A mum of a young baby is concerned for her child's health due to the damp issues in her flat. The mother, who wishes to remain unnamed, claims that the damp and condensation in her housing association property is so bad that there is 'yellow fungus' growing next to her front door.
She regularly cleans her walls to try and get rid of the black mould but says they are 'wet to touch'. “I try to keep on top of it all and spray once a week with a mould and algae spray and do a deep-clean once a month. I open my windows daily and have a dehumidifier,” she said
The mum was shocked to find what appeared to look like a fungus growing next to her newly-installed front door. The door was repaired in December 2021, after paramedics broke it down when she was pregnant. Speaking to Bristol Live, she said: “I’m glad my baby is not crawling and couldn’t reach the yellow fungus that was growing at the bottom of the door.”
She says there are mushrooms growing on the mats outside in the communal area and has also reported security concerns following a burglary at the end of last year. Her housing association Clarion Housing as acknowledged "vandalism to the communal doors" and said it is working to provide a "more robust" entry system. It has also visited the property and said it is working on a plan to address the problems.
During pregnancy, the mum said she had a bad turn and called paramedics, but as the ambulance took too long to arrive, she ended up being taken to hospital by a friend. She said when the paramedics eventually arrived they broke her door to enter, but she claims Clarion Housing took months to replace the door.
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She claimed her flat was broken into and burgled in November, and only then did Clarion take action and have the door repaired in December. She said she is also worried about the front door lock on the building and said a homeless person had been gaining entry to sleep in the communal area.
She also claimed that when her baby was two months old, she was left without hot water and the temperature in the flat "dropped to 13 degrees", after her radiator was broken by workers which had also resulted in her boiler being off. Having complained to her housing association, she had been advised that a surveyor will come out to assess the situation.
A Clarion Housing spokesperson said they were sorry to hear about the issues of damp and mould. She said: “We recently visited the property to review the issue and to establish a plan to address this and any other repairs that are needed.
“Our housing team are also aware of the vandalism to the communal doors and have consistently attended to complete repairs whenever it’s been reported that they have been broken. We are currently reviewing the problem with the view to replace these with a more robust communal door entry system and will continue to work with residents to try to reduce the incidents of deliberate damage.”
She added that their housing team will also continue to “communicate and provide support to all residents in the building".
