A family in Stoke has won a lengthy fight for basic improvements in their crumbling, damp home. Tenant Anthony McAnulty won out against Aspire Property, 13 years after he moved into the flat with his wife and four children.
The flat is riddled with mould and rot, while a cracked pipe has been leaking urine into a hole in the ceiling for years.
A damp cluster in the living is due to a faulty toilet leaving waste leaking under the living room.
Horrific photos from inside the property, obtained by Stoke Sentinel, show rotting kitchen cupboards, rising damp, missing roof tiles and mould and a damp-ridden lounge.
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Speaking about the experience, Mr McAnulty said: “I can’t believe what has happened to us.
“In the living room, we noticed damp had started to rise up the walls on a regular basis. We did not make a correlation between the downstairs toilet and the damp.
“You wouldn’t think that flushing a toilet would make the living room damp. Just over five years ago, it kept overflowing.
“We called a guy out and the toilet flooded over the basin and went over his ankles and our floor.
“Instantly he says ‘you need a new toilet’. The waste pipe had split.
“A worker asked me if we’d noticed any damp because each time we had used it the urine was running back under the property.”
Mr McAnulty said that after eight plumbers inspected the £500-a-month property, the family stopped using the toilet altogether.
He said: “The damp had only stopped because we had stopped using the toilet and our own urine wasn’t coming back up through the walls to haunt us!”
Mr McAnulty, who suffers from asthma, was prescribed two extra types of inhalers for the damp and mould in the flat.
When he told a doctor about the black mould “in all of the rooms,” the medical professional advised him in get in touch with the housing association and the fight has only just ended.
Aspire Housing head of delivery David Jones said: “We are aware of issues that Mr McAnulty and his family have experienced with their home and have been working closely with them in recent weeks to reach a resolution.
“We carried out an inspection of the property in November and arranged several repair visits on the back of this. We have since met with Mr McAnulty again and agreed a comprehensive schedule of works to resolve the issues with his home.
“This will be handled as a priority and project managed by a dedicated member of the team.
“We would like to sincerely apologise to Mr McAnulty and his family for the level of service they have received, which has been below the standard they would rightfully expect.
“We will be engaging further over the next few weeks to help us to better understand the issues they have experienced and how we can support with their situation moving forward.”
