Leak-plagued home smells like a mouldy tent, claims angry tenant
A DERBY man has said that the leaks in his home have led to it smelling and being labelled as a “danger to health” by an independent contractor.
Ian Moorhouse, lives in Searl Street, Derby, and says he has been dealing with persistent leaks for the last nine months.
Mr Moorhouse said: “I have three constant leaks in the room. I am trying to capture the water to prevent further damage to my property with assorted plastic buckets etc. I cannot
SAYS IT’S A HEALTH RISK turn my light on since one of the leaks is running directly down from the light fitting.
“The room is best described as smelling like someone’s tent they packed up when leaving a music festival – completely wet and left in the bag for two weeks.”
Mr Moorhouse is a laboratory manager and is currently working to supply the vital drugs the NHS needs to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
He says that, despite complaining in June 2020, neither his landlords or his managing agents came to fix the leaks and patches of mould that appeared in his house.
He claims he has sent several emails, pictures of his home and has made several telephone calls expressing his concerns.
He said: “I have had nine months, paying full rent and service charge, with no investigation of the complaint on the property.”
Mr Moorhouse says an investigation has now been launched into the mould but says the nine months he was left without any resolution left him feeling as though he was “living in a position of squalor”.
In an email he wrote to his landlords, Metropolitan Thames Valley, he said “you have willingly subjected my person and that of my son, to substandard and dangerous to health living conditions, meanwhile still expected that I am to pay full rent and service charges”.
According to an independent contractor who visited Mr Moorhouse’s home at his request, “There is a constant water leak coming down the side of the white rainwater or soil pipe from the roof or flats above. We would need to gain access to complete our investigation.
“The water is running on to the back of an MDF plasterboard ceiling and down plasterboard walls, these are in a very dangerous state and are liable to collapse at any time.
“There is a lot of black mould across
the ceiling and down the walls and a lot of damp due to the leak, which is a danger to health and needs to be treated as soon as possible.”
After Mr Moorhouse’s management company and landlords were contacted by the Derby Telegraph, the leaks have now been fixed.
A spokesperson for the management company, Mainstay, said: “We’re sorry to hear that Mr Moorhouse is unhappy about how we have dealt with the situation.
“As the leak originated from a neighbour’s property, this would not have fallen under our responsibility as we are only responsible for maintaining the communal areas of the building.
“However, we were keen to resolve the situation and managed to gain access to the neighbour’s property to repair the leak. We have also advised Mr Moorhouse that he can raise an insurance claim for any remedial work to his own property, which would resolve this issue.”
A spokesperson from Mr Moorhouse’s landlord, Metropolitan Thames Valley, said: “We are sorry to hear about the distress this has clearly caused Mr. Moorhouse. We were first made aware of the leak in September, and are pleased that the leak has now been repaired by the managing agent.”