'I'm desperate... my son has been to hospital 30 times because of mould'

IT has been two years since the death of Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died from prolonged “extensive” mould exposure at his home in Rochdale, which subsequently started a legislative review of landlord guidance.

- By LOUIS CORBETT

His death has been a stark warning to the UK’s housing sector about the dangers of mould.

In Nottingham, Shannon Kemp, 23, has been living in a mould-infested house for two years, with plaster peeling from the walls, mould covering all her possessions, and a stench that doesn’t dissipate no matter how many deep cleans are done.

The single mother of two lives alone with her one-year-old daughter and two-year-old son, and has been unemployed since she developed a brain clot after giving birth to her daughter. Since moving into her Forest Fields house two years ago, she has been battling to get attention from social housing provider PA Housing - and claims repeated pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears.

While PA Housing has come out to do a mould flush, she claims that this only made it worse as her two children have both developed conditions that cause them to be treated in hospital regularly.

Shannon, originally from Bulwell, said: "Nothing has been done. I've been on the phone to them, and I've said I’m struggling. I need the work done because of my children. I’m constantly in and out of the hospital with my children, because they are constantly poorly. The mould is contributing to that.

"My daughter was in the hospital after they found she had a pneumothorax in her lungs.