The parents of an eight-month-old baby girl say they are being forced to live in a tent, because housing chiefs have failed to find them suitable accommodation almost a month after fire destroyed their house.

Darryl and Kerry Lee with their children

Daryl Lee, his wife Kerry and their children Sam, five, Chloe, three, and eight-month-old Naomi-Jane, lost their house in Fawkner Way, Stanford in the Vale, after a blaze last month.

Since the fire, the family has been living under canvas in a back garden.

They say they have been told they cannot return to their home until January 2006 and there are no empty houses available for a family of five.

Sovereign Housing Association had also still been charging 31-year-old Mr Lee £97.50 weekly rent for the burned-out house.

Mr Lee also claims calls to the Vale of White Horse District Council for emergency housing have failed. Now with the summer over, he is looking for a private landlord to help end their ordeal.

He said: "It's unbearable to cope all this time and now we are starting to get cold.

"We can't live in this tent forever; I have children and a wife, and it puts an enormous amount of stress on us."

Flames ripped though the family's home after they arrived back from a camping holiday on Saturday, August 20. Mr Lee was forced to set up his tent in his mother Jan Robinson's back garden in Checkendon, south Oxfordshire.

He has lost his job as a truck driver and will receive no job seeker's allowance until Thursday, October 6.

He said: "Initially I made out to the kids it was an extended camping holiday.

"Our three-year-old girl has started wetting the bed which she's never done and Sam is becoming disruptive.

"We've had to live in this tent with an eight-month-old baby but no-one is able to help. Add to that us losing everything in the fire."

After being contacted by the Oxford Mail, Sovereign Housing Association said it had made an oversight in charging Mr Lee rent.

Operations manager Marian Hart said: "We are contacting him to apologise for any misunderstanding along with some other outstanding issues regarding his tenancy."

But the district council refuted claims that it had failed to offer emergency housing. A spokesman said: "Sovereign Housing Association asked us to assist in housing Mr and Mrs Lee and their family for two to three months. An appointment was made with Mr and Mrs Lee in order to make the necessary arrangements. Mr and Mrs Lee did not keep this appointment.

"Mr and Mrs Lee contacted the Vale again last week and were offered emergency accommodation, but Mr and Mrs Lee did not wish to take up the offer. The offer of temporary accommodation remains open."

However, the couple said they received no notification of an appointment and said the family could not afford the offer of emergency bed and breakfast accommodation.