RESIDENTS have criticised Barnet Council following a fire at an Edgware house last week, saying they warned they were “living in hell”.

The fire destroyed the ground floor of a house in Barnfield Road early on Thursday morning, leaving the man who lived there needing treatment for burns and smoke inhalation.

Although firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, neighbours say they warned the council months ago that they thought the man could try to set fire to the house.

Janetta Giamboressi, who lives next door to the fire-stricken house, said: “We knew right away when we heard the screaming that it was the man next door.

“We have written to the council repeatedly warning them that it was an accident waiting to happen.

“The council has apologised to us but when somebody dies there's nothing left to be sorry for. The council is to blame for this fire by doing nothing.”

Mrs Giamboressi, who has a eight-year-old son, said that she had warned the council's anti-social behaviour team in December that her neighbour had started lighting small fires in the garden.

The teaching assistant told the Edgware & Mill Hill Times that 17 residents in the street had complained to the council with allegations of anti-social behaviour about the vulnerable occupant of the house, but that little action appeared to have been taken.

In one of those letters seen by the Edgware & Mill Hill Times, Mrs Giamboressi warned of “many worrying incidents over the past few years”, which included rubbish filling the garden and urine and faeces being left outside her door.

She wrote: “It has come to the stage where I can no longer invite friends or family members round to my house because I am too ashamed of the entrance and the smell.”

Other residents in the road, who did not wish to be named, confirmed to the Edgware & Mill Hill Times that they had complained about the behaviour, with one adding “somebody could have been killed and the council would have been to blame”.

The garden of the house, which is now boarded up due to fire damage, is filled with large amounts of building debris and litter.

Mrs Giamboressi said: “He seems to have a lot of rights but don't we have rights too? We are being treated like animals – it's like living in hell.”

The Edgware & Mill Hill Times contacted Barnet Council to ask about the concerns of residents. But the council said it could not comment on individual cases.