Portsmouth flats residents demand action over damp and mould

Residents of a block of flats in Portsmouth have said they are living with "disgusting" levels of mould in the building.

The privately-owned Windsor House has 37 flats many of which are suffering from damp, prompting tenants to start a campaign for help.

Leah Harwick said they all wanted their homes to be "liveable".

Portsmouth City Council said it would inspect the properties with a view to getting the owners to take action.

Ian Knight, who has lived in the block on Canal Walk for 13 years, has mould covering the walls of his bathroom.

"It's disgusting, you can't stay in there for more than 10 minutes at a time," he said.

He said his landlord's phone numbers did not work and "nobody knows" how to contact them.

Ms Harwick said her ceiling has leaked over the past year and communal areas were used by drug addicts and rough sleepers because of a broken door lock.

"It's quite bad. All of us just want help, we just want it rectified and our flats to be liveable."

Another resident, Chris Coleman, said: "There are people wiping down walls and within days, the black mould is back.

"Nobody seems to be doing anything. This is why its got to the stage where we've come together as a collective and we need help to get this sorted.

Darren Saunders, Portsmouth City Council's cabinet member with responsibility for housing, described the building as a "horror show".

"It's horrific," he said. "There are various things we can do - we can do repairs ourselves and recover the cost from the landlord, but the problem is who the landlord is.

"It's a complex management structure that owns this block - we're going to get to the bottom of it because the tenants deserve it."

Council officers have since begun inspections of the flats.

The block's owner has not responded to a request for a comment.

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