Tenants who were fearing for their lives due to the amount of damp and mould in their homes said they were told that "too much breathing" was contributing to their health issues.
Residents of social housing around Rochdale in Greater Manchester want to take action against their landlord, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), which also managed the property where toddler Awaab Ishak sadly died due to exposure to damp and mould - issues that his parents had repeatedly flagged. Over a year has passed since an inquest showed RBH's shortcomings before the toddler's tragic death in 2020.
Now, other residents of the same housing association fear that the issues could be slowly taking their lives. This week, a group gathered at the town's heart, the White Lion pub, to collectively challenge their landlord.
On Tuesday night, they shared personal experiences around the pool table about their ongoing struggle with mould, children developing respiratory issues and the difficulty in being heard. In response, RBH claimed its Damp and Mould Taskforce, established in December 2022, is making intensive efforts to promptly identify and solve dampness, mould, and condensation problems, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Tenants who attended a meeting claimed that the problems have worsened since 2022. They say it is tough to report issues to RBH, as they spend ages on hold and are given "short-term" solutions for what they believe are long-term problems.
Tenant Sean Doyle questioned if they were heating their homes or the street after being advised to use bleach, open windows, or turn on the heat. He lives with his partner Corrie Foster in Rochdale, where they claim their children are exposed to green and black mould.
"We've been living there for over nine years and we've had every problem [mould, damp and water ingress] you can name with the place - and it has been going on for eight years now," Sean said. He revealed that their 10-year-old son has been diagnosed with asthma due to the poor living conditions of the property. "We're not parents who would put our kids through that, I'd die for them. That's why we're here today to make sure my kids' health and their future is sorted."
Sean expressed his distress knowing his daughter is struggling and on steroids due to the furry green mould growing around her sleeping area. He said: "I am paying to kill myself, we are paying rent to slowly kill ourselves in these conditions.
"Every person with an issue needs to get onto it, cruel as it is - no one else wants their children to end up with the same fate as the little boy who died. I'm a dad and I can't seem to stop this from happening to my kids."
Sean says he has lost wages waiting for workers who never showed up. RBH expressed "real regret", admitting tenants are having problems with their homes and stating their main concern is to "make things better".
Leah Nuttall explained her bedroom's air is so thick with damp and mould that she has had to move downstairs to sleep on a mattress in her Century Gardens house, close to Rochdale town centre. She said they had reported their mould issues repeatedly.
While she was addressing the group at the White Lion pub, she claimed that RBH had told her the mould in her flat was "due to them breathing too much at night". "Since we moved in back in 2014 we have had problems with green mould," said Leah, with step-dad Steve Rodwell beside her.
"I was due to get a tonsillectomy at the end of last year and a few weeks before my surgery there were questions over whether I could get it because my lymph nodes were so swollen. This was because of the mould. I was fighting an infection and my asthma was getting worse. It was touch and go whether I could get the surgery.
"The mould is that bad in my room, I've been on a mattress in the living room recently. I wondered whether to go into a hotel for a few weeks just to recover." The pair said that the issues came back just weeks after RBH did some fixes.
At the meeting, people shared their stories, and it is all happening while there is a push to make housing bosses do better. This comes after the Manchester Evening News got results with their campaign. Awaab was only two when he passed away over three years ago. His parents kept telling their landlord about the bad conditions in their home, but the landlord said it was the family's fault for the dangerous mould.
Under the new Awaab's Law, named after the little boy, landlords would have to check out problems within 14 days, start repairs within another week, and do emergency fixes within a day. There was a talk about these rules starting on January 9.
Billy Howarth set up the tenants' meeting because he saw more worries about RBH in the community. He hopes that Rochdale's people fighting for change, along with this new law, will stop anyone else from dying because of mould and damp.
Tania Walsh said she is really worried her child could be in danger. She got very upset talking about the mould that keeps coming back in her Queensway home. "My youngest son has heart problems and he spent the first year of his life in hospital with bronchitis," Tania told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. "So with the heart conditions on top of that it makes it a difficult place for him to live.
"There are constant chest infections from the mould for me and my other kids as well. It is just wet. They paint over it and it just comes back through and it is just not nice to live with in general.
"Other problems come with it, we have surface water that doesn't go away. The mould gets into the kids toys and the sofa, and once it is in you can't get it out - so you have to throw that away."
Tania says she has had to spend loads of money replacing stuff ruined by mould and spends ages cleaning. She sleeps on the couch and her kids bunk in her room because some parts of their house are too mouldy to use or are packed with things to keep them safe from the mould.
She would like to move but reckons there are not enough homes available. "It is just draining, I don't get upset often, but it's like talking to a brick wall with (RBH)," Tania said. "They promise you the world and get your hopes up, and then you're waiting and waiting and then nothing happens.
"We are paying rent for what? Having kids with health conditions is awful in these conditions. I am just on high alert constantly. We're labelled as moaning tenants, but we just want something done. It's not liveable. Home is somewhere to go back to but it's not even a nice place to be."
Amanda Newton, RBH Chief Executive, responded: "We are sorry that Mr Doyle and Ms Nuttall have experienced issues with their homes. Our top priority is the health and wellbeing of our customers and we are working hard to carry out the repairs required.
"We carried out mould treatment at Mr Doyle's home in 2021 and again in February and August 2023. In August we identified some additional work to help prevent a further reoccurrence of the mould and we are making arrangements to carry this work out as quickly as possible.
"Like many housing providers, there is high demand for contractors to support work relating to damp, and we are doing our best to prioritise the homes and families affected. We are sorry for the delay in carrying out this work. We inspected the home again in December 2023 and there is an appointment scheduled for further treatment on January 19, 2024.
"As Mr Doyle has advised that things have deteriorated since our last inspection, we've tried to make contact and have left messages so that we can look into whether this can be brought forward. Ms Nuttall reported damp and mould to us in early November 2023 and we inspected four days later. Treatment works were booked in for January 2, 2024 however our customer text us to cancel this appointment.
"We've been in touch and now have a new appointment scheduled for later in January where we will undertake checks to the external walls and complete the work required. I must reassure all customers that any feedback from them is taken seriously and we absolutely do care about the experience they have with RBH.
"We are sorry that Ms Walsh is experiencing ongoing issues with damp and mould in her home. We have carried out a number of treatments and have undertaken remedial works aimed at addressing the mould problem.
"We will also be fitting additional ventilation and carrying out other repair works. We would like to apologise to Ms Walsh that the measures taken to date have not fully resolved the issue.
"We are now arranging to undertake a more detailed inspection of the property and we will complete any additional works as quickly as possible. We will also undertake a review of the action taken at Ms Walsh's property to identify what we could have done differently and any lessons that we need to learn to prevent the issues arising in the future.
"We have a comprehensive training programme in place for our contact centre to ensure that we handle all calls from customers in the right manner and provide callers with the support that they need. We record all our calls, and if any customers feel that we have not handled their call appropriately, we encourage them to get in touch with us so that we can listen to the call and investigate their concerns. Over the past year colleagues from across the organisation have undertaken customer service training to ensure that we are in the best place possible to support the people and families living in our homes. We encourage all of our customers to contact us immediately about any concerns they have with damp and mould or other issues in their homes so we can investigate and resolve them as quickly as possible.
"I also encourage any customer not receiving the service they need to make a formal complaint this can be done by phone, by email or in writing. Customers who still feel this is not working for them can contact me directly or any one of the Executive Team. We are here to listen and help."
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