A man said he feels insulted after being offered £50 for living through '18 months of hell' in a shared home.

Josh Starks claimed to have had food stolen out of his fridge and had abuse hurled at him by a neighbour during his time at the supported living accommodation in Nutsey Avenue, Totton.

It got so bad that the 29-year-old was forced to move - so he reported his landlord, Sovereign Housing Association, to the industry watchdog for not taking his complaints seriously enough.

The ombudsman found partially in his favour and he was awarded £50.

But Josh said: “I found it to be insulting.

“I had put up with 18 months of hell and felt the only way to escape was to move out of my own home – only to be told I should have £50 to make it better.”

Josh spent two years living happily in the eight-person house with 24-hour staff support for residents with learning disabilities.

The accommodation means that each resident has separate bedrooms but share a kitchen and dining area – each with their own fridge.

But two years in, Josh started to notice that food from his cupboard and fridge was regularly going missing.

He also said he was having constant issues with one resident that would come home after drinking and verbally abuse him.

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The 29-year-old said: “I was happy for the first two years – I had no problems at all.

“Then, after a particular resident moved in my food began going missing and he would become aggressive if I questioned him.

“I was horrible feeling that someone is out to get you and be nasty in your own home.”

Josh took his complaint to the 24-hour support staff, who directed him to the landlord. The landlord told Josh to take the complaint to the housing ombudsman.

The ombudsman's report said: “[Josh] made an allegation that the resident was stealing his food and “bullying” him and he wanted to move."

Six months after reporting to the ombudsman, Josh said he even got the police involved - but the only solution to his woes was to move.

On February 23, the ombudsman published its findings.

It found there was no 'maladministration' with how the landlord handled his complaints of antisocial behaviour - but agreed it did amount to 'service failure'.

The report explained: “The landlord did not inform the resident how he could progress his complaint, it delayed in responding to the complaint and did not keep the resident updated."

The ombudsman concluded that the landlord should write to the resident to apologise and pay the resident £50 compensation for its complaint handling failure.