A family with a newborn baby have blasted their housing association for leaving them shivering during the coldest January in years.

Mum Hannah Hall was left frustrated after problems with a dodgy boiler meant her family were without central heating or hot water for a week. Wandle Housing, the association responsible for repairing it, has apologised to Ms Hall.

Ms Hall lives at the flat in Wandle Bank, Colliers Wood, with her partner Kevin Archer and their three-week-old daughter Samiyah. The family said the latest problem with the boiler began just after Christmas.

Engineers made a series of visits to the flat, but were unable to fix the problem. Last Monday they discovered corroded piping was behind the problem and shut down the boiler completely.

Wandle loaned the family portable electric heaters, which Ms Hall said did not do enough to heat the flat. A new boiler was finally installed on Monday.

Ms Hall said Wandle and its contractors K & T Heating had each blamed the other party for delays in the process, and she had been left feeling “sheer desperation” and shown no sympathy from either company.

A spokesman for Wandle Housing said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to Ms Hall and her family due to problems with the boiler. When the engineer realised a new boiler was needed we took action to ensure it was ordered and installed as rapidly as possible to resolve the problem.

“Temporary electric heaters were also give to the family so they would be able to heat their home until the new boiler could be installed. We will contact Mrs Hall to discuss compensation for the inconvenience and also to cover any increased costs she may have had heating her home due to the use of the electric heaters.”