My damp and mouldy house is ‘absolute disgrace’
TO SLEEP IN FRONT ROOM
A MAN living in a Nottingham City Homes property riddled with mould and damp says it is an “absolute disgrace”.
Darren Pinnock, 43, lives in an Aspley home run by the organisation and says he has been suffering from damp and mould for more than two years.
He has had damp on the walls, mould on his clothes – and even found “human faeces under the bath” when he first moved in.
Mr Pinnock, originally from London, has had NCH surveyors out to inspect the property.
NCH says it is working to provide support and will visit again “to see if we can assist further”.
But Mr Pinnock described damp coming “through my ceilings”, forcing him to sleep in his front room for two years.
The Nottingham City Council worker said: “The main issue at present is that, since I moved into this property, there have been issues with damp throughout the house.
“It has never been sorted out, and there was one case of me having flies in the bathroom and I moved back the bath panel to find human faeces under the bath.
“The damp was so bad that I have had to sleep in my front room for the past two years.
“I’ve had numerous housing officers out, who have stated that they haven’t seen any damp, and I’ve sent video, photo evidence, and I’ve started to notice mould growing on my clothes.
“They’ve kept saying to me ‘open the windows, do this and do that,’ but I’ve worked for a housing association in the past and I know how to deal with damp.
“I’ve advised them that it’s not just damp, it’s coming through my ceilings and the salt is coming out of the outside brickwork.”
He claims he was even hospitalised on one occasion after a wall collapsed.
He said: “The fencing outside my house was held up by one big stone, and when we had really bad winds I warned NCH that it could fall down. They wouldn’t sort it and said they weren’t due to fix the fence and it fell down on me.
“I don’t know what happened but I remember waking up an hour or two later being taken to hospital.
“The left side of my face was temporarily paralysed and I couldn’t move my arm, and they actually thought I’d had a stroke. It was that bad.
“Since I moved from London and got an NCH home it’s been an absolute disgrace, I have to be able to live.”
An NCH spokesperson said: “We were called to the property in June 2020 after a small leak from a washing machine in the neighbouring flat.
“There was minimal damage and this was repaired.
“We have had a surveyor out who found small damage to a kitchen plinth and we are going to replace this.
“They also found mould caused by lack of ventilation and we have given him advice on how to stop the mould and we will be visiting the property again to see if we can assist further.”