REDDITCH council house tenants have slammed the decision to increase the cost of rents by seven per cent.
Two tenants contacted the Standard claiming it was unfair for Redditch Borough Council to raise the rent when their homes were in such a state of disrepair.
A mum claimed she feared for the health of her children as her council flat was plagued with damp with mould growing on the walls.
Jess Miles, who lives in Abbeydale with her partner and her daughter, is calling for the council to act upon her pleas of help to improve their living conditions.
She said they had to endure damp, dripping walls and the plaster in her daughter’s room was falling off.
Jess added she did not see why she should be paying more rent on a property that was not fit for use.
“I have taken this up with a social housing repair team but my daughter’s walls are like sand,” she said. “They are all wet because of a leak and I had a plasterer come out and look at the issue.
“I have no drainage in the property so all the water and damp is just coming into my flat.”
She said raising the rent to release funds to do repairs on council properties was ridiculous.
“It’s not fair I have to pay rent on a two-bedroom flat when my daughter can’t even go in her bedroom because of the state of it,” she added.
Emma Parry also lives in Abbeydale and has similar complaints about her flat.
She said: “The fan in my flat is there to draw the condensation, but it blows cold air into the flat.
“The temperature is very cold, between 9 and 12 degrees in the daytime. Of a night it’s even colder – I have the heating on and I also wear a coat.
“I’m putting the heating on and it’s still cold. My heating bills are enormous – over £300-a-month at the moment. I just want the problem to be fixed.”
Redditch Borough Council said they are aware of the cases and are following the official process.
Coun Craig Warhurst, said “Our capital contracts manager has already visited one of the properties to identify the work needed and this will now be arranged to be completed in due course.
“We are currently inspecting and assessing reports of damp and mould in our properties that have experienced issues in the past and carrying out works where necessary.
“Where ongoing issues with the fabric of property are found to be the problem, we are working with our appointed contractors on a wider programme of capital works to solve this.
“Income received from rent directly supports the funding for this kind of work and our ability to invest across all of our housing stock.
“Nevertheless, we have always invested in areas of compliance, to ensure safe and secure homes for all of our tenants.
“The additional income from this year’s agreed rent increase will feed into specific initiatives to improve the quality of our social housing, including works on damp and mould.”
