Military families speak out on mouldy homes

Military families are calling for more to be done to improve their accommodation

Military families have been speaking out about their poor accommodation, with reports of mould, leaks and broken heating systems.

One family living in Wiltshire, who wished not to be named, said their children became "so stressed" from moving after their home was flooded with sewage that they now home educate them.

Another mother refused to bring her newborn twins back to her military home because it was "not safe".

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said the authority had signed a £5.9bn deal to buy back 36,347 military homes, which would free up money formerly spent on rent for refurbishment.

Data shows two-thirds of homes for service families need "extensive refurbishment" to meet modern standards.

And MPs have warned that if the situation does not change, people might leave the military.

Some families have had to be relocated multiple times

The mother of the newborn twins said: "The amount of mould and damp in the house and the fact that it was so cold because we were trying to ventilate the property, it meant that we were just sat on the sofa in our winter coats, so definitely not the environment we wanted to bring our baby daughters back home to."

"Certainly more needs to be done for families like ours that have found ourselves living in conditions like that," she added.

Another woman, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that her current Wiltshire accommodation had mould, leaky taps, broken garden fences and gates, a faulty front door lock and no hot water.

Some issues had been fixed, but she said this had taken a long time.

"We have had some things repaired but some not, and people often don't turn up when they say they are going to," she said.

Buy back deal

In 1996, the government sold 55,000 military homes to property management company Annington for £1.6bn.

According to the Bank of England, that is about £3.14bn in today's money.

Under the terms of the sale, the government paid a below market rent to lease the properties back from Annington but was also responsible for all maintenance on the homes.

The government has now agreed a £5.9bn deal to buy back more than 36,000 of the properties.

"This deal will save the taxpayer £600,000 per day and £230m a year," Alistair Cairns, Minister for Veterans and People in the MoD said.

"This will allow us for the first time since 1996 to not pay rent for our own housing and knock them down and rebuild them in the shape and form that we want to do so."