I’m a pregnant mum-of-two and I’m going to make myself homeless to get a better council house – this one is too damp
A PREGNANT mum-of-two has said she would rather be homeless than live in her damp-infested flat.
Annemarie Devlin, 32, has been dealing with damp in her council house for seven years.
“However, I reported this a few weeks after moving in. It has been seven years since and they haven’t resolved it.
“They come out and clean the walls with what looks like big baby wipes.
“After they are done, they give me them and tell me to continue wiping the walls with them - and that is it.”
The mum-of-two, who is six months pregnant, said the damp and mould in the house is ruining clothes, furniture and even her children’s toys.
She also has to sleep in the same room as her eight-year-old and two-year-old because the damp is so severe in the other bedroom.
Ms Devlin admitted that it got so bad that she thought about homelessness as a solution.
“At one point, I considered making myself homeless. That way I would have gotten a house quicker, which would have been in far better condition.”
Her two-year-old has asthma, which Annemarie fears is being made worse by the state of the house.
The family's Scotland home is just one of an estimated 1.9 million UK households with hazards that pose a risk to tenants health and safety.
However, families who are forced to live in mouldy homes could receive hundreds of pounds in compensation from their landlord.
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The mum-of-two continued: “I can’t buy blinds for my house because they keep getting destroyed due to the mould.
“I had to rip up my carpet and change it to vinyl in my living room as the carpet was completely destroyed.
“In my oldest child’s room, water was literally running down the walls and damp is sitting above her bed on the ceiling. She will not sleep in her room.
“My bedroom is a joke. The cot my youngest sleeps in is absolutely covered in mould and I am having to wipe it down every so often due to it spreading.”
Annemarie said she’s been on the phone to the council every week for months, but has been told that the house conditions are not deemed “unliveable” and that the mould is due to condensation.
She says all they told her was to keep windows open to improve air flow, but the problem hasn’t gone away.
She said: “I feel as if I have been forgot about.
“I have contacted the council, my local MP, and nothing is getting done about it.
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“My doctor has even written to them to explain that it is affecting my health.”
Renfrewshire Council has been contacted for comment.