By Taylor Murray
A pregnant mum-of-two has said she would rather be homeless than live in her damp-riddled Paisley flat.
Annemarie Devlin, 32, lives in a council house in Foxbar and has been living with damp in her home for seven years.
She first noticed the problem a few weeks after moving into the house in 2015 and reported it to Renfrewshire Council.
However, seven years later, she claims the council has still not found a solution.
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Annemarie said: “The council has said that condensation is the reason the damp is there.
“However, I reported this a few weeks after moving in.
“It has been seven years since and they haven’t resolved it.
“They come out and clean the walls with what looks like big baby wipes.
“After they are done, they give me them and tell me to continue wiping the walls with them - and that is it.”
She added: “At one point, I considered making myself homeless. That way I would have gotten a house quicker, which would have been in far better condition.”
The mum-of-two, who is six months pregnant, said clothes, furniture and her children’s toys are all being ruined due to the damp and mould in the house.
She sleeps in the same room as her eight-year-old and two-year-old because the damp is so severe in the other bedroom.
Her two-year-old has asthma, which Annemarie fears is being made worse by the state of the house.
“I can’t buy blinds for my house because they keep getting destroyed due to the mould,” she said.
“I had to rip up my carpet and change it to vinyl in my living room as the carpet was completely destroyed.
“In my oldest child’s room, water was literally running down the walls and damp is sitting above her bed on the ceiling. She will not sleep in her room.
“My bedroom is a joke. The cot my youngest sleeps in is absolutely covered in mould and I am having to wipe it down every so often due to it spreading.”
Annemarie said she’s been on the phone to the council every week for months, but has been told that the house conditions are not deemed “unliveable” and that any mould that appears is due to condensation.
She was advised to keep windows open to improve air flow, but the problem hasn’t gone away.
She said: “I feel as if I have been forgot about.
“I have contacted the council, my local MP and nothing is getting done about it.
“My doctor has even written to them to explain that it is affecting my health.”
Renfrewshire Council was contacted for comment on Wednesday.
This morning, a spokesman said: "The health and well-being of our tenants is very important to us.
“Our team has been in touch with Ms Devlin and will visit her home to assess the property. A plan of works will be agreed after this visit.”
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