Mother describes ‘dreadful’ experience of living in a mouldy house

Ted Peskett Local Democracy Reporter

A Cardiff mother has opened up on the “dreadful” experience of living in an “unliveable” damp council flat where mould keeps coming back no matter how many times it’s cleaned away.

Chloe Phillips said the problem with damp and mould at her council home in Radyr had got progressively worse since she moved there in 2022.

The mother of two claimed that over the years it had led to toys, clothes, a pram and a cot having to be thrown out and swarms of dust mites covering her hoover.

The problem has also led to her worrying more about the health of her children, who are one and six years old, with one daughter having been taken to hospital with respiratory issues in the past.

Cardiff Council said it aimed to respond to reports of issues at its properties promptly and that its focus remained on improving the quality of its housing stock.

However, in a recent report the local authority also said its housing repairs team was facing a number of challenges like an increased demand in relation to damp and mould.

Out of hand

One of the moments Chloe said she felt the issue was getting out of hand at her council flat was when her daughter’s baby basket became covered in mould.

“That Moses basket was green and had spores,” said Chloe, 25.

“You [could] see the spores on it flying around.

“I’ve had to buy her a new cot and I’ve had to buy her a new pram due to the fact that mould has grown on those things.

“When you wipe it off, it is still going to be there, it’s still going to continue growing.”

Chloe has had numerous visits from council workers over the years who have given her various pieces of advice, like cleaning the mould off with bleach and ventilating the house – all of which she said she’d followed.

She also said the property had had a mould wash done by the council three times, but within days the problem returned.

“My kids are cold”

Chloe added: “The amount of money I spend on heating my house just for it to go out the window because they’re saying to me ‘you need to keep it ventilated’.

“I’m keeping my house ventilated but my kids are cold. I’m cold and they’re getting ill constantly.

“My eldest has got asthma and my youngest was taken into hospital for respiratory issues.”

Describing the impact that the ordeal was having on her eldest daughter, Chloe added: “It’s bringing her down.

“She can’t have friends over because she’s fearing people are going to think she lives in a mouldy house.

“We don’t let anybody in. My fiends don’t come over because I’m so ashamed.

“You walk into the property and you can smell it. It’s just dreadful.”

Despite the issues affecting her and her family, Chloe said she wouldn’t apply to go on the council housing waiting list partly because of the length of time she thinks she’d have to wait for a new property.

There are currently thousands of households on the council housing waiting list in Cardiff and some have been on it for years.

A council report on housing published in April, 2025, states that 6% of the applicants on the housing waiting list then had been waiting for more than 10 years.

A council spokesperson said: “We take reports of damp and mould in our council homes extremely seriously.

“We’ve established a dedicated in-house Dry Homes Team, which works alongside our wider maintenance services to ensure issues are addressed swiftly and effectively.

“We understand how distressing these problems can be for tenants and their families, and we aim to respond promptly when a report is received.

“Following a damp inspection last week and a further visit today, we’ve prioritised repair works throughout the flat to ensure they are carried out as soon as possible.

“Our commitment remains focused on improving the quality of our housing stock and making sure tenants feels safe and comfortable in their homes.”

Cardiff Council revealed at a community and adult services scrutiny committee meeting on Monday, October 13, that its housing repairs team was facing a number of issues.

The local authority’s director of adults, housing and communities, Jane Thomas, told councillors that the number of urgent works faced by the housing repairs team had increased 30% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Since then, the increased size of the council’s housing stock through the construction of new homes and taking on homeless hostels has increased demand on the service.

According to council data, there were more than 5,000 unallocated housing repair works that needed to be done in May, 2024.

Ms Thomas also said damp and mould cases “have increased hugely in terms of demand”.

However, she insisted a programme of works was being undertaken to improve the council’s housing repairs service and shoots of recovery could already be seen.

Council data also shows that the number of outstanding damp cases reduced from 1,274 to 390 from April, 2024, to July, 2025.

Demand

When asked about the issue of demand on the service alongside an increase in the council’s property, Ms Thomas said: “Our attempts to clear the backlog have not been restricted by budget.

“We would have put the budget in that was needed.

“The difficulty is getting the job done in terms of recruiting and getting contractor work.

“Even though that increase may have increased the amount of work… it wasn’t that that was preventing us.

“It was the capacity to actually fill that work, not the budgetary issue.

“We would have taken on more contractor work to fulfil that work if we could have.

“At the moment we are much more in line with where we’re expecting to be and we can take a breath and say ‘well actually how big do our teams need to be?’ because we don’t really want to put as much as we are out to contractors now.”