A BASINGSTOKE mother and her three children have been left to live in mould hell and a hole in the ceiling as their calls for help have fallen on deaf ears.

Sharmaine Stuart, 25 and of Kings Road, said a part of the ceiling over her toilet fell down on Thursday, November 3, but her housing association, Sovereign, has not fixed it yet despite her complaints.

Since then, her 20-month-old daughter has been hospitalised and on oxygen-support because of bronchiolitis developed from mould and damp that got into their flat.

Sharmaine said Sovereign is not considering her case as an emergency.

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“It’s frustrating,” said Sharmaine, who has three daughters – aged five, 20 months and eight months.

“I hate it because it's starting to affect all of us. I'm waking up sometimes with swollen eyes because the mould has got on the wall in my bedroom and it's gone up onto my bed.

“So basically there's mould in my living room. My bedroom, the children's bedroom and the bathroom. All the heavy downpours we've had are getting straight into my flat.”

After she spoke to the Gazette on Friday, November 18, Sharmaine updated later that the mould has now travelled into her baby’s bed.

Basingstoke Gazette: The extent of mold in Sharmaine's homeThe extent of mold in Sharmaine's home (Image: Newsquest)

She has been living in this flat for four years and had similar issues last year too.

“Last year, we ended up having to contact the CEO of Sovereign and they came out to sort it.

“This time, on November 3, we were sitting in the living room and I heard this loud noise. When I went to look in the toilet, I saw that the ceiling has fallen through.”

Sharmaine said Sovereign is not considering her case as an emergency despite several calls for help.

“They first sent a plumber out because I thought I'd had a leak. It turned out there was a hole in my roof. They said they would send someone out straight away. But no one came.

“I contacted Sovereign again and they sent an emergency roofer out. They looked up in the attic and said that there's obviously a hole in my roof, but it wouldn’t be an emergency because they don't do emergency scaffolding.”

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On behalf of Sovereign, Matt Hensby, assistant director for Localities said: “The health and wellbeing of all our customers is vital and we apologise if Miss Stuart feels we’ve not responded quickly enough to her concerns.

“We always endeavour to carry out repairs as quickly as possible and last week members of our team visited the property. While there, they were able to fit a temporary fix and stop the leak coming from the roof.

“We have scheduled further works which will enable us to permanently fix the roof, however we are dependent on scaffolding to carry out these works. The scaffolding is being put up on Tuesday [November 22], and the works will start shortly afterwards.

“Our team has successfully treated mould around the windows and windowsills on a previous visit, and mould in these areas was not observed during our most recent visit.

“Over the last year, we have made several changes to the way we respond to reports of mould so that we’re faster and more proactive. We’re now trialling the use of video calls with our customers so we can better understand cases of damp and mould.

“We have also recently installed smart technology in some of our less energy-efficient homes, to help us monitor humidity and spot the warning signs of damp and mould much earlier. The lessons we learn from this trial will help us to deliver better outcomes for all our customers.

“Our team will continue to work closely with our customer to get this work completed as soon as possible. Following our visit, our team is also looking at what further support we can provide to help our customer heat their home this winter.” 

Sharmaine later said Sovereign did put up the scaffolding on Tuesday, but it was outside another property. This has delayed the works for another couple of days.