Marina, from Concarneau, and Mikael, my partner from Brest, have owned our house for five years… a place we fell in love with for our children, and a necessity for us to work from home whilst looking after children who’ve had a rough time in life…

It’s spacious enough for eight people and approved for use as a workplace… it has everything you need to feel at home…

Yet 45 days after our purchase... in the middle of the night, water started dripping from our kitchen light fittings... it was the start of a nightmare.

We soon realised this wasn’t a one-off issue and that the 10-year-old house already had numerous problems of this sort… But it was too late; we couldn’t back out… The COVID period didn’t help matters…

Then the legal process kicked in... it’s long... very long... first survey in 2021... Lawyer’s fees and advances we have to pay even though we’re the victims of shoddy workmanship...

We are suffocating under the weight of the legal fees... Heating bills that are beyond belief; damp makes it expensive to heat the house... a bedroom that is completely mouldy... I’m forced to give up my job, losing my income in the process... Then there are the ups and downs of my health, which in 2024 takes a nosedive with the discovery of a degenerative disease... So I sink into a severe depression...

We can no longer afford to pay our solicitor, an expert who is demanding €5,000 to continue his assessment...

We sell one car to repair the other; every day has become a nightmare because of the mounting bills...

This house, which is our livelihood, has become a burden... But the justice system is slow... and far too expensive for us, who can no longer cope...

So we came up with the idea of this fundraising campaign to help us pay our lawyer so that the courts can recognise that we are victims of betrayal, hidden defects and breach of trust

So that we can show our three children that we still have the strength to fight for them, for ourselves...

I believe in people... I’ve made my living from it... I believe that if we all do just a little bit, we can achieve a great deal

Please help us; the road ahead is still very long, far too long. It has been five years since our hell began, and we cannot bring ourselves to give up.

For the past five years, we’ve felt so very alone... Today I am certain that every human heart can still beat for others, and helping one’s neighbour is a beautiful act of solidarity... Let me believe that this is still possible.

A tiny little thing can become something magnificent... your help is magnificent to us...