A St Kilda family is fed up with having to move from pillar to post, waiting for their Ravelston St house to be rebuilt after it was severely damaged by a falling three-tonne boulder in June.
Jennie Roome said she and her husband Steve awoke terrified when the boulder, half the size of a car, rolled down the hill behind their house and through Mr Roome's daughter's bedroom about 3.30am on June 19.
''It completely demolished her bed. It rolled right over the top of it. If she was in it, it would have killed her.''
Fortunately, she was staying at her mother's house with her 11-year-old sister at the time.
Mrs Roome said the incident petrified her boys - aged 3, 4 and 6 - who were in the house.
The overriding emotion is now frustration and desperation.
The family was told to leave the house because it was unsafe and that it would take four to six weeks to sort the insurance and repair the home.
Mr Roome said they had now been out of the house for three and a-half months, living in relatives' homes, friends' homes and a camping ground. The insurance money they used to pay the rent on their current accommodation was expected to run out at the end of next week.
While they had been told by EQC they would receive payment to repair the damage to the building and secure the slip in the back yard, Mr Roome said they had not yet seen a penny.
He was also critical of Cerno, a loss-adjusting organisation hired to independently evaluate the damage.
''I'm angry at them and how long they've taken to send a report on the damage to EQC - and their lack of communication.
''We're getting desperate now. We were told it would be sorted in four to six weeks. If we had known it was going to take so long, we would have signed a six-month rental - not move the family from house to house.''
Cerno group services chief executive officer Dean Garrod said there were ongoing concerns about the safety of the rock face behind the Roomes' house, and investigations into its stability took longer than expected.
An EQC spokesman yesterday confirmed settlement of the claim was imminent.
''I can't provide an exact time frame but it will be days, not weeks.
''Claims for events outside Canterbury usually take three to six months to complete, so this is within the normal time frames for settlement,'' the spokesman said.
Mr Roome said Click Property Management, the company renting out the property in which they were living at present, had been very generous and offered to let the family stay for another month rent-free while the issue was dealt with.
''But if it's not fixed by then, we don't know what we're going to do.''
