There is anger in a Cornish village – where local families are desperate for a home – that a property managed by a housing association has stood empty for eight years.

The house on the Park an Dreas estate in Veryan, on the beautiful Roseland peninsula, is a shared ownership property overseen by LiveWest, which has homes across the South West. Both the local parish council and the area’s Cornwall councillor are angry that the property has been left empty for so long at a time when Cornwall is suffering from a housing crisis.

Julian German, the Independent councillor for St Goran, Tregony and the Roseland – which includes Veryan – said: “It is quite outrageous that a property can be empty for this length of time. Eight months is far too long, eight years must seem unbelievable. There have been various commitments over the years that the property will be done up and occupied but these have been meaningless.

“A family should be living here, children in the school and contributing to the vitality of the community. We have plenty of underutilised properties in the parish already, having social housing lay empty is exacerbating the problems rather than relieving them.”

There are believed to be over 30 families on the waiting list for a house in Veryan. Luke Dunstone, who sits on Veryan Parish Council, is also annoyed.

“It’s an unacceptable situation. We have been told the previous tenant carried out unauthorised alterations, which LiveWest decided were structurally unsound, but they keep procrastinating about doing anything about it. We just cannot seem to get LiveWest to get a shift on where this property is concerned.”

The Park an Dreas estate, which was built in the early 1990s on land owned by the now defunct Carrick District Council, is a mix of 17 shared ownership properties and 16 rental. Cllr Dunstone said: “The estate proved a real lifeline by providing homes for a lot of local young families. House prices in St Mawes and Gerrans have always been really tricky for local people. It’s not quite as exorbitant in Veryan and Gerrans, but it’s always been a struggle for people who have grown up in this area to find an affordable property.

“That’s why it’s so frustrating that this house has been empty so long – there is another on the estate which has been empty for two years. The housing association seems very good at enabling housing stock to get built, but not so good when it comes to managing it.”

When we visited the estate last week we found the house in need of repair, with an overgrown garden and weeds and foliage growing from the roof. A few days after we contacted Live West for a reaction to local feeling, the housing association responded that builders were now on site.

LiveWest’s director of neighbourhoods James Reseigh said: “We are aware there has been a delay in completing works at one of our shared ownership homes in Veryan and we are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

“An unauthorised loft conversion carried out by the previous resident left the home facing complex structural issues and in an uninhabitable condition. We have since been working to make this home safe to be occupied.

“Builders are currently on site, and we are expecting the works to be complete within the next six weeks so that we can begin the process of putting the house up for sale as a shared ownership property.”