A GROUP of families forced to evacuate their homes when a fire broke out have moved back in despite fears their properties could collapse.

The close-knit band of six Felstead Close families are refusing to leave because they say they have not been given suitable alternative accommodation by their housing association, Servite.

They are now providing food and showers to the Addo family who were out when their three-bedroom house collapsed in the fire, which started at 7am on July 5.

The Addos say they have been offered a one-floor property which comprised a double bedroom, a boxroom, a living room and a kitchen/dining room, but refused it on the grounds that their 18-year-old son would have to share a single bed with their 15-year-old daughter, while their other two children, aged 22 and 24, who are currently away, would have nowhere to sleep.

They are now sleeping in their people-carrier and a borrowed van outside the property. Their daughter is currently taking her GCSEs and St Anne's Catholic High School for girls.

Tina Addo said when the fire broke out the family was packing for a five week, £2,000 holiday to Ghana celebrate her 22-year-old daughter Nana's wedding. The wedding has now been postponed and the family has lost £1,600 on the cancelled tickets. The charred remains of the family's packing cases, with shoes still visible, are heaped outside the house along with blackened bottles of champagne which they had intended to take.

Mrs Addo, a carer, said: "I rang [Servite] on Saturday and said please try to consider me, please. There is nowhere for me to go, all of my friends are full up. I have been with them for 19 years and they are treating me like an animal."

A diabetes sufferer, she is now taking blood pressure medication and losing her hair because of stress.

Her husband Yaw Addo, a postman, said that the six families, all of whom have at least two children, and one which has five, were told on Tuesday 7 that six houses were available in Edmonton and Tottenham, but one of the reasons residents didn't take them up was because they didn't like the area and feared they would have to live in cramped conditions for months.

Residents had been offered alternative accommodation in a hostel from Saturday when they were asked to leave the budget hotel they had been put up in in Finchley.

He said: "Servite rang this morning and asked if they could come and remove our stuff [so they could put up scaffolding]. I said if you are not prepared to talk to me about accommodation I am not prepared to talk to you about anything else."

He added: "When we spoke to our solicitor they said Servite were obligated to give us accommodation in this borough of a similar size."

Julie Humphreys, of housing association Servite, said: "The families that have returned to Felstead Close have done so against the instructions and advice of Servite Houses, surveyors and insurers. They have been fully informed of the dangers and risk that they are taking."

She added: "The Addos were invited to view a flat on Friday evening, which we believe may have been suited to their needs in terms of size and location. In terms of providing alternative accommodation several reasonable alternatives have been offered to each of the families involved in the incident. Each offer has been refused, and we have now run out of options. The families have been advised to attend the Homeless Persons Unit at Enfield Council to be provided with temporary accommodation. The Homeless Persons Unit are aware of the situation and have been on standby since Saturday to receive the families."

The fire service, which visited the site on Thursday, said that the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Residents say they have been told that their properties could take five to six months to repair.