STUDENTS have been forced to move out of their rented home fearing it could collapse.

Abigail Milnes was one of 10 students, from Manchester Metropolitan University, who took out a lease on the Slade Lane property, in Longsight, last month.

Six of the students moved in over the summer, while building work to convert an area under the kitchen into an additional room was ongoing.

But as the construction work continued Abigail and her fellow residents became increasingly concerned as cracks appeared and plaster started falling from the walls and ceiling.

When she could see daylight through one of the cracks in her room she became so concerned that she called in her father Alan, who has built his own home.

And he immediately told the students to leave and alerted the police so the house could be checked.

Council officials have ordered emergency remedial works in order for the building to be made safe, and the students have been told not return to the house to pick up belongings from rooms at the rear.

Landlords Pegasus Residential have found temporary accommodation for the students. And the Health and Safety Executive have also been informed.

Abigail, aged, 19, who is studying design and art direction at MMU, said: "When the first cracks appeared I was a bit troubled and I rang the landlord. A couple of days later there was a massive crack in my room which went around the whole corner where my bed was."

Plaster

By then Abigail says she was so perturbed that she spent the night at her friend's. And it was when she found more plaster had fallen when she returned the next day she decided to call her dad.

Since then Abigail has been told it is too dangerous for her to return to her room, which is at the back of the house. And only those residents with rooms at the front have been allowed to retrieve any of their things.

"We've been able to get some things out of the rooms at the front of the house, but we can't go into the kitchen or the back bedrooms, because we've been told that's unsafe to walk on," said Abigail. "I managed to grab a few things before I left, but most of my stuff is still in my room."

Her dad, Worsley-based security consultant Alan, says that initially he had thought his daughter had exaggerated the danger, but he says he wasn't prepared for what he found when he arrived.

"When my daughter phoned me to say there was a crack in her wall, I thought it would be a small crack - but she could actually see daylight through it," said Alan.

"When I saw it I got all the students out of the building and phoned the police. When I saw it, it was extremely dangerous and I was extremely concerned for my daughter."

A spokesman for Pegasus Residential confirmed they had moved the students into two alternative properties, but declined to comment further.

Officials from the Health and Safety Executive have served a 'prohibition order' on the property, which forces an immediate halt to the work because of the danger it poses to the workforce and members of the public.

A spokesman for Manchester council said: "The council has served a notice on the property to be made safe. The owner of the property is currently in the process of arranging for this remedial work to be carried out."

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