A YOUNG mum says she has been forced to sleep on a sofa because her housing association landlord failed to fix cracks in her ceiling, causing water to leak into the property.

Natalie Heald, of Highlands Road, and her asthmatic three-year-old son Leon have been sleeping on the sofa and an airbed at her mum’s house since discovering the window wall of her son’s bed was mouldy following the recent heavy rainfall.

The 22-year-old says she was changing Leon’s bed when she noticed mould spores on his bedding.

She then looked up to find the top right-hand corner of the window wall was mouldy.

Closer inspection revealed there was a crack running along the length of the wall where it meets the ceiling and water was dripping down the wall.

The full-time mum cleaned the mould off and logged a call to Aster. They sent an inspector who looked at the cracks and decided a structural surveyor needed to make an assessment.

Miss Heald, who has a back condition, has been left sleeping on her mum’s sofa in her two-bedroom house in Martin Way.

She said: “The last week has been hard. I am prescribed cocodamol for back problems but taking that and then sleeping on the sofa isn’t helping.

It is worsening the problem.”

The family is now wondering whether the damp could have been causing an ongoing wheezing cough that Leon suffers with in the evenings, as well as Miss Heald’s eczema, both of which have improved since they left the property.

An Aster Group spokesman said it was liaising with its tenant regarding damp issues and that it will be sending an inspector out to look at the bedroom.

He said: “Our customers are always our top priority and we’re sorry to hear about any of them experiencing problems. We’re doing everything we can to resolve this as soon as possible.”

Since the discovery of the damp walls, Mrs Heald has set up a Tenants Forum Aster Communities Facebook page for people to post comments about Aster maintenance issues.