A heavily-pregnant woman has been left distressed after enduring excessive damp and repair delays in her home.

Chelsea Burke, 25, lives in a Bolton at Home property in Horwich with her two children.

In February she reported a leak in her bathroom ceiling which caused the electrics to blow and left her with a hole in her ceiling.

The property also has significant damp issues, causing black mould to grow in Miss Burke's bedroom.

Bolton at Home did send someone to conduct an initial repair of the ceiling, however, due to coronavirus they were unable to fully fix the issue leaving Miss Burke concerned about the safety of the ceiling.

The mum-of-two is expecting her third baby and is due to give birth this week.

Over recent months she's grown grown increasingly worried about bringing her newborn baby back to the flat, particularly as she had not heard anything from Bolton at Home.

Miss Burke said: “Bolton At Home said they couldn’t come out because of coronavirus, but it was reported before then.

“I've not been able to have a light in the bathroom and there were dead lice falling through the hole in the ceiling.

“It’s not nice and it’s so disgusting, my children have been scared to use the bathroom in the dark.

“There’s lots of damp in my bedroom, which is where the baby will be sleeping. There is black fluffy mould along the window - the property doesn’t feel safe.

“It just gets you down, it stopped me from making it into a home. I couldn’t afford to fix it myself.

“They’re quick to check on you if money is involved, but they won’t if there’s damp, mould or a ceiling collapsing.

“It’s awful and it makes you feel like rubbish. It’s been like this for so many months and it’s been even more difficult during the pandemic.”

Paul Taylor, Director of Technical Services for Bolton at Home, said: “We’re sorry for the delay in completing the repair work at Miss Burke’s home and for the inconvenience this is causing.

“We carried out an emergency repair to board the hole in the ceiling, though we were unable to return and finish the remaining work to plaster over the repair as the COVID-19 restrictions forced us to move to an emergency repairs service only.

“We’re now starting to work through the backlog of non-urgent repairs. We’ve been in contact with Miss Burke and have arranged to complete the work this week.”