A family say they have been forced to live in a mouldy flat with two young children for three years.
Dom Shillito, 26, and his partner Shannon Walker, 25, were over the moon when they received the keys to their flat on Lambardly House Southwood Close, Leeds owned by Yorkshire Housing. The pair moved in on October 2021 with their three-year-old son and were also expecting another baby.
But after living there for a few months, their situation soon turned into a nightmare. Builder Dom said: “When we first moved into the flat, it had all been painted and everything looked great.
“But then after the first winter we started to notice bits of mould appearing on the walls and other things. We had mentioned it to Yorkshire Housing but nothing ever really got done.
“They would come out and clean the mould – but it would always return.”
Get all the latest and breaking news in Leeds by signing up to our newsletter here.
Dom and Shannon felt like they had to constantly wipe everything with mould to stop their children from touching it
But the problem got even worse and so much so that one wall collapsed. Dom had been entertaining friends at the flat a year later after they had moved in and had leaned against the wall to which he fell through.
Dom said: “My friends were over for some food and I had just leaned up against the wall. The next thing I knew I fell through the living room wall.
“It had just given way and there was a massive black mould in the wall cavity. Yorkshire Housing repaired the plasterboard after eight weeks of leaving the wall up with all the mould exposed.
“We thought that was the end of it and wallpapered it up but then the mould started growing.”
Mould under the wallpaper
Doing the best that they could, Dom and Shannon began to clean off the mould themselves as they feared that their children would touch it. But they made sure to take photos of the mould before and after – to prove to the housing company what was happening.
“It probably did not look like a big problem to Yorkshire Housing as we kept up with the cleaning ,” Dom said.
But there was another problem with he flat, which he found out after when Dom sons were taking a bath.
“My eldest and my youngest son were in the bath one day when we heard a crash,” Dom said.
“My eldest was standing in the bath and he fell through the wall.
A bath time nightmare for Dom and Shannon -Credit:supplied
“He had knocked the tiles off and it ended up falling into the bath and went all over both my son’s feet. At the back of the wall it was full of mould and there was also a leak.”
The family have spoken out about how living in the flat has caused health problems and concerns for their children.
Dom said: “Shannon has really bad health anxiety now and cries at night about the situation. My eldest son has asthma which is aggravated by the mould.
“He is off school this week as he has been coughing then being sick and crying before falling back to sleep. He panics when he cannot breathe. He has also had to go to the doctors for new inhalers.
“My youngest son, Tommy has a pacemaker after falling ill at eight weeks old due to a chest infection that turned into sepsis – which we think was caused by the mould.
Tommy had a pacemaker fitted when he was only two months old
“The kids are vulnerable and could die – so it keeps us up at night thinking how unsafe it is here. We have been through a lot of the years and I know legally they have to do something about it. But the breaking point was when my eldest fell through the wall.
“The smell is really bad and knocks you back a bit. It is so embarrassing and I try to avoid having my friends and family over.
“If we could afford it, we would buy or rent elsewhere but it is so expensive.”
Dom and Shannon have lived in a nightmare flat covered in mould for three years with two vulnerable kids -Credit:supplied
Since speaking to Yorkshire Live, Yorkshire Housing has been in touch with the family and offered to transfer them to a new home within eight weeks, reimburse bills and offered to do repair work in the flat straightaway.
Adam Hinchliff, Director of Homes at Yorkshire Housing, said: “We know this has been a difficult and worrying time for the family, and we’re sorry for any stress this has caused them. We’re taking this very seriously to make sure the issues are resolved promptly.
“I’ve been to see the family to listen to their concerns, understand the issues and talk about how we can work together to resolve them. When problems were reported in the past, we investigated and treated mould caused by condensation in the home.
2-year-old Tommy with his brother Kayden (5)
“The mechanical ventilation system in the flat that is designed to prevent these issues wasn’t being used, so we’re working with the customer to help them better understand how to use it.
“We accept that some repairs took longer than they should have, and we’ve apologised to the family. We’re now looking into how this happened as part of our complaints process, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“The recent issue in the bathroom was caused by water that had seeped behind loose tiles, and the repair work has already begun. We offered temporary accommodation during the repairs, but the customer felt it wasn’t needed.
“We understand that the family would prefer to move, so we’re looking to find them a more permanent solution to meet the needs of their growing family. Until then, we will continue to work closely with them to address any further concerns.”
Get all the latest and breaking news in Leeds by signing up to our newsletter here.