A couple from Edinburgh have spoken out about the horrifying dampness and mould which has plagued their council flat for nearly a decade.
Sara Martin, 42, and her partner Alistair Stuart, 59, initially moved into the ground floor property in West Pilton nine years ago, but have been trying to move out for the last five years due to their bleak living conditions.
The family of six have seen several investigations and surveys conducted to analyse the problem but claim they have been given no long-term solution to the persistent dampness and black mould, reports EdinburghLive.
Council workers have made attempts to remove the dampness but to no avail - Sara explained that the mould has continued to spread, with the family forced to rip up their "soaking" carpets this winter.
Sara said the current state of affairs is having a serious adverse impact on her children, particularly her youngest, aged four. Their beds have broken and the damp has spread onto their clothes, too.
Sara said: "It's horrendous, we've had three housing inspectors, two damp-proof surveys done and they just don't want to do anything about it.
"Four and a half years ago we got decanted to a two bedroom flat so they could do insulation in the walls which we were told by the inspector would be brick, but they just seemed to do a whitewash and put plasterboard over it and within two or three months it was starting to come back through.
"It's just getting worse. Since I've had the insulation done I've done everything, cleaned, used the washes and the solutions. We have towels on our windows as well as the dehumidifiers which are full every couple of hours, and even with the towels it's constantly dripping. It's in every room in the house.
"They redecorated the girls bedroom and bathroom which was supposed to seal it but it's still coming through in the girls room. We most recently had the inspector out and they said to get it needs repairs or a damp surveyor out so he's ordered one for January but we've done this before. It's ridiculous."
"My youngest daughter, she's four and all she does is cough constantly. If she's not got a cough she's got a cold. In this house, it's cold enough with carpets and things but with no carpets the second the heating goes off the heat is gone. With the cost of living crisis right now it's a big concern.
"It's that bad that my son has a duvan bed that's collapsed with black mould, we had to get rid of bean bags because the carpet was soaking, and recently we had to pull the carpets out because my daughter's bed collapsed underneath her and she's only four."
"We want to get out of here because it's not healthy for any of us, we've been bidding on four beds and getting nowhere for five years. Nothing at all. Even with our housing officers, there's been a real breakdown in communication. We feel like we're getting ignored."
Councillor Jane Meagher, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “We take the health and wellbeing of our tenants very seriously and carried out repairs back in January to deal with condensation and dampness in the property. We are looking into the latest reported issues and will update the tenant on our plans to resolve this.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
