A MUM has told how her daughters’ health has suffered after the family were forced to live in a mouldy home for six months.
Lucie Smith, 21, said her kids Isla Grace, three, and five-month-old Willow Rose have suffered chest infections and coughs due to damp issues at the house.
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The family also sleep in three beds crammed into one tiny room inside the property in St John’s, Worcester.
Lucie reported the issues to housing association Platform Housing in October.
The mould has been scraped away by experts – but it has since grown back with a vengeance.
The mum, a chef at Wetherspoons, said: “My daughters and I have three beds in one room of this tiny flat, and all suffer from asthma.
“The mould has caused multiple chest infections for us all – as well as general chesty coughs.
“We originally shared this with Platform back in October but the issue was only acknowledged in January as I was told they had no record of me lodging the complaint.
“The mould growth became so bad that we had to report it to Environmental Health.
“When somebody eventually came they scraped away the mould and Platform later provided a sum of compensation for the delay.
“The compensation was not what I was reporting this for, it is myself and my children’s health that has suffered due to the situation.
“I have been trying to get out of this property now for the last three years.”
Lucie’s partner Carl Thomas, 33 – who lives elsewhere – added: “The children are on antibiotics, the baby has a really chesty cough at the minute.
MOULD HELL
“When they eventually came out, all they did scrape the walls and put on some mould sealant, they didn’t let Lucie leave or open any windows.
“It’s disgusting. Lucie has had to clean it three or four times herself, and she’s asthmatic.
“They told her to scrape it. It’s a family home and she pays the rent for it.”
He added: “They’ve had bites here too. They were like little black and white mites on the mould. It’s grim and in no state for a family to live in.
“Money is tight, she can’t go private rented.”
Marion Duffy, chief operations officer at Platform said: “We are really sorry to hear about this situation for our customer.
“Looking after the health and wellbeing of our customers is paramount.
“One of our operatives has visited our customer at her home and has arranged with them for the works required to be carried out.”
Meanwhile, a mum has been left feeling like “a beggar” after being forced to live in a council flat destroyed by black mould and water damage.
And a woman says her life is a “living nightmare” after she lost her sister and has had to live in a mould ridden home for 18 months.
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