A MUM has claimed that council red tape is forcing her family to live in an “unfit”, rotten home with a hole in the roof.
The property is allegedly riddled with mould even after a six-month “renovation” delay.
Jade Eaton, 33, was allocated the house by her local council in 2019 but claims that it was in no state to be lived in even then.
The family say that the house in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear is mouldy and damp, with rotting door frames.
There’s also a huge hole in the kitchen ceiling, with things allegedly getting “worse and worse” over time.
Jade thought she had left the house behind when she moved into a three-bedroomed council property rented by Doreen Leighton, the mother of her partner and the kid’s father, 44-year-old Carlton Lartey.
The couple moved in to care for Doreen shortly before she died of cancer in October last year.
I went to get out a pair of shorts and they were green
Jade Eaton
However, they are now being kicked out as Doreen inherited the lease from her own mother and council rules state that it can not be passed on again.
Gateshead council insists that Mr Lartey is not eligible to succeed the tenancy, as this can only be done in “very specific circumstances”.
This means that the family will have to move back into Jade’s flat despite her protests that it is unsuitable.
The full-time mum claimed: “The property is run through Home Group.
“I got it through the council in 2019 when I was pregnant with the twins.
“They made me wait six months for renovations.
“When I did get the keys, nothing had been done to the property.
“The property is unfit to live in with the four children.
“It’s been going on for a long time and it’s been getting worse and worse.
“I have gone through two carpets in the sitting room and two beds in the main bedroom due to the damp and mould.
“I went to get out a pair of shorts and they were green.”
We take matters of damp and mould seriously indeed and have a zero-tolerance approach
Home Group
She also alleged that her five-year-old son Draey had to take time off school due to repeated viral chest infections, which she believes relate to the mould problem.
Jade begged the council to allow the family to continue living in Doreen’s old property instead.
She added: “I’m devastated because it has upset the kids.
“The kids are quite settled in their grandma’s house.
“Even the neighbours are happy with us here.
“They don’t want anybody else moving in.
“I’m absolutely disgusted by Home Group and Gateshead Council.
“We got told last year they can make special circumstances but obviously our circumstances aren’t special enough.”
LEANNE Hall, Digital Writer at Fabulous, has discussed what it was like growing up in a council house, and why those living in such properties are often judged...
When I was a child I grew up in a council house, and was blissfully unaware of the discrimination that came with that, until I became an adult.
My younger years were spent running up and down the stairs of my flat, meeting with other friends who lived there and making the most of the communal garden.
But now, it seems no matter your circumstance, everyone has something to say about why you shouldn’t be there.
Living just outside of London like I did, rent prices are still high, and as my mum was at home raising three kids at the time, it wasn’t easy to find a job that fit around that.
People in council houses are often labelled as ‘scroungers’ or ‘lazy’ but it’s nothing of the sort.
Most families in council homes experience overcrowding, and let’s not even mention the horrendous amount of damp and mould that comes from living in old social housing that hasn’t had work done to them in 50 or so years.
It’s not ideal for many, but it does provide a secure home without the fear your rent will shoot up every single year, which I would argue is vital to children growing up on the poverty line.
A spokesperson for Gateshead Council responded: “We have a responsibility to manage our homes on behalf of everyone in Gateshead, and we have to do that fairly and according to the rules for allocating homes.
“There is only a right to succeed a tenancy in very specific circumstances.”
Home Group, which manages the property, said they were “sorry” to hear of Jade’s complaints but disputed the claim that the home was mouldy.
They said: “We take matters of damp and mould seriously indeed and have a zero-tolerance approach to such issues.
“When we are alerted to any issues we aim to act immediately.
“I’m pleased to say that our own surveys and that of an independent surveyor instructed by our customer themselves found no damp in the home, only a small area of mould.
“After repairing a leak from a radiator which created a hole in our customer’s ceiling we have been unable to gain access to undertake the necessary follow on works to get the issues resolved.
“I’m also pleased to say that despite not being able to get access to carry out the repairs to a conclusion for the past few months we did gain access this week and have started the works that will bring our customer’s home back to a standard we and they would expect.”
These repairs allegedly included a “mould wash” to get rid of the patch found by the survey.
They went on to say that they would remain in touch with the family to ensure that further repairs could be completed “as quickly as possible”.
