Terrified mum opens up on the horrors of living in a Leeds council flat
The flooring in Louise’s daughters’ bedroom(Image: Louise Clarke)
A Leeds mum has opened up on the horrors of living in a council flat with her two children.
Mum-of-two Louise Clarke, based in Middleton, has said her family have to deal with mould, damp, shaky flooring and an insect infestation, at the flat. She says her daughters have been experiencing “nightmares” after discovering a silverfish in her bed, after they’d been seen them also crawling around the bathroom.
What makes matters worse for the family was the discovery that beneath the floorboards of the daughters’ bedroom, there is no cover between the ground floor room and the basement ten feet below. It’s made Louise fear for her children’s safety. Leeds City Council has said it will carry out a number of repair as a “matter of urgency”, after Leeds Live raised the issues with the local authority.
Louise, whose daughters are aged 11 and five, moved into the flat in 2018, and says she has been reporting the issues since 2020. She says the outer walls are not insulated and this is causing damp and mould in the home but the council aren’t solving the problem. She’s also concerned about the bricked-up basement below her daughters’ bedroom.
Louise said: “They have been damp treated but the council keep painting over it. I’ve told them it’s not good painting over them as outside it needs doing.”
“I have a basement underneath you can’t get into. A couple months ago, we had smoke coming from the basement and the fire service came out. They said if we had an actual fire in the basement, how would we be able to get into it? As it’s all been bricked off.”
Mould in Middleton council flat(Image: Louise Clarke)
They looked beneath the floorboards and discovered the perilous drop below. Louise has been sleeping with her daughters in their room since they started getting nightmares.
Louis said: “In my girls’ bedroom, they’re getting mould on the walls and it’s really cold on a morning and at night. Even if I’ve got heating on. We’re losing constant heat all the time, from the basement. My youngest daughter, who’s five, she’s scared to sleep in her own bedroom because of the basement underneath us. If you pick my flooring up, you can see into the basement because it’s not covered with anything.”
‘Been having nightmares’
She added: “She’s been having nightmares as we found a silverfish in her bed. We’re getting a lot of silverfish. They eat on starch and if you’ve got damp. On a morning or at night, we find them. We get them in the bathroom, as well. It made me feel horrible, it’s not nice at all.”
Mould has also been spreading around the bedroom, putting her daughters’ health at risk, says the mum-of-two. She also finds it in the living room and hallways.
The basement – a view from below(Image: Louise Clarke)
Louise said: “In my girls’ bedroom, they’ve got damp, the council keep telling me to wipe it over. I have wiped it over but it keeps coming back. On the window frames as well, I keep waking up on the morning and finding them wet through and covered with a black squidgy mould, all on the window frame and on my net curtains.”
The long drop beneath the floorboards has made Louise fear for her daughters’ safety. Louise said: “If my daughters fell down that hole, they’d be gone, we’d all be gone, it’s like a 10ft drop. I’m afraid my daughters are going to fall down into that basement, and are not going to survive the drop.”
‘Not happy here’
Louise says her family, which includes her partner, have been living in terror of the creaking floorboards. She said: “My floor is creaking as well. The council have tried to tell me there’s nothing wrong with my floors. When you walk on my living room floor, my furniture rattles and the floor moves, it’s shaky. In the bathroom, the floor creaks.” Louise says her family wants to be moved out of the flat to a different as they’re “not happy here”.
Mould on the windows(Image: Louise Clarke)
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “The council takes its responsibilities as a landlord extremely seriously and is absolutely committed to providing and maintaining quality homes for people in Leeds. We have previously investigated and addressed a number of disrepair issues that have been raised by Miss Clarke about her flat.
“Following the concerns reported to us today, we have returned to the flat to carry out further checks for damp and mould and have resecured the floor. Our checks today have identified the need for some further repairs to be carried out, including a mould treatment to the bedroom and some improvement work which will reduce the risk of condensation occurring. These will be dealt with as a matter of urgency.
“We would always encourage tenants to report any problems they are having with their home as soon as possible so we can take appropriate action.”
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