‘Black mold of my rented flat is making my son sick’

“I am afraid of her health because I know once it comes back, her health starts deteriorating again,” SIND says she shows us that she shows us that she shared the walls of the flat shared with her son Makes the blur.

When he and five -year -old Aziah moved to his house in Briton in 2020, it seemed in a good position. But the black mold began to appear quickly. In the next two years it spread to all the walls, even on beds and furniture.

The 25 -year -old, who was privately hired for £ 1,100 per month, initially reported to his landlord, but despite his efforts to improve ventilation, the problem remained. A year later, Aziah began to develop health issues and later diagnosed asthma.

Five years after all this started, despite repeated complaints in his landlord and his local council, the problem of Cinad’s mold has not been solved and it is trapped.

“No matter how loud I shout, I am not hearing,” she says.

The 2023 government survey found that England have more than half a million rented houses – both private and socio -social issues.

In Roderham, we met an elderly couple who live in the same private house for more than 50 years. It has wallpaper, wet walls, large black mold patch and huge smell of moist.

Asked what the effect it is having, 82 -year -old Christine Brown told us: “Do you want the truth? I want me to die. How I got it.”

Christine, and husband Paul, 74, has a protected tenancy that keeps the rental low, at £ 440 per month. He did not know who his landlord was. All communication was through an agent.

After some excavation, Panorama discovered that the House is owned by a large property company, run by a billionaire family.

Crystine suffers from asthma, angina and bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung condition that she believes that she was caused by mold.

Mold exposure can affect people with COPD or asthma badly as it can trigger a bottleneck reaction.

“Your airways stop, you start coughing,” says the President of the Royal College of GPS, Kamila Hothorn. “You are more likely to take an infection and you are more likely that you need antibiotics and/or steroids – and possibly also entering a hospital.”

More than 26,000 infants and children were admitted to the hospital with lung conditions last year, which was probably involved in contact with moist and mold, the panorama analysis of NHS England’s data has been found.

After the death of two -year -old Avb Ishaq in 2020, it was found to be directly associated with the mold exposure, the then Orthodox government prepared a new law to save social tenants in England from being unsafe. But the law has not yet been implemented.

The government announced that the law will be implemented for moist and mold problems from October. – And by 2027, it was fully implemented for all other dangers. Private tenants will be preserved in the same way – the government says – once the rights of its rental bills become laws, it was expected later this year.

In the case of Avab, his father Faisal had repeatedly enhanced the problem of mold with the Housing Association responsible for the family’s Rochedale flat, but no action was taken.

Faisal is disappointed that change has taken for so long. “They should bring it through as soon as possible,” they say. “It is going to save the lives of many people.”

In brighton, as Aziah’s health deteriorated, SIND says “was really scared” and “fear for his life”.

“She was coughing and vomiting,” she says that the medical record show had dangerously caused low blood sugar.

At another point, he had a consecutive cough for eight months. “He said, ‘Mummy, how do you stop this cough?” And I said, “You can’t, Aziah,” says Sinad.

After complaining to the council – which is responsible for ensuring the landlords to maintain housing standards – the landlord installed extractor fans and provided dehumidifiers. But the mold remained.

In many cases, local officials are not implemented the legal duty of private landlords to maintain safe housing.

The complaints we had received from each local authority of England and Wales about housing issues, and what enforcement action they took. Over the last seven years, there were over 570,000 complaints about about 570,000 complaints (after 317 requests) of about 570,000 complaints about homes hired privately.

In more than 90% of cases, no action was taken and a landlord was prosecuted as a result of complaints less than 1%.

Councils are running important with resource and facing historical challenges, the local government association says that England and Wales speak for authorities. “Issues can be resolved without the need for inspection, with an enforcement and prosecution being a final measure when failing all other options,” it says.

According to the National Audit Office, in the last 10 years, the council funding in England has actually reduced by 10%.

England’s Housing Lokpal Richard Blackway says, “Now there is an ideal storm, some of which are actually around funding, some of which are around the age of homes.”

In England alone, more than three million social tenants are expected to live in assets that do not meet the standards of civilized houses of the government according to a government survey.

The houses are either in a state of chaos, there are no modern kitchens and bathroom facilities, or lack of adequate heating and insulation.

When Christine shows us a privately hired house in Maltbi, Roderham, there are issues that appear with moist in every room.

She says, “I am ill to see it in this way. My house never happened. When I was younger and working, I could (repair the house),” she says. “We can’t do this right now.”

The couple says that for the first time in 2022, they told their management agents, Sawils about the problems.

Civils say that it works authorized for the house, in which the roof has been resumed in 2023 – but the water is still happening, which is also involved with the property nearby, and many other problems were created. Has been.

The BBC Panorama wanted to find out who was finally responsible for the house situation.

It is owned by a company called Area Estates Limited, which is part of the House Records Show William Pearce Group. Two of the three brothers who are directors of the group, live in some of the most expensive postcods in London.

One of them, Mark Peirs, is also in the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List, which has an estimated family funds of more than £ 3BN. He is also a trustee of the British Museum. His brother and fellow director Sir Trevor Pears was night in 2017 for his charity work.

Area Estates told us that it had authorized professional management agents to take care of the property “according to all rules”, and “day-to-day maintenance”, for more expensive repairs The requests were always responded to. quickly.

“Management agents will soon resume the house and participate in any repair issues that are the responsibility of the landlord,” said this.

Managing agent Sawils said that “it is very sorry to know that Mrs. Brown believes that complaints have been ignored in any way”. It said that it always tried to address any problem on time – and completed 13 separate inspection and repair works on property between 2023 and 2024.

When the BBC Panorama told the couple about the identity of his landlord, Christine said: “I will shake her hand and I would say, ‘Please make my house safe’.”

In the case of Sinad, while the council’s environmental health officials said that there were problems, they concluded that the flat was safe. He then received legal aid to pay for an independent inspection. It said that the flat was “disqualified for human residence”.

SIND also applied for social housing, submitted evidence about the health of Aziah. But the council said that they had “A and E travels continuously with A and E with complex treatment in the hospital”.

The Bryton and Hov City Council say the issues of legal power to apply in the flat of SIND have now been addressed by the private landlord. It states that it recommended improvement in “ventilation and insulation” that it may “encourage but implement”.

The landlords of the SIND admit that “there is a problem with condensation” but says that continuous issues are “due to neglect” that are not removing the condensation.

Keeping a consistent temperature and ventilation can help prevent mold growth – but it will not solve the problem if the defect with the building means that bad ventilation is or is coming moist.

Meanwhile, the mold is coming back in the last summer, despite cleaning the flat and recurring again.

Aziah’s cough is still not cleared and has been sent to a lung specialist.

“This is my son who continues me,” says SIND. “If I don’t fight it, who will fight for it?”