Norwich couple living in their car for seven months in council house wait

Norwich City Council has told Aram Sarbir and his wife Shahla Qadir that their house is still not ready - after seven months

A couple said they have been living in their car for about seven months while waiting for council accommodation.

Aram Sarbir, 47 and his wife Shahla Qadir, 28, have been sleeping in their Ford Mondeo and occasionally on friends' sofas in Norwich.

Issues with their landlord's mortgage forced them from their old home, and in March, Norwich City Council showed them a new house but that is not yet ready.

The council admitted delays in its backlog of repairs were "unacceptable".

During their wait for accommodation, Ms Qadir had to overcome a miscarriage and needed hospital treatment, while Mr Sarbir underwent surgery for issues with his feet, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Speaking about the couple's prospective new home, Mr Sarbir said: "They [Norwich City Council] said one or two weeks when I went to view it but it has been seven months and we are still not moved in.

"They said they will contact me soon, then they said it will be next week, it keeps moving on.

"On 10 March, I went to view the house but they still haven't given me a key."

Mr Sarbir and his wife occasionally stay with friends but no-one is able to offer them a room

He said he and his wife were sometimes able to shower at friends' homes, eat with them and sometimes sleep on their sofas but none of their friends had any spare rooms.

A spokeswoman for the Labour-run city council, said: "We've been very open about the fact that our repairs backlog has created some unacceptable delays."

Additional contractors had been brought in to address the issue, she said.

"We were upfront about the fact that we didn't expect the backlog to be cleared before the end of the year.

"Work is under way at Mr Sarbir's property and we've been in touch directly to reassure him and let him know about moving in timeframes."