A disabled dad has shared his agony of living in a mouldy flat which has left him “struggling to breathe”.
Chris Holland, 33, has been living in the ground floor property in Redditch, Worcs., for six months and says his health has rapidly deteriorated.
Shocking pictures show the living room ceiling almost completely black with fungus while the walls and floors are peppered with ugly dark spots.
The dad-of-one, who was forced to leave his warehouse job following a car crash, said: "The furniture's getting ruined and the ceiling is black.
“I'm struggling to breathe. It's just really getting me down and it’s depressing me.”
Chris, who lives on his own in the one-bed flat, noticed black mould spots on the walls and ceilings shortly after moving in last September.
He says he alerted Redditch Borough Council to the problems but nothing was done to get rid of the mould.
Chris said: "I've been onto them (the council) for the last six months. I want it rectified.
"Every time I've cleaned it off it's come back with a vengeance.
“I have an 18-month-old daughter but she can’t stay over.
“I won’t have her here, it’s not safe.
“It’s caused me health issues. I have been diagnosed with asthma and COPD. This is down to the mould.
“Just a few weeks after moving in I noticed a tiny black spot patch in the living room. I kept wiping it down but it’s just got worse.
“The council came around and looked at it and said it’s not in their job description as it has wallpaper.
“How am I going to stand on a ladder and scrape it off. I’m allergic to it, I’m coming out in blotches and my arms are swelling up.
“It stinks of the mould, it’s a really musky smell. I have a little a parrot and it could die.
“There’s a cupboard in the kitchen where I keep all my clothes, but you can’t get rid of the smell.
“I’ve ripped up all the carpet in the living room and bedroom. The living room is the worst. I can’t even sit in there because it’s damp and smelly.
“I have had to throw a load of clothes away and I’ve had to buy a new settee, I'm getting rid of my bed too as it’s full of mould.”
A spokesperson for Redditch Borough Council said: “An active disrepair claim on this property requires us to deal with the tenant’s solicitor.
“We have now reached the stage of that process where we are able to arrange, through the solicitor, to carry out work we have identified in the living room.
“This follows months of trying, through the solicitor, to arrange access to the property to carry out the survey that was required to identify this work.
“We now hope to be permitted to carry out that work without undue delay.”
