Leicester: Mum fears mould in home is making toddler ill

Hollie Tompkins believes measures previously taken to tackle the problem only mask it

A mum from Leicester fears mould in her rented home could be making her 16-month-old son ill.

Hollie Tompkins said she first reported a mould problem to housing association Midland Heart in February 2021 - and it was treated.

But she says the mould has returned and believes it is affecting her son who has had respiratory problems.

Midland Heart said "there was no evidence of damp and mould" in a 2023 survey - but will revisit the property.

Ms Tompkins, who also has a five-year-old daughter, moved into the house in 2021 - and claimed she reported the mould to Midland Heart shortly after moving in, followed by a formal complaint in 2022.

Midland Heart said it then carried out an anti-fungal wash.

But Ms Tompkins claimed she was told by one of the people carrying out the work that the anti-fungal wash would only mask the problem rather than prevent it.

A Midland Heart survey recorded mould in Ms Tompkins's bedroom as being caused by condensation

She said: "My son has been rushed to hospital several times - it's continuous. He's never had a break.

"He's nearly 17 months and I can't tell you a week that he's had just being well."

Last year, a health visitor wrote a letter to Midland Heart urging it to move Ms Tompkins and her children to more suitable accommodation "as a matter of priority", saying her son's respiratory illness "could be" caused by his exposure to damp in the home.

The toddler has since been referred to an allergy clinic for further tests, said Ms Tompkins.

Ms Tompkins's first daughter died of health complications at just six weeks old, in 2016.

She said: "Seeing my son going into the hospital just brings that all back again. I have been through it before, I don't want to do it again."

The 23-year-old said she had thrown away mattresses, clothes, shoes and furnishings that had become mould-infested since she moved in.

Ms Tompkins claimed mould in the bathroom was persistent despite her keeping the window open

Midland Heart said in statement: "As soon as this issue was first reported to us in January 2022, we responded quickly and treated the mould with anti-fungal wash to resolve the problem and remove any health risks to Ms Tompkins' home.

"We believed this treatment to have been successful, and this was reinforced by full property surveys completed in 2022 and 2023, where we found no evidence of damp and mould.

"As soon as any further concerns were brought to us, we attended the property straight away. We have now completed a range of works to prevent the formation of mould, including loft insulation, insulation boarding and improvements to ventilation in the bathroom. Since November we have had no further reports of mould at Ms Tompkins' home.

"We are of course disappointed to hear that Ms Tompkins is experiencing this problem. We take issues of this nature extremely seriously and have already arranged to attend Ms Tompkins' home to complete further works, at her earliest convenience of Monday, 4 March."

The government introduced Awaab's Law after two-year-old Awaab Ishfak, who had been living within his parents in social housing, in Rochdale, died from exposure to mould in 2020.

A consultation on the new legislation, which would require landlords to investigate and fix reported health hazards within specific timeframes, is ongoing until March.