the underlying asbestos.”