Despite being hospitalised and seeing her daughter become ill, a city mum is still battling problems with black mould covering the walls of her council flat.
Leela Grieveson, who lives in Antingham Road in Heartsease, has been trying to get Norwich City Council to rid her home of mould for two years.
Ms Grieveson's health conditions mean her immune system is unable to fight bugs and on Wednesday, January 25, she was taken to hospital with pneumonia.
Despite warning council officials that she was particularly vulnerable to the toxic fungus, her doctor says it is likely to have caused Ms Grieveson's trip to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
Ms Grieveson said: "It's crazy, I've lived here many years and nothing has been done."
The city council has now started work and offered an apology, with the mould thought to be caused by a leaky pipe in the roof and cracks in the walls of the property.
Since the hospital trip, her daughter Imari has also become unwell and Ms Grieveson's doctor has written a letter to the council urging them to re-home her.
Following the incident she was living with a friend in Hellington Corner, near Poringland, but has now moved back in and is sleeping on the floor of her daughter's bedroom.
Ms Grieveson continued: "I had someone go in from the council to sort it the other day and they just ended up taking my bleach out of the cupboard and trying to cover it up.
"Then they told me it was fine to move back in, but clearly it isn't, it will take months of work, not just a day.
"I'm now hearing anything from the council. Every time I ring they cut me off and when they do speak they say it's my fault."
In Ms Grieveson's house the black mould can be seen seeping from the corners of her walls and her electrical sockets have become dangerously damp.
Kitchen units have also become mouldy making them unusable and walls are constantly soaked, meaning she has been unable to decorate the home since moving in.
A city council spokeswoman said: “We are working to address the issues with mould in Ms Grieveson’s home and will keep in touch with her to see if we offer further support or advice.
“Repairs needed at this property are almost complete and we apologise for the delay in getting to this stage.
“We have recently reviewed our processes around damp and are making a range of improvements to the way we manage this issue across all council homes.”
Mould woes
Ms Grieveson’s story comes as a number of mould issues have been causing misery in homes across the city.
Alan Vardy, 41, who lives in Lionwood Road with his partner Sarah Young and their four children, was constantly "fobbed off" by the council over a prolific mould issue in January.
Later last month a landlord in Magdalen Close won their battle with the council over mould which seeped through cracks in the walls.
And last year a woman with lung problems was forced to sleep on the sofa due to mould problems at a home in Clover Court ran by the Clarion Housing Association.
The issue has also made national headlines in recent months, after two-year-old Awaab Ishak died in a Rochdale council home.
An inquest found that his death was caused by "extensive" mould in his family's flat, with a coroner saying the case should be "a defining moment" for the housing sector.
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