The issue of damp and mould in social housing has been high on the agenda after two-year-old Awaab Ishak tragically died from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould.
While Awaab lived in Rochdale, we have found that many properties owned by Stevenage Borough Council (SBC) have also been left mouldy - with little action taken to fix the problems - which are having hugely negative impacts on the lives of those having to stay in them.
We've spoken to four people about the issues they've faced with mould in properties owned by SBC.
Natalie lives in a council-owned house in Broadwater with her two children, and first reported problems with mould to SBC in 2014 – nine years ago.
Her porch roof leaks whenever it rains, encouraging “thick black mould” to develop.
SBC have taken no action. When she reported the issue to Environmental Health, they sent a surveyor out who “looked and left, never to be seen or heard from again".
Natalie says she’s at her “wits end” with the problem, which has left her “constantly cleaning, PVA-sealing and repainting” the affected areas.
It’s having a severe impact on her and her family. She is suffering from long Covid, while both her children are asthmatic, and one has special needs.
Another woman, who lives in Pin Green and preferred to stay anonymous, is forced to take her one-year-child elsewhere whenever she needs to be bathed, because of the extent of the mould in her bathroom.
She moved into the property in 2021, shortly before her daughter was born in November that year.
The mould was already present in the flat, but when she reported it to the property manager they said that the only time they deal with mould is when somebody moves into the property.
The tenant then spoke to SBC, who sent someone out - but they "took pictures and then [she] heard nothing after that".
The issue is so serious that she will not let her daughter into the bathroom - she says "it doesn't feel safe" to have her in there.
Jemima, another woman in Broadwater, moved into her council-owned house around 2014. She lives there with her husband and four children, aged five to 13.
They moved into the property during summer, and saw no evidence of mould. But during their first winter into the house, they "noticed there was mould popping up everywhere".
Initially, Jemima and her family cleaned it themselves but then "each year, it got worse and worse, no matter what we did" - it got so bad, she says, that it attracted mould mites.
She's contacted the council every year for at least the last four, and is fed up of their "endless promises - everything just gets forgotten and not dealt with". At one point, she was told that SBC would install extractor fans but this came to nothing.
Jemima tells us that the council have blamed her and her family for the problem, pointing to the six of them living in a three-bedroom house.
"Trying to get hold of them is a gruelling process in itself, with constant phone calls and constant chasing."
One of Jemima's children is asthmatic, and she said: "I don't think it would ever have been there but for the house - I think he'd have been fine. It's getting worse and he has a constant cough".
Jemima herself has been ill for the last 12 weeks, also with a constant cough - a medical professional she spoke to about it was "gobsmacked" by how long it has persisted for, and sent her for tests to see if the issue is being caused by the mould.
There has been a financial cost to the problems, too, as they have had to purchase a dehumidifier, and redecorate their hallway to get rid of the evidence of mould.
The final tenant we spoke to was a woman living in a Bedwell flat with her partner.
They moved into the property in October 2020, with mould already evident, and reported the problem immediately.
In spring 2022, somebody from the council visited with a laser to clear the mould. He advised the couple to wipe the mould away with bleach if it returned.
They started doing that, but within two weeks the mould would return. Another call to SBC, and "all they said was wipe it down, open some windows every now and again, and keep the vents open - we were doing that already".
They've struggled to make further reports to the council, saying "we've tried to but we've been waiting an hour, two hours, on the phone and rarely get through to anyone. Even when we do, they say there's no one around to speak to us about the problem".
"We keep cleaning it but it comes back twice as bad. It's especially bad in winter."
It's caused health issues for one of the tenants: "I've had to go to the doctors because it's flared my eczema up really badly".
And there's been a financial cost too - they've "paid out a lot of money" for new flooring, curtains and repainting. They also had to replace their sofa after mould was growing behind it - but the same problem has arisen again behind the new sofa.
After we provided advance details of this story to SBC, a spokesperson said: “We take all reports of damp and mould within our social housing stock seriously and are proactively managing these specific cases.
"We’re working with the tenants to ensure the damp and mould issues are addressed both efficiently and effectively to see that they live in properties that are safe.
"Our specialist damp and mould expert is involved in all cases and carries out site visits as necessary to help us establish why cases of mould appear, to work on a solution and advise tenants on how this can be prevented going forward”.
A fuller response from SBC will appear in a future article.
Have you also experienced issues with mould in your council-owned property? Contact us at christopher.day@newsquest.co.uk
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