A Birkenhead mum said her two-year-old daughter was plagued by chesty coughs and colds for months due to worsening damp in her bedroom.
Steph Wright, 25, said she and her daughter LillIe-Mae were left in terrible conditions by the Wirral Methodist Housing Association for around five months after she first noticed the black damp growing in her Parkfield Place home.
She said: "When I first moved into the property two years ago, they did a damp-proof course in my living room, when came back, and I had damp and mould in my front bay window.
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"Then two months ago my daughter was playing in her room and her chest of drawers and TV fell on her, and that's when I noticed the mould on her wall. Obviously I rang them straight away and they said they would get back to me, but they never did.
"As the months have gone on the walls were getting worse and worse, and I've been in and out of the doctors constantly because the baby's been so poorly, with it getting on her chest."
However, a spokesman for WMHA said the delay in treating the damp was due to difficulties in identifying the cause of the problem - and that the issue was resolved on Wednesday, January 18.
A spokesman said: "We’re really sorry to hear of Steph’s disappointment with how we’ve handled the problem of damp in her property. We take it seriously and have repeatedly visited because it has been difficult to determine the cause, and we have a zero tolerance of dampness, which means getting to the cause of it and sorting it, rather than just treating the symptoms. We eventually identified the cause as being minor cracking within the external render which allowed moisture through the external wall causing some mould growth on the inside wall.
"We have tackled the cause of the problem by repairing the external render, and Wednesday’s visit was to tackle the symptoms. We use professional, qualified, specialist contractors to carry out our damp work and they in turn use full tested, professionally recommended and approved products in the eradication of mould growth. "
But Steph said: "I suffer with anxiety and depression as it is, and with all this going on I'm not happy at all living in this house. There are times when I haven't wanted to be here, that's how much it's affected me really.
"They came out on Wednesday and took the wallpaper off and treated it with chemical stuff, but the smell was that strong it was stinging my eyes. How do they expect her to live in that room? I rang the manager to see if they could put me in a hotel until it was sorted and they said they would get back to me, but they didn't. Now I can't have the baby in her bedroom and she can't sleep downstairs because it's the same chemical smell down there. It's a hard situation because we've got nowhere for her to sleep.
"I put her in my room the night before, but because she's been in her own room since she was six months she thought it was time to play - so I'm not getting any sleep and neither is she."
WMHA said: "The treatment they used at Steph’s house was fully safe and represented no danger to her or her baby. Unfortunately though it doesn’t smell nice and for that reason, as well as to allow it to dry, the contractor told her to keep the room ventilated for an hour whilst it dried. The contractor did call back later in the day to check that it had and Steph told them she was very happy with it. There was no need to offer Steph any alternative accommodation, as it was sorted the same morning that the contractors arrived and once dried later that same morning, the issue was resolved.
"We fully appreciate that many of our tenants will be concerned about the effects of damp and mould, but once it has been resolved at source, as is the case with Steph, there is no need to be any longer."
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