Natalie O’Donnell, 37, lived in a ground-floor flat on Crown Street, Cockermouth as a tenant of the Riverside Housing Association.

For months, the mother of three said she had been complaining to the housing association about the state of her property, saying that mushrooms were growing from some of the carpets, slugs were in the living room and damp was predominant throughout the property - ruining many of her possessions, including a £2,000 television.

Despite Natalie’s complaints she said that she has been ignored by Riverside who told her to ‘just keep reporting’ the issues.

“All my kids' keepsakes that I had to put in there because there wasn’t enough room in the flat have been destroyed, I have been left with nothing," she said.

“They replastered all of the wall and within less than a week they were all green again.”

Natalie said: “I don’t know how many times I reported it and I asked for help, there was water dripping out of the light fixtures, water dripping from the ceiling, water coming from the sockets in the walls of my son’s bedroom.

“There was two inches of water on top of the carpet, and I had absolutely had enough."

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Natalie has said that living in these conditions alongside her 12-year-old son has severely affected her health, with the mother even at one point contemplating suicide.

“In the end I tried to take an overdose because of it that’s how bad it got, I felt like I had had enough, no one was listening the place was an absolute state. There was greenery growing through the bathroom window," she said.

“I’m miserable, absolutely miserable… mental health-wise this has affected me bad; my partner has to watch me have mental breakdowns all of the time, floods of tears, I don’t want to leave the flat, my mental health is that bad that I actually hear things, and they have made it worse they talk to me like I am a piece of dirt all of the time."

The mother said that she had then been moved by the housing association into a home that she never wanted to, feeling 'forced' into the move - despite finding a property with a different housing association.

She said: "They told me that if I didn't move into the flat that I am in now, I would have to go back into the one I was in."

Natalie was unable to move into the home she wished to after Riverside said that she owed them months worth of backdated rent - something which Natalie does not believe she owes due, she says, to the conditions of the property.

Natalie believes that she is owed compensation from the housing association for items that have been ruined by damp, as well as wanting to be moved immediately to a property that will be suitable for her to live in.

'Moved to a suitable property'

A spokesman for The Riverside Group said: “We can confirm that Ms O’Donnell was residing in a property on Crown Street in Cockermouth up until August of last year.

"The house required improvement works and whilst these works were carried out she moved to a suitable property in Maryport where she has been living ever since.

"We are disappointed to hear she is unhappy with the service we provided at that time and we will work with her to resolve any tenancy issues as soon as possible.”

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