Mum hits out over damp council flat (From Swindon Advertiser)

Mum hits out over damp council flat

8:40am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News By Katie Bond

SINGLE mum Rebecca Lound says the health of her two-year-old daughter is suffering because of a severe damp problem in her council-owned flat.

The situation has become so bad that mushrooms are now growing out of the wall in Rebecca’s flat in Atworth Close, Penhill, where she lives with her two-year-old daughter Ruby-Lou who has a heart murmur.

Rebecca, who has lived in the ground-floor flat for a year, said she has heard previous tenants also had a problem with damp and the council were called out to treat it on three separate occasions.

“It was fine when I moved in about a year ago but in the summer it getting a bit mouldy in my bedroom,” she said.

“At first, I didn’t really take any notice of it.

“But I started venting all the rooms out like I was told to do, opening all the windows every day but it just got worse and worse. By the time winter arrived it was terrible.”

The damp began to rear its head in all the rooms in the flat, around the front door, in bedroom wardrobes and on mattresses. But it was the bathroom that was worse, with mushrooms growing around the bath tub.

“It is just constant,” said Rebecca.

“The council came out last year and did a treat and clean .

“They rehoused me for a day in an old people’s home with my daughter, but it started coming up from the front door a week later and it just got worse.

“I just can’t live like it anymore, my daughter has a heart murmur and it has caused her to have chesty coughs constantly and chest infections, and my health has been affected too.

“It has come through the wardrobes and onto my daughter’s clothes.

“I am a single parent and my mum just recently died so I have no one to go to. I am having to replace all the clothes that have been ruined.

“You can smell it in the bathroom, I have to keep the door closed because I don’t want Ruby touching it, but when you go in there you can really smell it, it’s not nice at all.

“I dry my clothes outside like I am told to do, but in the winter you can’t always do that, but even if I hang any clothes to dry on the radiator, within an hour they start getting mouldy, it’s disgusting.”

A Swindon Council spokesman said: “We were recently notified about the condensation and mould growth at Miss Lound’s home and will visit her property this week to assess what needs to be done to try and alleviate this problem.

“Condensation and mould growth may occur if a home lacks sufficient ventilation.

“We are able to undertake a range of measures from offering advice on good housekeeping and how to prevent condensation through to fitting mechanical ventilation to try and prevent condensation and keep it to a minimum if it does occur.”