A YOUNG family was forced to leave their new home after just five days because of a flea infestation.

Elizabeth and Antony Powell and their three children were moved into the house last November by social landlords Contour Homes who knew about the problem but thought it had been dealt with.

The Powells have now been living out of a hotel room for almost two months and do not know when they can return to their home.

C o n t o u r said it was doing all it could to resolve the problem and was paying for the family’s hotel and food bills.

Mrs Powell discovered the flea problem at the house, in Stansfield Drive, in the Tonge area of Bolton, when she saw the insects crawling on her 10- month-old baby, Lexa.

Mrs Powell, said: “We lived in the house for no longer than five days.

“I first noticed the fleas when my baby daughter crawled out from the hallway and she had three black things crawling on her head and two on her back. It was so upsetting to see my daughter have fleas on her.” The couple, who also have sons Ethan, aged six, and Louie, aged four, say they had spent £4,000 refurbishing and decorating the house.

Self-employed window cleaner Mr Powell, aged 36, said: “I am so angry. The excitement of moving into a new home has gone. Our lives are on hold living in a hotel room.” Mrs Powell, added: “It is particularly hard on Ethan who has autistic spectrum disorder and does not like change.”

Karen Hughes, regional manager for Contour Homes, said: “When we inspected the property before the family moved in, we found fleas.

However, this was treated by experts and we were duly a d v i s e d that the p r o b l e m had been eradicated.

Once the family had moved in and it became apparent this was not the case, we immediately took action to have the house treated again. This too failed to stop the problem and so the family was moved out.”

She added: “We will work tirelessly to either find them another home or resolve the situation in their original property.

“While we recognise that living in a hotel is not ideal, we must take the advice of the expert pest controller — that is that more intensive works have to be carried out and this could take some time. We would hate for the family to move back into their home and the problem reoccurs.”