A mum-of-two says her family is living a 'nightmare' in which her house reeks because of mould and is full of clouds of flies. Melissa Taylor, who lives in Hemsworth, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, with her partner Gareth Dawson and two young sons, says the 'toxic mould' is so bad it has left her struggling to speak without breaking out coughing and spluttering.
She fears that she might end up in hospital for the second time, having been diagnosed with bronchitis back in 2010 when when pregnant with her youngest son, Corey-James. She blames that on the mould that has plagued her home, and says their pleas for help have been ignored by Wakefield and District Housing who "fobbed" her off.
Speaking to The Mirror, she said: “I'm terrified of being put back in hospital, it's my nightmare, my fear is I'm going to die.” She added that her mental health has been left in tatters and that she has struggled with suicidal thoughts.
She feels like the house has robbed her children of a “proper childhood”, saying: “I haven't been able to run around and play with them as much as I should, and feel like they would be better off without me. They can never get that time back.
“I haven’t got any quality of life. I wheeze and cough up phlegm a lot … it’s stopped me from going out. I’m not living. It’s this 24/7. I live in my bedroom because I can’t go into the rest of the house … I’m a prisoner in my own home.”
She said flies often crawl across her skin when she sleeps, and the mould is so bad throughout the house that there is a stomach-churning smell. Melissa said: “When you open the front door, the smell hits you, it's awful. I can't invite friends over, I don't think they'd want to come in because of the smell and I'm not sure I'd want anyone in.
“At first I thought the flies were just around in the summer but they've not gone away and gotten worse with the latest leak. They're attracted to the damp and get into the food and crawl all over me when I try to sleep.”
Melissa said that the family had previously struggled with mould across the house, but things really took a turn for the worse last month when a growing leak in the kitchen ceiling caused a hole. She said that the leak spread to the downstairs toilet and living room and they said the mould itself had spread across the entire ceiling and down some walls.
But when contractors sent by Wakefield and District Housing came, the mum accused them of doing a “botch” job by just plugging the hole and not dealing with the mould it caused, because it wasn’t visible. She said one of the walls downstairs had been “crumbling away” so they pulled a bit off to prove to the social housing provider how widespread it was.
Melissa said they had repeatedly pleaded with WDH to help them and make the house liveable again. She said they repeatedly said they would deal with the problem, but never did.
Martyn Shaw, Executive Director of Technical Services at WDH said: “We have been made aware of the issues at Miss Taylor’s property and are sorry that her home is causing her such distress following the leak. We are eager to resolve the issues, and are pleased to have already agreed the next steps with the customer to fully inspect the walls and ceilings for signs of mould, and make the necessary repairs as soon as we can, to get her home back up to a high standard.”
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