Tania Deaker's troubles started during the June 2015 flood, when a bank on a neighbouring property fell away.
Things only got worse from there and after a second slip in February last year she was forced to leave her Shanks St home when it was deemed unlivable by the Dunedin City Council.
When she spoke to the Otago Daily Times in August last year, she was battling her insurance company, AMI, which told her she would no longer be covered because the slip had caused no damage to her house.
Her position was further complicated by neighbour Tina Conway's situation, with her insurance company still to sort out a complex issue over who was liable for the damage caused by the same slip.
Five months on, Ms Deaker remains in the same situation and says she is ''no closer'' to being able to move back home.
Unable to pay rent and service a mortgage on a house she cannot live in, she had been forced to move many times, staying at her brother's place and at a camping ground.
''Basically, I had nowhere to go.''
More recently she had received assistance from the council through the mayoral relief fund, which was paying the rent on a new property, but she still faced having to move again.
''I've left lots of ... things packed.''
Life was a little more settled now, but it had been a very stressful time for her and her 17-year-old son.
She hoped that by the end of this year everything would be back to normal, but this still seemed a long way off.
Last year, AMI spokesman Craig Dowling said the company had been giving Ms Deaker assistance until August because it was thought her house had been damaged by water associated with the slip.
Since then it had been determined there was no damage, which meant Ms Deaker was in the ''rare situation'' where she was restricted from accessing an undamaged home and was not covered by insurance.
Graeme Sinclair, who has been helping Ms Deaker find a solution, said they were still disputing the conclusion the house was not damaged.
He had just laid a complaint with the Ombudsman in the hope it would find AMI was at fault and force it to provide cover.
Anyone entering the house quickly realised it had been damaged by the slip, he said.
''You can't spend five minutes inside the house without choking or feeling you are going to vomit from the stench of mould.''
