Mrs A's story
Mrs A sent a text message to her landlord to ask him to fix some problems in her home, including a loose window in her son’s room which was causing water to enter the property and mould to grow. The landlord said he’d get repairs done but after a few weeks, he said that his contractor was busy and couldn’t give a timescale.
Mrs A called Housing Standards and the duty officer arranged an inspection, on which he found other problems that Mrs A wasn’t aware of. He contacted the landlord and agreed a deadline to get the repairs done. He gave advice on how to keep the mould under control in the meantime.
Mrs A was worried the landlord would evict her, but the officer told her that the court would be unlikely to let him do this after she had reported disrepair and that the council would help if he tried to illegally evict her.
The landlord completed the repairs and, two years later, Mrs A and her family are living happily in their home. The mould - which is what Mrs A was most worried about - is gone and she spends less on heating bills.