IT has, in estate agents’ speak, “potential” – a four-storey Victorian home in Kentish Town with large bedrooms and period features in a highly desirable road.

But for artist Patricia Tucker, the house she has raised her family in has become a semi-derelict money pit because of Town Hall dithering.

The terraced house in Gaisford Street needs a new roof and major structural work, with the council now facing paying an ever-rising repair bill stretching into tens of thousands of pounds.

In January, Ms Tucker was moved into a temporary two-bedroom flat nearby and told she would be back home before spring was out.

Still waiting for the works to be done, she said: “Not only have I been forced from my family home – I am in my 80s and I would like to feel safe and secure in my own house, with my family around me, and my things not somewhere in storage – but this is an eye-watering waste.

“The flat downstairs could be used for a family, and the council flat I am currently staying in should also be a haven for others in need. The waste is extraordinary.

“It could have paid for the work by now and every day that passes means it could cost more. The lack of information is a cause of a huge amount of stress. I have been here for 10 months and have yet to even be told a possible start date for the work to begin.”

The council accepts the house has become uninhabitable and that it is its responsibility to make repairs. The home repair problems stretch back two decades and reached a point in 2019 when Ms Tucker staged a one-woman election day protest at a Kentish Town polling station.

But despite repeatedly raising the issue with the Town Hall – and surveyors, engineers and builders being in­structed to draw up a plan with start dates promised – today her home remains empty, open to the elements with its historic fabric deteriorating rapidly.

Ms Tucker bought the house 20 years ago and hoped it would be a way of ensuring she could leave her children a small nest egg. Gaisford Street was hit by bombs in the Second World War, and three doors along from Ms Tucker’s home are flats built on a bombsite in the 1970s.

The family now believe the Blitz may be partly why the house needs significant work and possibly underpinning.

Ms Tucker said: “We discovered 10 years ago [that] the back of the house, where the bathroom is, was falling away from the rest of the building. It got so bad I could see though a crack into the ground-floor flat’s bedroom, and from my bath I could look into Wolsey Mews.

“The council cannot afford to be wasting money in this way, and I cannot sit by and watch days of my life go by in complete limbo.”

She added: “I wanted to leave something for my children. Instead, all I am doing is storing up a legacy of a derelict pile of bricks and bills for them to sort out.”

To compound matters, Ms Tucker has faced a series of court orders for unpaid council tax bills – despite her receiving a pension council tax rebate which means she is exempt. The council tax bills, which are over £4,000, are for the Gaisford Street property which she has been unable to live in, and for her temporary home.

“Despite repeated calls to the Town Hall, the bills continue to arrive – as do threatening letters from bailiffs and court summonses.”

A Town Hall spokes­man said the council would now cover any council tax owed, and added: “Unfortunately this building requires major repair works before Ms Tucker can move back in.

“We are in the process of starting structural repairs to the building and repairs to the roof and windows. Due to the extensive nature of these works, these repairs will not be complete until summer 2023. We appreciate this is a lengthy period for anyone to be out of their home and we would like to apologise to Ms Tucker for the disruption and inconvenience she is experiencing. We are committed to supporting Ms Tucker and have provided an alternative flat close by for the duration of these works.”