Rochdale tenants face ‘chaos’ over mould and damp repairs

A social housing tenant says she has been waiting 17 years for her landlord to remove damp and mould from her home.

Natalie, who lives on Langley Estate in Middleton, Greater Manchester, said contractors kept coming back to try to fix the same problems after carrying out “shoddy” repairs.

The Greater Manchester Tenants’ Union, which campaigns for better homes, said the process of carrying out the work was “total chaos”, adding: “The gasmen come in to do the roofs, the roofers come in to do the flooring.”

The owner, Riverside Housing, said it was “committed to providing good services to our customers”.

Natalie said she discovered a pool of standing water under her house shortly after moving in in 2006.

It was pumped out but sent back, leaving behind damp floors and moldy carpets.

She said she had to replace her sofa 12 times because of living conditions.

“I’ve had my washing machine for two years and the rust on it is unreal,” she told BBC Radio Manchester.

Natalie said she was told that after a damp problem returned in her bathroom the walls would be “re-bricked this time but instead they painted and they’ve already started repainting – that’s how they sorted it”.

She said her son could not bring his friends over “because of the smell.”

“It’s unfair that they left us like this for 17 years.”

Another tenant, Caroline Ray, said she had complained more than 85 times since 2019 about rats in the walls and attic.

“They sent the same subcontractors three times,” Ms. Ray said.

“They ripped out the attic and claimed to have decontaminated it and within a week the rats were back.”

Ms Ray said the problem was having a significant impact on her son who “sleeps in the room where the rats are mainly”.

“He’s been hospitalized, they don’t know what’s wrong with him, he’s having liver scans because they don’t know what’s making him throw up all the time,” she said.

Natalie said she had been moved to the priority area for rehousing but was still waiting to move.

David Taylor, a Riverside tenant for 18 years, lives in a bungalow that has mould in the bathroom and kitchen, and damp in the bedroom.

He said he was “too ashamed” to have anyone visit his home, adding: “As soon as they walk through the door they can smell damp and mould.”

He said work by a subcontractor sent to fix a water leak had “caused damage to my furniture in the bedroom and Riverside didn’t care”.

Riverside said it had hired a dedicated team to prioritise damp and mould cases to “ensure we act quickly and decisively”.

Daniel Isaac, Greater Manchester Tenants’ Union organiser for Middleton, said the repair process was the biggest problem facing the housing association, adding: “The contractors come in whenever they want.

“They send the wrong people to the building sites: the gas workers come to do the roofs, the roofers come to do the flooring, it’s complete and utter chaos.

“They come in and do the cheapest job possible, just spray paint over damp and mould when they haven’t done any structural work on the building.

“They should have called in damp experts from the start and fixed the problem the first time.”

He said the measures taken by Riverside were a waste of money, particularly when families were asked to move into hotels while the work was being carried out and when they returned it was not being carried out properly and the process had to be started again.

“In some cases it goes on for years. It’s a real drain on resources and what we don’t understand is why they don’t use that money to make repairs?”

In a statement, Riverside said: “We know we don’t always get it right and we’re sorry if there are occasions when we’ve let customers down, we always make sure to put things right and learn from our failures.

“We have recently invested over £3 million in new kitchens, boilers, window and roof replacements across the Langley estate and last year.

“Riverside and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority have invested £1.3 million to improve the insulation and ventilation of more than 200 homes.”