Basildon family expect six weeks in Holiday Inn due to mouldy flat

Francesca Ward said she wished her son could be learning to walk in their flat, rather than in a hotel room

The government has responded to the case of a family-of-four from Essex who are living in a hotel room because of mould in their flat.

Francesca Ward's family, including her baby who has breathing problems, were placed in a Holiday Inn on 6 January.

Their housing association said it would "rectify" the cause of the mould and complete its work by 15 February.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said the case was "unacceptable".

Ms Ward told BBC Essex: "I believe if the housing association had carried out this investigation, at the very first instance, my son wouldn't have been breathing that air in and been hospitalised because of it."

Clarion Housing said it would fix the root cause of the mould by 15 February

Francesca Ward said the hospital linked the mould, pictured under her sink, to her baby's breathing difficulties

Clarion Housing moved the family from their two-bed flat in Basildon to the hotel a day after Ms Ward's seven-month-old son was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

Ms Ward, her partner and son are sharing the same room and her 13-year-old daughter is sleeping on a sofa bed.

The 31-year-old, who is a specialist computer room cleaner at Westminster Palace, said there was nowhere to wash her son's bottles and their clothes.

'Permanent resolution'

Clarion said it first received a report of damp at the flat on 20 October and carried out three "mould washes" in October, December and January.

Workers carried out a damp survey on 5 January.

"We have arranged for repairs to rectify the root cause of the mould," said a Clarion spokesman.

"We take every case of condensation, damp and mould very seriously and we are committed to a permanent resolution."

The company is paying for the family's hotel room.

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A DLUHC spokesman said: "This situation is clearly unacceptable.

"We have previously written to Clarion about their failures - they must provide a better deal for their tenants without delay.

The government's Social Housing (Regulation) Bill, aimed at strengthening protections for tenants, is being discussed in the House of Commons.

Labour's shadow DLUHC secretary Lisa Nandy said in response to Ms Ward's case: "It is scandalous that anybody in modern Britain is forced to live in a mouldy or damp home."

She said the party had also set out plans for a legally-binding "Decent Homes Standard 2" to hand even greater rights to renters.