A £3,150 pay settlement offered to residents of Ipswich's St Francis Tower to source their own accommodation is not enough to cover their needs, the town's MP has said.
People living in the 17-storey block near the town centre have been offered the sum by Pier Management, which runs the building, according to a letter seen by this newspaper.
St Francis Tower was evacuated in early July due to a water leak, with residents put up in hotels since then.
But Ipswich MP Tom Hunt said the offer is "despairing" and described the long-running issues with the tower block as a "saga".
Pier has been contacted for comment on the settlement offer.
St Francis Tower, in Franciscan Way, has been covered in a plastic shrink wrap for more than two years due to concerns over cladding, leaving some flats without any natural light during the day.
And the tower was forced to be vacated on July 1 after a leak caused significant damage on the seventh floor.
Since then, people living in the flats have been put up in temporary accommodation.
If residents decide to take up the £3,150 payment offer, they agree to give up their temporary accommodation and find somewhere else to live while the repairs, estimated to cost in excess of £1million, are completed.
They would also be required to remove the contents from their flat in the tower.
There is still no date for when residents can start returning to their homes, but the letter from the management firm said in its letter the damage to the pipe where the leak started has now been repaired.
It comes as residents at nearby Cardinal Lofts have been left in limbo over when they can return to their homes, having been evacuated from the Ipswich Waterfront building earlier this year.
Mr Hunt expressed his dismay at the revelation that residents were being offered cash to move out of their temporary accommodation.
He also said there would be a chance some would take the money – simply because they are so "fed up" with the issue.
Mr Hunt said: "The whole situation with St Francis Tower has, for many years, been a saga.
"I sympathise a lot with the tenants – this doesn't seem a lot of money to me. I imagine there might be a few people who are so fed up with the situation that they just take the money.
"It is interesting that it is now that they have made the offer, when St Francis Tower hasn't been in a suitable living condition for so long.
"It's clear that the relationship between the agent and the tenants has completely broken down.
"It's despairing – I'd encourage any constituents affected to get in touch."
Ross Bonner, a leaseholder at St Francis Tower, added: "I think it's an inadequate amount.
"It's to give up their alternative accommodation. So if they accept this, they have to vacate their accommodation and their flats.
"Working it out, you could be paying £70 a night for a hotel. Over two months, that is about £4,000.
"In my eyes, it's inadequate – if you accept this you are left with nowhere to stay.
"It cries to me as some sort of out-of-court settlement. They know what they are doing."
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