A mother said mould in her one-bedroom-flat left her fearing for the health of her three children as they wake up to condensation puddles in their bedroom everyday.
Skye Joseph, 31, said mushrooms sprouted out of her walls and puddles formed in her children’s bedroom every morning because of the mould in her property in Greenwich, south-east London.
Her fears for her children were shaken after hearing about the tragic tale of Awaab Ishak- the toddler who died in 2020 as a direct result of the mould in his family’s home in Greater Manchester.
The mother-of-three said: ‘I heard the story about that little boy and sobbed. I’m bringing up three children in these conditions. ‘It sets me back with my mental health. I don’t think I ever used to suffer as much as I do now.’
Skye, who is pregnant, said she discovered the one-bed flat was plagued with damp and mould issues soon after moving in in 2009.
Skye said the mould ruined her personal items which she had to pay to replace.
Skye said: ‘It’s literally costing me thousands to replace everything.’Moses baskets, shoes, clothes, boots, sofas, bunk beds – even down to food in the food cupboards which goes mouldy before the sell-by date.’
Skye says her three children – two of whom are diagnosed with autism and another with asthma – sleep in the one bedroom in the property.
The stay-at-home mum sleeps on the sofa in the living room.
Skye said she cleans the walls every two weeks but black marks reappear within days.The mother explained the issues with condensation are so bad, puddles of water form on the floor of the bedroom in the mornings.
Skye said: ‘It was probably here when I first moved in but it was all freshly painted over so I wouldn’t have noticed.
‘There are three children sleeping in one room, two of them are diagnosed with autism and one is asthmatic. I sleep in the front room.
‘The old sofa had mould all up the back from being up against the wall, I threw out a black bag of toys that were all mouldy. I’ve thrown out everything of the kids and had to replace it all.
A spokesperson for L&Q said: ‘We are sorry for the problems Ms Joseph has been experiencing with her home.
‘We are fully committed to providing safe and comfortable homes that are conducive to the good health of our residents, and we are working with Ms Joseph to ensure we put things right as quickly as possible.
‘Ms Joseph’s home has been assessed by our Healthy Homes programme, which focuses on tackling the root cause of mould and damp.
‘As part of this process, our specialist contractors attended the property to carry out an inspection, treat the mould, and agree a number of measures to prevent the issue from reoccurring.
‘Our contractors have since visited several times over the last year to carry out repairs but have not yet been given access.
‘We have contacted Ms Joseph again today [Monday, December, 2, 2022] to try and make progress on these outstanding works.
