A FAMILY plagued by mould in their home has hit back after a housing association claimed it had been working with the tenants to find a solution.

Emma and Wayne Racey, of Alywards Way, Nether Wallop, say that damp and mould has been an issue in their home for four years now, ‘ruining’ their kitchen and rendering Emma’s son’s bedroom unfit to live in.

Aster, the housing association responsible for their home, responded last week to say it had spent “some time” working with Emma’s ex-partner, Ian Lake – who is still listed on the lease – to find a solution to the issues.

However Aster haven’t contacted Ian at all, according to Wayne, and Ian himself has since confirmed this with the Advertiser.

“I’ve been gone from there for three or four years now,” he said, “and they definitely haven’t rung me about any of the issues.

“The work they have done I’m not really up to speed with. They haven’t contacted me about any of it.”

He added: “I totally agree with Emma. They [Aster] have to tackle the problem. You can’t put a plaster over something and hope it just goes away.

“When you’ve got a damp problem like that it can affect your health and things like that. And it’s just rotting everything as well. It’s damaging furniture.”

Ian also notes that the house does not currently have central heating.

Aster are said to have installed central heating in nearby houses a number of years ago, but the lady that lived in the property previously opted not to have the work carried out.

“I do know that she actually refused to have the central heating done,” Ian added. “We enquired about it when we moved there, and they said they don’t so that as standard anymore.”

The statement from Aster also outlined newly installed windows and a forthcoming upgrade to the heating in the bathroom as some of the measures it has taken to rectify the mould problem. It also claimed it was “confident” that the issues were due to a build-up of condensation and offered advice on how to prevent condensation through ventilation.

But Wayne says the window replacements were done as standard for a number of properties in the area, and that the family do their utmost to keep the house ventilated.

“We have had our windows open all day every day in the summer and still the same problem persists with the underlying mould problems,” he said.

“We are at our wits ends with trying to have a warm home, and we keep having to spend money which we don’t have nearly every couple of months.”

Aster has been contacted for a follow-up comment on the matter.