A YOUNG family claim they have been living in a ‘home from hell’ after the ceiling caved in during bad weather.

Hyndburn Council’s environmental health department has launched an investigation into the property after they were called to inspect the premises yesterday.

Pregnant Rebecca Vernon and partner Mark Carlisle moved into their Great Harwood terraced home in May, and said they believed ongoing work would be completed in a few weeks.

However the couple, who live with Rebecca’s two young children aged five and eight, said just over two months later the property had gone from bad to worse.

They said that Mark needed hospital treatment for concussion after part of the living room ceiling collapsed on him over the weekend.

The 26-year-old said he had been placing pots and pans along the floor because water was dripping into the living room, when huge pieces of plaster came away.

He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital on Saturday and said he was still experiencing headaches yesterday.

The couple said they had asked the landlord to carry out repairs and were having to rely on two electrical heaters for warmth, one which had fallen from the wall.

Rebecca, who works for Bupa, said she had sent her young children to stay with their father due to the problems.

The couple said they relied on a microwave to prepare food. Rebecca, 32, is due to give birth in September.

She said: “It’s just awful. I am asthmatic.

“And I was having some health problems anyway with the baby.”

A spokesman for Hyndburn Council said an investigation is underway into the conditions at the property. The property is let to the couple through a firm called Rent A Property in Great Harwood.

Bosses at the company told the Lancashire Telegraph that they were seeking temporary accommodation for the couple as the investigation is taking place.