Tenants have been warned to check their tenancy agreements after a woman with an autistic son was told by her landlord that she was responsible for a fence blown down by Storm Ciaran.

An appeal went out to help the woman get the fence fixed at her home in Helston after she told a support worker that she couldn’t let her son out in the garden for safety reasons because of the damage.

The worker turned to Tracy Orchard from garden company Little Miss Orchard to see if she could help as she does community work.

The worker said in the request: “I have a family in Helston who lost their fence in the gales. The one son is autistic and cannot go out on his own. The lack of a fence means he can’t go in the garden now either so he’s spending all his time either at school or in his room with no access to outside space. Mum can’t afford to replace it.”

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Tracy told the Packet: “Sadly the tenant lost the fence in the recent gales. the landlord has it detailed in their tenancy agreement, such responsibilities, are at the expense of the tenant.

"Not something I have known to be legal, being a fixed feature, cannot be moved with the tenant.

“Unfortunately, the agreement was signed and it is the ownership of the tenancy to replace the fence. The Housing Association has been contacted but says due to the signing of contracts, there is nothing they can do either.”

She says wheels are now in motion with local companies to fix the fence for free after Tracy put out an appeal on Facebook.