Eight months after reporting a leak to our home insurer, Hastings Direct, my husband and I and our two-year-old are still effectively homeless. The contractors removed all the kitchen units, despite the fact that most were undamaged and were not included in the schedule of works, and Hastings now wants us to contribute £8,000 to replace them. We initially agreed to move into temporary accommodation for what we were told would be approximately two weeks. The insurer only authorises accommodation in two-week increments, creating uncertainty about where we will stay next. The kitchen units and appliances should never have been removed, it acknowledges.