A mother of two from Leeds says she felt like the “worst mum ever” after years of living in a mould and damp infested council flat that made her children ill.
Holly Scobie said her son Kai, 3, who had open-heart surgery when he was five months old, and Kobe, 2, developed asthma after living in the property.
The 25-year-old moved into the flat in May 2018 and despite being told the mould would be sorted before she moved in when she viewed the flat, nothing was done and it has spread throughout the home as a result.
One example of how bad the damp and mould got she said it had spread through Kai’s bedroom and his toys, wardrobe and mattress were all affected. Holly added she got to a point she had to regularly throw away and replace stuff in his bedroom.
She also said that the mould in the flat was so bad it turned everything black and caused doors to rot off their hinges.
After months of living in the flat, the toddlers started to develop a cough and after months of going back and forth to the hospital and being given different medicines, they were given inhalers as Holly was told they had developed asthma.
She even recalls having to call an ambulance for Kai after he began struggling to breathe and how he had to sleep on the sofa at one point because how badly affected his room was.
Holly eventually got solicitors involved and as a result, Leeds City Council paid the mother of two compensation of £500 which they have confirmed.
Holly said: “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come to the hospital, they won’t give me the information.
“I got a letter from the hospital for my solicitor state that me and my family should not be living in the flat with all the damp and mould due to my sons health problems.
“It’s just been really stressful, I got bad depression from it. I just felt like the worst mum ever with my children getting poorly and me not being able to do anything about it. All their toys got ruined, I had to throw them away, I had to replace literally everything. It’s not even about the money, it was about my sons health.
“I’ve had to replace their beds three times now with new bedding because they had black mould on them.”
Speaking on when she went to view the property, Holly added: “When I came to view the flat with the housing worker I was pregnant with Kobe. I asked if it was going to be solved before I moved in and they said we can get that sorted and then it never got sorted.
“A couple of months later my bedroom wallpaper was coming off the bedroom was black and my wallpaper had black mould all over. I kept ringing asking can this be sorted.
“I had to throw everything in Kai’s bedroom away had to be thrown away, I had to replace everything in his bedroom. I just got to a point where I got him a new bed and I don’t have a wardrobe all his clothes got mouldy and I had to get plastic boxes so they wouldn’t get ruined.
“We couldn’t put any furniture in his bedroom at all his mattress got black mould on it.”
To fix the property, Holly added that the council has to rip up all the floors up and the skirting boards around the flat as well as redo the walls because of how bad the mould is at the flat.
But luckily, the family of three have been offered a new house and are now waiting to be moved into another property but the move has been delayed due to the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the council has said they are working hard to complete the outstanding repairs.
They said: “Leeds City Council is absolutely committed to providing safe, quality homes to our tenants, and this is more important to us than ever during the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Whilst we are unable to go into specific details on this case, we can confirm that compensation has been agreed with the tenant and we are working hard to complete outstanding repairs as soon as we possibly can.”
