'Damp forced us to live in bedroom for four years'

BBC News

2 days ago

A woman has said she and her husband were forced to live upstairs in their home in Leeds for four years after the council failed to solve an issue with damp.Melanie Town said the damp, from a flood under her council-owned home, caused appliances to break down, destroyed furniture and led to further health concerns for her husband, who was recovering from a serious illness.Mrs Town said: "It destroys you, knowing the council knew the condition we were living in and that we lost everything downstairs, and did nothing to address it."A council spokesperson apologised for not fully resolving the issue, but said multiple repairs had been carried out and the house had remained "habitable".
Mrs Town said the repairs to the property in Thorpe on the Hill, where she had lived for 12 years before moving to East Yorkshire at the end of last year, had included replastering the living room five times after it kept becoming damp."We lived in the bedroom for four years. The mental health [impact] from doing that in your late 40s and 50s – it's no good at all," Mrs Town said."I'm not upset, I'm angry. They wouldn't live like that, so why did they expect me to?"
Mrs Town said it had become a "running joke" with builders, plasterers and plumbers when they repeatedly visited the property to fix the same issues."The council was sending plasterer after plasterer to rip off the walls and re-do them, without getting to the root cause of the damp and the mould," she said.She explained that the damp had caused the oven and fridge-freezer to break down and work surfaces to come away from the wall in the kitchen.Meanwhile, the carpet had begun to smell and it eventually had to be removed, leaving bare floorboards, she said.Mrs Town said she and her husband had to take their clothes to the laundrette and they had lived on takeaways and air fryer food - even having Christmas dinner in their bedroom."It's enough to take a toll on anybody," she said.
Mrs Town said that despite being in the top priority band for council housing and bidding for a new property every week, trying to downsize from their three-bedroom home, they were never able to secure one.She said they had taken things into their own hands in December and had moved to Hornsea in East Yorkshire, which she said was "not ideal" and had been an "upheaval"."I was suffering with chest infection after chest infection, and I just said I couldn't do it anymore. Anchor Homes offered us this one, so I took it," Mrs Town said."We have lovely neighbours, but it is quiet, and I feel out of place at times."Without a car here, you are cut off. Both our families [are in Leeds], and my friends are there."
'Really angry'
Mrs Town said the move had also meant the couple had to pay for further travel and accommodation when Mr Town had hospital appointments in Sheffield which he still needed to attend following a bleed on the brain eight years ago.She said Leeds City Council had been aware of Mr Town's health issues, which included a small stroke, loss of hearing and chest infections since the brain haemorrhage."Any council should not get away with making people live like that. I am really angry with them. I want them to acknowledge what they've done," she said.Responding, a spokesperson for Leeds City Council said repairs were carried out on several occasions in an attempt to resolve the issue at Mr and Mrs Town's home."Unfortunately, the root cause was not addressed, and the issue returned when there was heavy rainfall," they said."The property remained habitable during the tenancy, although Leeds City Council apologise for not being able to resolve the matter fully."
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