By Thom Kennedy

Last updated at 11:54, Saturday, 28 March 2009

A couple who lost their home in a fire are now living in a flat beset by damp.

Karen Moffat in her home

Karen Moffat is furious that it has taken three months for Carlisle Housing Association to ventilate her flat after she first complained about damp conditions which are enflaming her partner Terry Orchard’s asthma.

She said: “My property is disgusting. It is absolutely black, it’s coming through my walls and it’s halfway up my wall and right round my bedroom. We shouldn’t have to live like this.

“I have got a disabled boyfriend with severe asthma and who is on lots of medication, and it has definitely been worse since we were here. We are having to leave the house every day.”

The couple had to leave their Newtown Road flat after a fire in the building and were left without a home. They were put up in their current flat in Atkinson Crescent, Harraby, and told that if they turned it down they would be regarded as intentionally homeless.

As such, Miss Moffat, 30, and 28-year-old Mr Orchard, for whom she is a full-time carer, have no chance of moving out of the £65-a-fortnight flat and the damp which affects their bedroom, kitchen and hall, without being offered another CHA home.

When the couple leave their windows open, it helps with circulation, but the draught affects Mr Orchard’s back.

CHA plans to put vents into the home next month, but Miss Moffat is not satisfied with the speed of the association’s response.

She said: “It has taken them a long time to put vents in. We have been asking for help and nobody seems to be bothered about us. We are just struggling along ourselves.

“I think they should give us a new property.”

A CHA spokesman said the issue had been reported in early January, and that inspectors had got into the property on January 20.

They had suggested the damp could be a problem caused by internal humidity, and are currently awaiting the next inspection date to see whether ventilation of the property through open windows has helped alleviate the problem.

First published at 09:06, Saturday, 28 March 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk