‘My dentist even asked if I was living somewhere damp’ – Grandmother 'plagued with health problems because her council house is riddled with damp'
A grandmother living in a “disgustingly damp” house in East Yorkshire claims she is suffering with her health because of it.
Laura Nesti has lived in the same local authority property, in Keyingham, for about 13 years. The three-bedroom house, where her children and two young grandchildren also previously lived, has a “big issue” with damp, she said.
“You can smell it as soon as you walk into the living room,” she claimed. “It’s dreadful. The smell is constantly in my nose.
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“About a year ago I became really poorly. I am suffering with my health because of it all. Since September I’ve had this awful chesty cough.
“My dentist asked me about my face, with my sinuses being all blocked up and congested. He asked if I was living in any damp."
She claimed: “I’ve left umpteen messages with my housing officer; she said there are no other houses available. I said in the summer, ‘put me in a caravan for a couple of days and get the workmen in here’, but nothing has happened.
“I spend a lot of time sat in my bedroom upstairs at the front of the house, I have a TV in there and have made a bit of a ‘chilling’ area in there.
“I tend to stay up there unless I need to make a cup of tea or my lunch or dinner. I’ve been poorly for a long time and I have this to contend with as well; it’s affecting my mental health too.
“I look in the corner and I see this mess, I see the state of the floor, I see the damp in the understairs cupboard and I think, why in this day and age am I living in a place like this? I’ve always been an independent person and I just get on with life, but there have been a lot of knockbacks and I’m passed from pillar to post.”
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Laura, who used to work in a school but it currently having to live on benefits, said she did not know whether the damp is coming from a leak or leaks in the roof above or from below. “A surveyor came in October and took a drone around the house, he took pictures and looked at the chimney breast.
“I think he felt a bit sorry for me. He rang me back two days later and said a report had gone into the council. I’ve not heard anything since then.”
A spokesperson for East Riding Council said: “The Council are aware of the concerns raised by Ms Nesti regarding the condition of the property. A survey has been carried out of the property and has identified the works required.
“Officers are in regular contact with Ms Nesti to arrange for her to move to alternative accommodation, then we will be able to carry out the necessary work to the property.”