Black mould: Calico tenant and Burnley mum with fibromyalgia says living in a mouldy home has made her mental health "horrendous”

The mum-of-three said her “mental health is horrendous” due to extensive mould in the kitchen, living room, downstairs toilet, and her daughter’s bedroom in the three-bed semi she rents through Calico.

Emma Mitchell, of Constable Avenue, claims the housing association has repeatedly failed to resolve the problem, forcing her to spend thousands of pounds on replacing furniture and making repairs.

Emma said: “It seems like it’s never-ending. It’s horrendous living like that. [We’ve had] 10 years of having no bathroom, no kitchen, no bedrooms. It has affected my mental health. Having five of us living upstairs with no kitchen or living room in a tiny house for two months takes its toll on you.

“I’ve had enough. My mental health is horrendous.

“My daughters and I don’t want their friends around because it’s embarrassing having black walls.

“You can’t have nice things. You're constantly throwing things away like clothes, curtains, and mattresses.

“We don’t use our downstairs toilet because it’s jet black. My kids are scared to use it.”

The 42-year-old added: “You feel like the [Calico] workers look down on you. They don’t listen to you. It’s frustrating.

“We can’t understand how they have won all these awards as they are not customer-focused. People are scared to speak out against them."

The staff took around three months to realise they had forgotten to book a replastering job in her kitchen, according to Emma, and she now faces another three-month wait for it.

“I have asked them so many times to move us to a bigger house because there is nowhere for us all to sleep. We’re not on benefits, have never given them a spot of bother, and always pay our rent.”

For seven years since moving in, she lived with “jet black everywhere” and paint hanging off the walls due to the underlying mould.

“We’ve lived in the property for more than 10 years and there have been problems since the day we got the keys. When we moved in it was a mess. The front bottom was full of holes. The whole wall was loose. Calico said replastering it was down to us. I was dismayed at first but I couldn’t afford my old house so I had no other choice.

“I had a newborn, a one-year-old, and a four-year-old, and we had to all move into one tiny bedroom because the rest of the house was not decorated.”

The housing association would generally resort to the “temporary fix” of replastering the walls - eight times in total - and covering them with anti-mould paint, Emma added.

“The house was a mess within weeks of painting it with expensive anti-mould paint. The paint was hanging off the walls, which were jet black. And our radiators were leaking so much that one fell off and hit my child.”

She added: “It costs a fortune to keep re-decorating. We spent £4,500 on a new bathroom because it was constantly black on every wall.”

Emma said Calico carried out a damp course when she alerted the council.

The treatment cleared the mould for two years; but it returned 12 months later when the housing provider fitted a new 7ft window in her living room window to provide better ventilation.

But Emma said she struggles to reach up and open it as she has fibromyalgia, a long-term health condition causing pain all over the body. She added that Calico has refused to let her pay for a different window and a wood-burning fire to be fitted in the property to help dry it out.

Wendy Malone, Calico's Group Director for Property, said: “We own 5,000 homes and our customers are our top priority. That’s why we’re investing millions of pounds across Burnley to improve the quality and energy efficiency of our properties where it’s most needed.

"We have made significant improvements to this home to resolve the issues raised, including new central heating, new windows, and new ventilation. We have worked closely with the customer throughout, responding promptly to her concerns, and we are continuing to do so.

"We recognise that damp and mould can seriously affect the health and well-being of families and that we can always do better. In recent years, we have reviewed and improved our processes so that customers can be assured that we will promptly take the right action in each case.

“We urge any customers who are concerned about damp or mould to get in touch with us so we can work with them to take the appropriate action.”